Sending line art to Photoshop?

Illustrator CS4 on Snow Leopard.
I have a truly vexing Illustrator problem. It seems like a simple challenge, though.
I have a large black and white vector illustration. There are no grays, only black and white line art.
I'd like to send only the black line art to Photoshop with the white areas treated as transparency.
Photoshop treats the un-filled areas as transparency, while it treats the white Illustrator fills as solid white.
Ordinarily I would simply outline my strokes and do some pathfinder operations to subtract the white fills from the black.
In this instance, though, there are hundreds of paths: blacks above whites in the stack, whites above blacks, etc. so going through pathfinder commands one path at a time seems almost impossible.
I've also tried re-coloring all blacks as Pantone spots and printing a color rip to PDF. Same problem: Photoshop treats white fills as solid white.
So... is there something I'm missing. Is there an easy way to separate my black lines and bring them to Photoshop?

Outline all the strokes and then use pathfinder Merge. Afterwards select and delete the white objects.

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Creating line art in photoshop

Hi all,
I have experimented with various tutorials and filters in photoshop hoping to replicate the clean smooth lines of the line art type image below (image based of a photo I presume).
Does anyone know or can provide me with some tutorials on how to do such work.
Any help would be great

Probably done with the Trace function in a vector program.
Similar results are possible but difficult with Photoshop.

Converting pic to line art

I'm about to purchase some scale models I want to photograph, then turn the photos into line art so I can make alterations to them. Is it easier to turn a picture that is mostly white or very colorful into line art using Photoshop?
Thanks guys!

From a quick test:
Load in your file.
Save As to a new name to protect the original.
Increase the contrast.
In CS-4, go to Filters/Styilize/Trace Contour
OR
Filters/Styilize/Find Edges.
Both will need fine tuning to get as close as possible to what you want.
Desaturate to turn it grey scale.
Adjust Levels to get the cut off as close as possible to where you want it.
Erase out what you don't want.
I was using a low contrast file and did get something that was line artish both ways.
Bill

Convert original image to sharp Line art?

Dear All,
I have a image i want to convert orginal image to sharp lineart how can i do photoshop CS3 please help me.
one reference image is attached

As others have said I dont think you will be able to convert the image you have posted to look like the result you want from the other image you posted, the detail in the original is just to high. I use the method described below for doing my line art in Photoshop and it works well but you seem to want to reduce your image to a much simplier representation. I have used this site before, it used to be free but now I think you only get a couple of free credits when you join, convert a photo to line drawing, quite simple to use and you can select to remove noise which might reduce the complexity of the original image.
In Photoshop try:
Duplicate original layer
Change top layer color mode to color dodge
Invert top layer
Apply Gaussian blur (choose low pixel radius for less detail so reducing image complexity)
Add adjustment layer and set saturation to be -100
Retouch anywhere with brush tool to complete

Is there a filter or plug-in for Photoshop CS6 that will allow me to convert a photo into line art?

Image conversion to line art...how in Photoshop?

Good day!
You may want to test the Adobe Illustrator trial.
Regards,
Pfaffenbichler

Pen Tool settings question; Line art; Photoshop CC 2014.

Hello, and thanks for your help.
I am following a tutorial about Line Art.
I have to achieve the highlighted (yellow) settings in this image from the tutorial.
http://i.imgur.com/uXxCgWG.png
Here is how my settings look.
http://i.imgur.com/VmDsh1b.png
Path Operations and Auto Add/Delete are the only ones I can find.
The other two I cannot.
Also, what do you think about these settings from making HQ Line art? Would you recommend other settings? Why?
Thanks.

Maybe this helps:
As you can see both of these are from two different versions of photoshop.
The tools can be found in the left toolbar. the two pens are in the same pen group and the remaining are in the shapes group. Press mouse button on the icon in the left tool bar and wait a few seconds then the flyout will appear. Any icon with a triangle in its corner has a flyout selection of tools.
For a beginner, I would recommend using shapes instead of paths (unless they are required) for learning. As you will be less discouraged when trying to change simple settings like its stroke or fill. Both shapes and paths will give you a vector shape, one is a bit easier to use and the other is a true path instead of a mask. But both will give you a clean edge and are scalable.

