I think I know where some of the confusion might be arising. I think you're trying to mix paths and selections. But don't worry about that; with logos like the one you posted, there's a much easier way to do this. It doesn't use clipping paths as all. I'll walk you through it.
1. Place your logo on a separate layer above the desired background. (Copy and paste should work fine.)
2. Pick the Magic Wand tool. On the bar below the menus, set the Tolerance to about 20. Make sure "Contiguous" is NOT checked.
3. With the Magic Wand tool, click on any of the white areas of the logo. You should see all the white areas selected. Press backspace to delete these areas. You should be left with only the black areas.
If you see white fringes along the edges, you can try two things. Either use the Eraser tool to manually clean up the edges, or undo everything and try again, using a higher number for Tolerance. Hope this makes sense! Hey, if worst comes to worst, I can do it for you. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
(Even this is not clear. I am a guy who likes to go from step to step - no matter how many steps there are, just so I know exactly what to do and in what order to do them. Plus just sending it to you, although easy, makes it impossible for me to learn the technique and reproduce it myself - unless you doing it would allow you to better teach me this procedure step by step, in the instructions back to me.)
I like the use of the clipping path to eliminate a background, thereby being able to take the resultant image - which may be amorphous in shape, and then paste it into a QWARK layout document and have it appear free floating over any of a number of backgrounds. I do all the work in photoshop, then paste the resultant .EPS file into the document in QWARK.
From your instructions: (my repsonses in parenthesis and caps for highlighting):
I think I know where some of the confusion might be arising. I think you're trying to mix paths and selections. (CAN YOU STRAIGHTEN ME UP ON WHAT I AM MIXING AND SELECTING THAT I SHOULD NOT, SO I UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT?) But don't worry about that; with logos like the one you posted, there's a much easier way to do this. It doesn't use clipping paths as all. I'll walk you through it.
1. Place your logo on a separate layer above the desired background. (Copy and paste should work fine.)
(CAN YOU BE VERY SPECIFIC ON WHAT YOU MEAN HERE - USE THE SHOW LAYERS OPTION?
THEN SET UP ONE OR MORE SEPARATE LAYERS? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY DESIRED BACKGROUND. I KNOW THE ARRAY OF BACKGROUNDS I WANT IN QWARK, BUT IN PHOTOSHOP, I WANT TO GET RID OF AND HAVE "NO"
BACKGROUND - SO THIS SEEMS OFF TO ME - NOT SURE WHAT "DESIRED BACKGROUND" IS TO BE?
2. Pick the Magic Wand tool. On the bar below the menus, set the Tolerance to about 20. Make sure "Contiguous" is NOT checked.
(OK)
3. With the Magic Wand tool, click on any of the white areas of the logo. You should see all the white areas selected.
(IT DID - EVEN THE INTERNAL WHITE AREAS OF THE LOGO).
Press backspace to delete these areas. You should be left with only the black areas.
(NOT KNOWING THE LAYERS ISSUE FROM STEP ONE, WHEN I DID THIS, THE WHITE PART WENT TO SORT OF A TEAL GREEN COLOR, AND DIDN'T SEEM TO DISAPPEAR LIKE IT DOES WHEN I REMOVE A PERIPHERAL BACKGROUND.)
(SO THE RESULT, WHEN I TRANSFERRED IT TO THE QWARK LAYOUT, STILL RETAINED ALL THE TEAD BACKGROUND, WHERE THE WHITE HAD BEEN BEFORE.)
(AFTER DOING ALL THIS, DO I DO ANY CLIPPING - WORK PATH STUFF LIKE I DID WHEN I WAS REMOVING THE PERIPERAL BACKGROUND AROUND A PICTURE?)
If you see white fringes along the edges, you can try two things. Either use the Eraser tool to manually clean up the edges, or undo everything and try again, using a higher number for Tolerance.
(I UNDERSTAND THIS).
