Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 2/26/2008

Question
hi, i'm placing a psd file with clear background in illustrator CS2, for example
placing a bottle on a red carton.  the bottle background is not visible on the
monitor but prints as a different shade of the carton color, it appears as if
there's a red square behind the bottle.  can you please help?  thanks, shirley

Answer
Hi Shirley,

First, let  me assure you its nothing you did. Illustrator CS2 has many issues supporting transparency from placed images.

This is a known error that was addressed in CS3. You can actually see the error if you open your Flattener preview window and use the drop down to select "Show affected objects" when you refresh, your carton will show up in red.

To work around this, create a clipping path in Photoshop around your shape and place it with the clipping path turned on. Or create a clipping path in Illustrator around your shape - Place the image on its own layer, then draw a path around the shape (on top of it) making sure it is a closed path. Then click the make clipping path button at the bottom of the layers palette.

That should do it.

Thanks!

Kevin