Cutout through image in Illustrator

Hi there,
I am trying to cut out a shape so the cutout would be transparent.
I have two paths and one image kind of sandwiched between them.
At the bottom is a rectangle path with white fill.
On top of that is the image.
On top of the image is another path, which I want to cut out.
But the image corners overlap with the shape that I want to cut out.
So I want to cut through the overlapping image corners and the bottom most path with white fill.
I've tried to use the pathfinder tool, and managed to cut out the shape by grouping the image and bottom most path, then "alt" click minus front, but then the image disappears completely.
Have been trying now for hours. Hope I make enough sense for someone to help.
Thank you!
Rich

Rich,
You may:
1) Set the fill of the top path to white/black (choose either);
2) Select the top path and the image and in the Transparency palette flyout click Make Opacity mask with Clip unticked and Invert mask ticked/unticked.

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Hi, Im still learning the program but this is an error that hasn't occurred before under the same circumstances. I am working on Macs at uni (as I dont have Illustrator at home) and with images from my USB drive. I want to get the images into my ai document and trace them to make a logo, but Illustrator is preventing me from doing this in any way I try.
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* I tried opening the image with Illustrator and get the message "insufficient memory was available to complete the operation". The image is only small - less than 1MB.
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Wow, thank you for the incredibly fast responses!!!
@CHMprepress: I cannot adjust the image, it's for a scientific publication and the images itself have to be shown with as less modifications as possible!
@steve fairbairn: I've just measured the different shades of black and in both Photoshop and Illustrator. Both say it's: R=0 G=0 B=0. I also checked the color of the pasted image in Illustrator. It's all the same...
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When I open a high resolution image in Ai they look somewhat distorted and choppy. They are jpeg files that I am placing in order to envelope distort onto a mesh. For some reason any bitmap image I open with Ai looks like this. However, when I open the same image with Acrobat Pro or Ps the image looks perfect. Images are RGB in both apps.
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Hi all, I've searched the forum for an answer but can't seem to find one. Hopefully someone can help.
Ever since my upgrade to CC2014, whenever I import a vector image from Illustrator into InDesign, the image comes in with an expanded bounding box. Unlike in the old days (i.e., the moment before I upgraded), when the bounding box would exactly enclose my image with no extra white space on any of the sides.
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Hi All,
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Technique: Use an Effect
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Add Strokes to Placed Images in Illustrator | CreativePro.com

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Hi Christina ,
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http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-7715a.h tml
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Coyotes Singing Studio
HC 63, Box 31
Monticello, UT 84535
435-459-9691
[email protected]
LOVE, LEARN, AND BE KIND.
On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 3:27 PM, Larry G. Schneider <

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http://www.gijsen-hendrickx.be/noorwegen
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Hi Larry,
Many thanks for such a prompt reply.
Much appreciated..
Regards
Eddie Frankel
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Department of Primary Industries
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01/04/2010 07:48 AM
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Subject
Raster image in Illustrator
Open the Document Info panel from Window>Document Info. Select the raster
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Cutout through image in Illustrator

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