Help with linked files/ compound paths please

Hi - I am working with an illustrator file from another designer which has a compound path with linked files - when you link a new file the image is automatically resized and clipped to the path.  I am able to edit it but i want to make my own from scratch and can't figure it out. I'm working with Illustrator CS6. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Steve - thanks for the reply - my question was a bit vague as I wasn't entirely sure what I was working with but I think your point about the new linked image scaling to the same size as the existing file has helped me understand it a bit more.  What I want to know how to do is to make an entirely new file with a clipping mask that I then link an image to.  I made a file with a clipping mask on the page and then chose file>place but the image I import is not being clipped (I ticked the link option when importing it) I see it working with the existing file I'm working with but I need to know how to make a new one myself.
If this makes it clearer here's what I want to do ...
I am making a banner, I have 3 flat jpegs of t-shirts that I want to place on the banner without their white background.  I made a clipping mask the same shape as the outline of the t-shirt and now I want to import the jpeg so it is a linked file and is clipped by the clipping mask and so I can use it in future to import different t-shirt image in without scaling and clipping them each time.
REally appreciate your help, thanks.

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    Then put in all the buttons and images you'll be using, each part in a separate layer. This could have fifteen buttons (you have five buttons, and there can be three versions for each -- inactive, selected, and activated versions) and five or six square images (you said one for each button, and you might want a blank default if, say, you want to add a "back" button on the menu and want some blank or default image for the square when they're on the "back" button).
    Sometimes people don't bother with a separate "active" button state, but you usually want some visual feedback that they clicked the button. Also, I usually just build the default (unselected) button into the background; that's less hassle later on, and it will just draw the selected or activated buttons over that when the user is on that button.
    Line up all your buttons and images. All the square images lined up perfectly on top of each other, all the buttons in the right places (so you'll have three buttons stacked on top of each other in each spot). Give each layer a short but quickly recognizable name, and line them up in a consistent order. (button1-default, button1-selected, button1-active, button1-squarepicture, then button2-default, ... etc.) Photoshop and DVDSP don't care, but it makes it easier for you later.
    Note that earlier versions of DVDSP won't show Photoshop layer effects. (They handle layers, just not the effects, like inner glow, outer bezel, etc.) I don't remember when they changed this, but I think it was version 4.something. So if you're using that method to make your buttons glow, you may have to flatten each selected or active button layer, and you may even need to create a dummy blank layer underneath it first to give it something to flatten onto.
    Save the file as a standard Photoshop file (.psd). Drag the file onto your DVDSP layered menu and set it as the background.
    Now, in DVDSP, create all your buttons. Just drag boxes over/around the button pictures you have. Feel free to make them extra-big; users won't see the actual area you've selected, and bigger areas makes it easier for people to hit them if they're using a mouse on a computer to watch the DVD. You can point the buttons to their targets now if you want, and set the end jumps on the tracks if you want. (I tend to set the end jumps on the tracks so they automatically select the button for the next track.)
    Now's the fun part, since it will actually hook everything up and should be easy if your naming layer order were consistent. Click on the layered menu (in that hierarchical view) and look at the properties window. (Sorry I can't remember the technical names for all these windows; I'm doing this all from memory. So feel free to ask more questions if you can't find what I'm talking about.) One of the properties tabs should have a grid of checkboxes with a list of your layers. Make sure the background is checked for all of the states. Then check the layers you want to show for each button state, as well as the corresponding square image to show for each.
    Again, I'm doing this from memory, and I can't remember exactly how things are listed in that grid. But I remember it keeps your layers in the same order you put them in the Photoshop file and shows you those names, so it should make it easy to go down the list and check the right boxes.
    And another side tip: You can update the Photoshop file, but once you've put it in DVDSP, if you change the layer order, it will screw up the check boxes you checked. It always shows you the layer names correctly, but it keeps the checkboxes in DVDSP simply assigned to the layer number, so the fifth layer will keep the same checkboxes even if you juggle them so some other layer is now the fifth layer. So if you do juggle the layers in Photoshop, go back and fix the checkbox list in DVDSP.
    I put a sample Photoshop file based on yours in
    http://dan.black.org/layered-menu-sample.psd
    It's quick and dirty, but shows the layer layout, and you should be able to drop it on DVDSP to play with. (I also won't leave it there forever, maybe a few weeks, so anybody reading this in a month or more probably will get a 404 for that url.)
    Again, doing this from memory, so feel free to ask if anything doesn't work or doesn't make sense.
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