How do you transfer line art from Illustrator to Photoshop?

I created a set of icons in illustrator and would like to move them to photoshop as shape layers. The icons are created from the strokes of shapes, and when I paste them into photoshop, the shape fills in and I lose the stroke. I could add a stroke in photoshop, but it misses any internal strokes that I have drawn. I could plate them as smart objects, but I would prefer them to be shape layers. How can I get these icons into photoshop?

Dear vbach: If by "Line art" you mean Line art in the original sense, i.e., black lines on a white background, I've been doing it for twenty-odd years, copying from AI to PS. It's gotten better lately with the shaped lines now available in AI. I don't have to outline anything. Select lines in Illustrator, copy, switch to PS, and paste into a new or existing file. See attached half-size jpeg. Is this what you mean?

Line art problem outputting to pdf

I have a problem with exporting pages of a magazine going to print as pdf, relating to line art placed on the page as a bitmap tiff (typically at 1200 ppi). At present I have a workaround for an annoying problem that really needs clearing up ...
I'm using CS4 InDesign and Acrobat (files prepared in Photoshop). So, high-res bitmap tiff containing line art sized (that is, just placed - no resizing in Indesign) and placed in Indesign, looks fine on the page. Output to pdf using 'export' and the resulting file, when viewed on screen, has a thin line down the right-hand edge of any and all bitmap files.
To ensure no misunderstanding, the 'bitmap' reference is what Photoshop calls it - a bilevel file with black lines in it, which enables me easily to overlay other files such as a photo (because the file is black/transparent) and assign a colour or tint to the bitmap, or even a drop shadow etc. I've used this workflow for years, from Photoshop through Indesign, but the latter always gives me this line on the right edge, in the pdf. It did this in CS3 Indesign/Acrobat as well (but never in Pagemaker).
My workaround is to lay a white-filled box over the edge of the file, thus masking it. But of course, that also limits me to where I can place the file - not easily on a graded tint background, not on a photo and so on. So I'd like to solve this.
Any ideas? OS is Win XP Pro (all updates applied to this and the CS programs - I don't believe they make a difference to this problem, as it has existed through several iterations of both OS and CS).
Anyone else seen this effect? Or is it just me? And has anyone a potential solution?
Chris

I think by reason of not knowing what else I can do, I'm heading to the same conclusion - put up with it! I'll certainly try sending a line to print and see if it appears, but for on-screen stuff, I think I have to stick with the safe workaround I use and accept the layout limitations. (Or resort to Pagemaker for the pages that I just cannot do otherwise.)
Seems to me, if people have reported this for years, Adobe might have tried sorting it out. On screen or not, it still must be due to *something* in the file and/or Acrobat/Distiller to allow it to appear. If I create a white greyscale tiff with the same resolution etc, and place it on a page, there's no line down the edge on output - just a white page with a white (invisible) box. If I do this with an 'empty' bitmap file, a line appears ... Both files created in Adobe programs, so it's not me as a user ...
Just me whinging! I'm really coming from the angle that if this is indeed a display problem, it can only be a display problem if there is something in the file for the display to react to (badly phrased that!).
Thanks everyone for your support and ideas - I think that's me finished for now; I have files to upload and then sleep.

Anyone have experience using high-res files (eg line art) in Aperture?

As I found at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1741287&tstart=0 it seems that Aperture will choke on files over a certain size. I'll grant, I tried something that is outside the scope of Aperture---I tried using it to store a workflow starting with a scan rather than a photo. The scan is higher resolution than most digital photos (as line art must be).
Does anyone have any experience with high-resolution photos or scans? I'm talking over a hundred MB, possibly upwards of a gigabyte. These are precisely the sort of files that I want to create lower-res versions for specific applications and have them be linked to the master file.

I tried to use Aperture with my line art scans in the early versions of Aperture, but gave it up because Aperture did not seem to handle the file size.
Instead I use another workflow for my artwork, Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator and Version Cue in combination with Extensis Portfolio. This is a very pleasing solution for me and I would recommend it to others to try out as well.
For me, Aperture is used for managing and adjusting my photographs.
Regards
Paul K

Thin white line between line art and live paint fill?