Hope this makes sense! Hey, if worst comes to worst, I can do it for you.
(ALL THE IMAGES I WANT TO DO THIS TO ARE A MIXTURE OF TEXT AND SHAPES, SO IF I CAN DO THIS ONE THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOUSE, PLUS THE INTERIOR CLOSED LOOP LETTERS, MAKE ALL THAT IS WHITE BECOME TRANSPARENT WHEN I GO TO A QWARK LAYOUT FILE - SO THE BACKGROUND OF CHOICE IN QWARK SHOWS THROUGH ALL THE WHITE AREAS, THEN I AM HOME FREE - NOTHING IN THESE IMAGES IS GRADED - ALL SOLID DISTINCT SECTIONS OF COLOR.)
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:36 am Post subject: Clarification
I used the term PASTE to take the resulatant . EPS file across to QUARK. Not an accurate choice of workds. It is not a CUT and PASTE operation. You actually go out, get the resultant file of choice and insert it into the layout and then position and size it accordingly. In QWARK, you can select NONE for background in a given picture layout box, and once you have left the background transparent from PHOTOSHOP, all you see is the background of choice in your layout - so any of a whole array of backgrounds are possible, once the PHOTOSHOP document is correct. I use these logos in many different layouts, and most have different backgrounds, so having this be transparent - inside the closed loop letters and in specific places on the logo itself - like inside the house, is critical to what I want to do.
Sorry for those ambiguities. About mixing paths and selections--well, in Photoshop, a path is very different from a selection. A path is a shape or curve made up of a few points. The computer uses math to figure out how to curve the lines based on those few points. Clipping paths are a type of path. Paths are made using the Pen tool or Shape tools. On the other hand, a selection appears as an animated dotted line around an area. If you apply a filter, adjust colors, paint, or do just about anything, only the selected area will be affected. Selections are made using the Lasso tools, Marquee tools, and Magic Wand tool. Don't worry too much about this at the moment; just know that if done correctly, the method I'm suggesting does NOT use paths; it DOES use selections.
About the "desired background" and new layers--I apologize, that was unclear. Start by opening your original file. Then press control-A to make a selection of the whole file. You should see a dotted outline around the whole image. Go Edit>Copy. Now go File>New. Don't adjust the size options, but make sure Contents is set to "Transparent." Hit OK. You should now have a new document with a checkered background. Checkered areas are transparent; placing them in QWARK or similar programs should work just fine. This is the equivalent of "no background." Now go Edit>Paste. Your logo should appear in the file. Don't be alarmed that you can now longer see the checkered background. We'll take care of that next.
Go ahead and use the Magic Wand tool as I described before. Press backspace and instead of getting a teal color, the white areas should become checkered.
At this point, go Layer>Merge Layers. It should appear that nothing happened. All you just did was combine the two layers. Now save this document as a Photoshop document (.PSD) and see if it works in QWARK.
If QWARK doesn't support PSD files, it's just a little more tricky. Undo everything back to the point where you have the new file with the white and black logo on top. Make the selection with the magic wand tool, but this time, don't press backspace. Instead, find the Paths palette. (If you can't find it, go Window>Show Paths.) There should be a button at the bottom of the palette that resembles a circle with two lines. This button is the third button from the right. If you hover your mouse over it, it should say "Makes work path from selection." Click the button.
If you're still in the Paths palette, you should see a new path listed called "Work Path." You might want to double-click on this. A dialog box will pop up; just hit OK. Now go back to the layers palette. Click on the top layer just to make sure it's highlighted. Go Layer>Add Layer Clipping Path>Current Path. This should remove the white areas appropriately. This is the version you would save as an EPS. I don't know much about saving as EPS files, so someone else might need to help you there.
