Expert: Nick Putthoff - 1/10/2009

Question
QUESTION:  I have allot of original paintings and designs that I would like to use for T-shirts. My Question is How can I trace around an objet and then place it on a transparent background so I can continue to finishing the design? I have a program called Photo Explosion that allows me to trace around the object but when I try to move it to another program called My Logo Maker so I can continue to work on it ,it won't let me. I tried to copy and paste, IT WON'T LET ME PASTE. If I save it ,it merges into each other. I'm really stuck. PS I know nothing about Adobe Illustrator. I have downloaded a free sample of it. I would much rather work with my Photo Explosion and My Logo Maker if I can get them to do what I want.

ANSWER: Tom,
If I understand your problem correctly you are somehow capturing images of your original oil paintings and are wishing to trace over them. In Illustrator you would first have to save the image in a format suitable for import into Adobe Illustrator. If you only need the image for reference purposes try exporting it as a JPEG format from whatever software you are using to capture the images. Once you have captured the image and saved the image file then:

Launch Adobe Illustrator

Create a new document at a size that will accommodate the artwork you are creating.

Import the image by going to the File menu and selecting the Place... item and selecting the image.

Scale and position the image as the final artwork requires

From the Layers panel (Window menu/Layers) double click the layer that contains the image (probably Layer 1) and and check the Dim Images option and either use the default percentage or type in a percentage that is suitable for your purposes.

After you have dimmed the image's layer create a new layer and begin tracing it with any of Illustrator's drawing tools.

Please Note: Locking the layer that contains the image your are tracing prevents accidentally selecting the image while you are tracing.

If you would like to "dim" a layer that contains artwork that is not a placed image try:

Create a new layer above the layer you would like to trace"

Draw a rectangle that is the size of the artboard (or any size large enough to cover the area you would like to trace) on this new layer.

With the rectangle selected go to the Appearance panel and set the fill of the rectangle to white (or 0 of any color from the swatch or color palette) and set the Transparency/Opacity to a percentage that is suitable for tracing.

This method will dim all layers that are located below it in the layer stacking order.

Then create a new layer and begin tracing.


These are not the only methods but I hope that these will get you started. Also some of the Live Tracing features will produce interesting results that could create paths that may be adjusted to suit your purposes. Google Illustrator Live Trace or post another question if you are interested.


Good Luck


Nick

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

QUESTION: I followed every step. except after I traced around the object that I want to separate from the rest of the picture I can't seam to copy it over into my other software called "My Logomaker for further development. Please give me options on what I can do with my traced object? Thank you so much.  My Best to you, Tom

Answer
Tom,
I have no knowledge of the software "My Logo Maker" but here are a few things you can try.

First since you mentioned the clipboard you could try changing the way Illustrator handles art on the clipboard. I use Illustrator on a Macintosh so some terminology may be different but hopefully similar.

Go to Illustrator's preferences and select the File Handling and Clipboard tab. Here you can change the way the AI clipboard converts when the program quits.I would try different settings but I would start with having the PDF option checked only but be prepared to try other settings if this does not work. You may want to document your settings in case you get lucky. Then you can reply with your results to this forum with the settings you use and others can utilize your methods.

Once you have selected the desired Clipboard on Quit options copy the artwork to the clipboard then quit Illustrator. Then try pasting into the My Logo Maker artwork file.

If your clipboard attempts are unsuccessful you can try Save As (File menu/Save As) and use some of many EPS options. Or try one of various Export (File menu/Export) formats available from Illustrator. Consult the My Logo Maker documentation if it is available and see if there are any recommended import options. Please note that many of the export options from Illustrator are bitmap formats so if you have vector art it will no longer be as scalable. If you have worked your Illustrator art at the same size or larger you will be OK as long as you specify a sufficient resolution. Try several settings and view the results.

And lastly if all else fails try the Save for Microsoft Office (File menu/Save for Microsoft Office...) and either open the resulting file directly in the Logo Maker app or open it in a Microsoft Office application and try copy and paste to the Logo Maker app.


I don't believe that Adobe Illustrator and My Logo Maker have ever met so you are be treading in uncharted waters. Adobe may be a little embarrassed that a user has a need to take artwork from their "High_end" illustration package into something as "mundane" and probably practical as My Logo Maker.

Best of Luck and let me know how it all ends.


Nick