Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 1/16/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have a vectored image that I created in illustrator for a t-shirt design for uni.  It is to be printed on black so in some areas I added a black shape over the top to cut sections of the image out.  But since you need a transparency to print onto t-shirts I was wondering if there was a way of selecting all the black in my work and turning it into transparent or no fill without manually using live paint to individually remove sections?

ANSWER: Are you printing 1 color on Black or multiple colors?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: it is a multiple coloured image, yet there are black sections within it that i wish to make transparent, so i was wishing to simply selected all black sections as a whole and make them transparent, is this possible?

Answer
There is a very easy solution to your problem. When you go to print, tell your screen printer to not print the black film. This will remove the black when output and make the rest of the film transparent. You can try it at home as well with the print output set to host based separations and turn off the black ink.

If you really want to remove the black from your art, you will have to individually select the black parts and use the pathfinder to segment the overlapping areas. (which is a HUGE pain in the butt)

Thanks!

Kevin