Good luck! If it works, I highly suggest using the first method. It's quicker and cleaner. Sometimes the results are messy when you use "Make work path from selection." _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:21 pm Post subject: MUCH CLOSER
Sorry for the slow response, but I am in and out this weekend. The detail in this last instructional was very helpful to me, and I am nearly home on this. I am hung on just the very last paragraph, however, and I am sure you can get me through that.
To quote, "If you're still in the Paths palette, you should see a new path listed called "Work Path." You might want to double-click on this. A dialog box will pop up; just hit OK. Now go back to the layers palette. Click on the top layer just to make sure it's highlighted. Go Layer>Add Layer Clipping Path>Current Path. This should remove the white areas appropriately. This is the version you would save as an EPS. I don't know much about saving as EPS files, so someone else might need to help you there. "
I can get all the way to where the top layer is to be clicked to highlight it. By the way, it is the only one shown.
Where I am not clear where to actually go is the next sentence, where you say, "Go Layer>Add Layer Clipping Path>Current Path. This should remove the white areas appropriately."
Not sure where this is - I see a tab at the Lop called Layers, but no choice that says ADD LAYER CLIPPING PATH. There is also a tab 2 to the right of paths, in the Path palette, called actions, but could not find it there either. If you could be just as specific about getting this last set of steps done, I think I have it. It is really where to find the right tabs, windows, buttons to do these last steps.
Saving as .EPS and manipulating .EPS files is no worry for me - I have done that before and QWARK prefers that over a .PSD. I can do the .PSD method, and I agree it is easier, but the EPS will work perfectly, if I can just get the ADD LAYER CLIPPING PATH> CURRENT PATH resolved. Again, the more specificity, STEP by STEP, is what my very concrete brain needs. However, once I have it, it will be retained.
Sorry, that was unclear. I meant the Layer menu, at the top of the screen. There should be a Clipping Path sub-menu, and you want to click on the "Current Path" option. (Make sure that in the Paths palette, the desired path is highlighted, just like a layer.)
Glad to hear you've just about got it! I wish you the best of luck. _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:27 pm Post subject: SUCCESS!!
There may be a slight variation in versions we have - but all roads usually lead to the same destination. I am using Photoshop 7.0. Here is how I now do it, which only modifies what you suggested a tiny bit - and it fits with the options available to me. At any rate, you got me there, I can reproduce it, and the resultant layout looks perfect. Best of all, you taught me a technique I can use again and again. Thanks.
Here is my revised directions for myself, and anyone else who may need this technique:
Start by opening your original file. Then press control-A to make a selection of the whole file. You should see a dotted outline around the whole image. Go Edit>Copy. Now go File>New. Don't adjust the size options, but make sure Contents is set to "Transparent.” Hit OK. You should now have a new document with a checkered background. Checkered areas are transparent; placing them in QWARK or similar programs should work just fine. This is the equivalent of "no background.” Now go Edit>Paste. Your logo should appear in the file. Don't be alarmed that you can now longer see the checkered background. We'll take care of that next.
Make the selection with the magic wand tool, selecting the white area of the background, and then Select Inverse. Next, find the Paths palette. (If you can't find it, go Window>Show Paths.) There should be a button at the bottom of the palette that resembles a circle with two lines. This button is the third button from the right. If you hover your mouse over it, it should say, "Makes work path from selection.” Click the button. If you're still in the Paths palette, you should see a new path listed called "Work Path." Double-click on this. A dialog box will pop up, saving it as Path 1; just hit OK.
Or you can simply Right Click over the image, and when the menu pops up, Left Click Make Work Path from the menu (Path Palette) and Save as Path 1.
Then go 2 tabs over to the right to manipulate it, and select CLIPPING PATH. Left click this. Then Save as an .EPS file in Photoshop. EPS options include Transfer Function to layout.
Great! Glad I could help. And I just realized I made a silly mistake in my description that you corrected in your revised version, so good job. Good luck with whatever you use this for! _________________ Interested in showcasing your special effects or learning some new ones from the masters? Check out PSFX!
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