I am using live paint to paint cartoon character illustrations. The artwork is brought into Illustrator CS3 and live traced. Then I convert it to a live paint group and use the paint bucket to fill. Everything looks fine no matter how much I zoom in. If I bring the AI file into Photoshop CS6 I can see a thin white line between the black line art and the fill. This is most noticeable where black meets black. I can also see this sometimes in file previews while browsing through files. If the white line cannot be seen in Illustrator is the file ok? I did just upgrade to CS6 if that would make a difference.
Thank you for any help.

If the white line cannot be seen in Illustrator is the file ok?
Without knowing specifics,nobody knows.
"Okay" for what?
If it looks okay to you in Illustrator, then it's okay for viewing in Illustrator.
If the export of it does not look okay in Photoshop at 1:1 or higher zoom, then it's probably not okay for whatever you're going to do with that raster image.
If it's printed to a low-res composite printer, then it may be okay, because the printer may not be able to resolve the whitish pixels.
If it's printed for commercial (color-separated) reproduction, it may not be okay, depending on the scale at which it will be printed, and on other considerations partially described below.
The autotrace routine does not build traps. Typically, when you color-fill cartoon line art manually, you don't make the shapes that define the fills merely "kiss" the black line work, as would the default treatments of a stupid autotrace. The black line work typically overprints the fills, thereby creating printing traps.
Suppose a portion of your cartoon is a hand-drawn closed circle. The black line work is irregular; it varies in width, having been drawn with a marker or a brush. The circle is colored in with a medium green. There are no sloppy gaps in the original between the green and the black.
You scan it and autotrace it. Unless you apply some deliberate care to make it do otherwise, the autotrace is going to create a compound path, filled with black, and with no stroke; and a green simple path which (hopefully) exactly "kisses" (abuts) the black path. Adobe's on-screen antialiasing of the edge where the two colors abut may or may not cause your monitor to display a faint whitish or grayish sliver between the two colors.
Similarly, Photoshop's rasterization of it, or the rasterization of a raster export filter may do the same, and may actually result in some off-color pixels along the edge. (Your description of the scenario kinda raises the question of why you are auto-tracing something that you're then just going to rasterize in Photoshop anyway. Why do that? Why not just work with the scan in Photoshop?.)
So let's leave Photoshop out of the picture and assume you are autotracing it because you want vector artwork. You zoom way in to see if the whitish sliver enlarges. It doesn't, so you assume it's just an aberation of Illustrator's on-screen antialising. And then someone tells you you're in the clear. But are you? Not so fast.
Let's assume the artwork is destined for commercial (color-separated) printing. Further assume the color of the autotraced black is 100% K, and the color of the autotraced green is 100Y 50C. Three inks involved. None of those three inks are shared between the two objects. So even if the paths do, in fact, perfectly abut, there is no "wiggle room" built in for the minor alignment shifts that almost aways do occur on press.
Bottom line: Even if you do determine that the common antialiasing aberations that frequently occur on-screen in Adobe apps is just that—just an onscreen aberation, that does not necessarily mean your file is suitable for commercial color-separated reproduction.
First, you need to understand that autotracing is not the one-click, instant "conversion" of a raster image to vector artwork that far too many think it to be. Just like everything else, you don't just launch a program like Illustrator, start autotracing things willy-nilly without understanding what's really going on. Just like anyting else, you can use an autotrace feature intelligently or...well...not.
You have options. Illustrator provides an auto-trapping feature. Read up on it in the documentation so you understand what it's all about. Alternatively, you can expand the results of your autotrace, select all the black linework and apply a composite color that includes 100% K and reasonable percentages of C, M, and Y (a so-called "rich black"). Or,depending on the artwork and the desired results, you may consider doing the autotrace as centerlines so you have stroked paths, not just filled paths for the linework. That way, using the flood fill (so called LivePaint) will cause the auto-created fill objects to extend to the paths, not just to the edges of their strokes. Then set the linework to overprint.
At any rate, if you are doing this professionally, you need to read up on the principles and practices of trapping and color separation.
JET

Change color of scanned line art

I'm want to scan a line art of a leaf, make the white background transparent, and change the black lines to red. I can scan the art to Photoshop, get rid of the white background, but I can't change the black lines to red. After scanning, the background layer is locked and won't allow editing.I tried scanning as a bitmap, b&w scalable, 16 color, etc. Nothing works.

Image > mode > grayscale, then image > mode > RGB. Then create a solid fill layer layer > new fill layer > solid color. Pick your color and set that layer's blend mode to screen.
Not sure how you're deleting the background, while keeping the leaf on the background layer. But if you make it a grayscale or RGB image, you should be able to convert the background layer by going to layer > new > layer from background.
If you do manage to get the layer off the background you can clip the solid fill layer to the leaf layer by having the solid fill layer active and pressing ctrl-alt-g, or by alt-clicking the space between the two layers in the layers panel (you'll see you cursor change).

Converting photo to line art?

I have Photoshop Elements 5.0 and want to know if there is a way to take a photograph and convert it into a line art image. I have tried a combination of a few different filters and have not been able to get the results I am looking for. Any thoughts?

It is not easy, and works best if image does not have a great deal of texture. Try this:
Open image
Duplicate background layer
Filter>other>High pass. Want small radius
Filter>sketch>Notepaper. Try image balance=25, Grain=0, Relief=0
Filter>adjustments>threshold. Work slider to get black & white image
Use pencil tool to get rid of stray pixels

(PDF) Should line art require so much disk space?

Hi,
When I save Photoshop files to PDF for easy transport to the printers, and I make sure all the text remains vector (not rasterized), the document becomes unnecessarily bloated.
(NOTE: When I say vector, I don't mean including the fonts. I mean tracing the text shapes and keeping it all as uneditable line art.)
This is a surprise to me, because we're talking about vector/line, here. Not pixels. Why does a page full of line-art text require so much disk space? Am I doing something wrong?
There's a text document I'd like to save and place online, and I couldn't imagine it requiring more than 500k - 900k... but as long as I keep the text vector, I can't get it under 3-4 megs.
I just need confirmation that this is normal, and something I have to live with if I want to keep the text un-rasterized.

I think you might be right. I ended up formatted the disc then creating a brand new fresh back up which worked. Now it seems to be restoring in the correct manor.
Thanks for your assistance

Photo to line art, help needed

Hello - I'm struggling with a rather simple task: turning this image (http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3641/limb1.jpg) into basic, b+w, vector line art. I'm not sure of the best approach. I've considered making a grid of squares and warping it to fit the shape, or using the pen to more or less trace the image...unfortunately, the image is poorly shot + lit so I can't use any automated trace tools. I'd love some help if someone knows a good approach!
Necessary info: os x 10.5, CS2.

I assume you have a high res version of the photo. Working in Photoshop, I would adjust levels to bring out the squares. Then use dodge and burn tools to further isolate them (you may have to paint in a couple). Then you can probably get a decent auto-trace. Of course, by then you could have traced it.
To trace it you could simply draw lines horizontally and vertically, in line with the squares, then convert them to a live paint object and fill in the intersecting squares.

Scan a line art

I am a new user of Photoshop--I am running CS5 Extended on my Windows 7 Pro. PC.--I created a vector line art in Corel Draw X5 that I want to scan into Photoshop for painting.can I print the line art on white paper,then scan into PS--If so what format(TIFF,JPG,PSD,etc)--will I be able to select parts of the closed areas of the line art to paint after rasterizing it or bitmapping--my goal is to be able to import vector line art from one application to PHOTOSHOP to paint.

Hi, there is a simple way to get your Corel vector artwork into Photoshop. Save your artwork as an EPS and then open the EPS in Photoshop. This will rasterize the vector artwork, so set the resolution at 300. Also, set the color to CMYK (if you use RGB to do your artwork, you may get some strange color shifting if you switch to CMYK later on).
If you need to select areas of the artwork, use the magic wand tool and create a mask. Be advised that the magic wand can sometimes produce fuzzy edges, so I would create a large version of your vector artwork that can be reduced in size when you're finished. This will help to reduce any fuzzy edges. You can also use the expand/contract feature when you make a selection to futher reduce this effect but it takes practice to get the masking right.

Sending line art to Photoshop?

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