Unable to add color over line art.

I'm using CS2 and have the following issue. I've scanned some line art (white paper, black ink) into the computer and opened it up in PS. Some of the larger areas of black were spotty, so I went over them using PS black. Many layers above the background, I'm unable to mark anything over the initial line art. I'd like to add dots of white (stars in space) and I want to have a narrow border of green, with black on both sides. No luck with either. I am working in the top layer, and none are locked. Am I missing something glaringly obvious?

What is the mode and color depth of your file?
What exact version of CS (Photoshop )? What OS?
Can you post a screen shot of the Image menu > Mode > ? Ditto for your Layers panel.
Please read this FAQ for advice on how to ask your questions correctly for quicker and better answers:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/419981?tstart=0
Thanks!

Similar Messages

Coloring inside line art?

Pretty quick and simple question: if I've made a drawing using the line tool, how do I color inside my shapes? Currently my file is just a mess with hundreds of layers each containing one individual line. The only way I found was to open the image as a .png file and use the magic wand. It kinda messed up the lines, so what's the simplest/best way to do this?
PS: I don't have Illustrator.

Are your lines flattened, so that they are embedded on the white background? if so, make the background layer a regular layer, then change it's blend mode to multiply. Put a blank layer below it. Use the magic wand tool or some other tool to select the area you want to color then use Select>Modify>Expand to make your selection slightly larger than the area. You can then paint on the new blank layer, and the top layer will only show the black of your lines.

Unable to add a new line item to a sales document when hitting save

Dear All,
When ever the end user save the sales quotation document, a new line item has to add automatically with a default item with some quantity.
I am trying to solve this issue with user exit USEREXIT_SAVE_DOCUMENT_PREPARE in SAPMV45A. But it is not allow me to do so. Is there any solution?
Thanks in advance.
Regrads,
Suresh Yerra.

Write the proper code in USEREXIT_SAVE_DOCUMENT_PREPARE, it will solved.

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

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).

Darker Places on line art make colors a different shade?!

So yesterday I was coloring line-art that had some dark areas in it with bright colors and it worked perfectly fine with the "background copy" layer on multiply and still the bright colors worked perfectly fine. Now for some reason When areas in the line-art are dark the bright colors are darker on layer 1! (not background copy" I have restarted my computer (mac) and force quit the application and tried again but nothing is working! I have no idea what is going on and this is very weird. The link below shows EXACTLY what is happening on my screen . The locked background layer is on "normal" Background copy is on "multiply" and Layer 1 is on normal! This was not going on yesterday and I am very worried. Note that The color I am using is bright red and it turns dark red on the picture. I am using a screen shot I took from the picture I found. But the bright red is perfectly fine on the white area. Please help I am using PSE9.
Link to what is going on: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16bzog3&s=8#.U4ON6i_TbTc
- DrawingLover524

Open the file with the line art
Place a blank layer above this
Use the brush tool to paint on this layer. The brush tool utilizes the foreground color.
By using a small brush, you should be able to paint within the confines of the black lines. If you need to tidy up, use the eraser tool.
If you want to try with an adjustment layer, do this:
Open file with the line art
Open a color fill adjustment layer above this with the color of choice
Temporarily reduce the layer opacity of the adjustment layer so that you can see through it to visualize the line art
Left click on the mask (the white rectangle)
With a black brush, paint where you don't want color. If you go too far, correct with a white brush. Black hides, white reveals.
Reset adjustment layer opacity to 100% when finished
Tips:
D on keyboard sets color chips to default
X toggles between foreground/background colors
The bracket keys on the keyboard increase/decrease the brush cursor size
Sent from my iPad

Multiple different colored vertical lines all over screen?

I have quite a few different color vertical lines across my screen. They are yellow, purple, blue, green etc. It started with just one or two and now there is probably close to 75, some tightly grouped and others here and there. Can anyone tell me what it is? Is my video card going out or something? Is there anything I can do to stop it?
Thanks

Hi all
I have a single red vertical line down the very left edge of the screen of my 2006 17" MacBook Pro. It has appeared over the last day or so and is there most of the time, although it occasionally disappears for a short while.
Do you think this could be a similar issue?
Thanks very much.

How can I easily change black line art to a colour? (Or color?)

I have line art on a transparent layer. That is, it's not part of a white layer, but just black on nothing. I want to easily change that to a colour without changing the quality of the line. I know I can put a screen layer above it with a colour and that makes the black coloured, but it only shows up if I flatten it on to white. Otherwise, that's exactly the look I want, just not on a flattened white layer. I need to keep the line on the transparent layer so that I can paint under it, so I can't flatten it on to white. I also don't want to select the line and fill it as that significantly changes the quality of the line. I just want to change the colour of the line without chaning it's density, or any pixels. Any idea how to do this?

I believe your layer with lines has pure black pixels with transparency producing it's gray appearance. An adjustment can't make black blacker than black
A mask is grayscale without transparency. So if you convert the transparency to a mask, you have grayscale pixels in the mask which can be affected by an adjustment. The result will be a change in the appearance of the masked layer.

Convert photo to line art?

Dear Forum,
I am trialing Elements and Illustrator but cannot find a solution in help or the forums, or any book at Borders, so I hope someone can help. I am looking for a way to convert photos (JPEGS) of flowers to black line art......like a coloring book, not just black and white or grayscale or sylhouette. I will then print out the line art (1-2 pixel black line art) to clear acetate for use as a positive original for creating a silkscreen via photo emulsion exposure (and then silkscreen printing the line art to fabric for hand painting). I am doing this by hand now.....place a sheet of acetate over the photo and outlining "edges" by eye with a fine Sharpie, then using that as the positive original. See attached file for an example. The line art needs to be relatively detailed ( e.g. petals, stamen, leaves) but not absolutely perfect as I only need to print guide lines on fabric for subsequent hand painting. It seems easy to do by "eye", tracing edges of color or tone change, but I have not figured out how to make that happen in Elements or Illustrator. Of course I have only had the trial for a couple days, and have used live trace, posterization, etc, but have not been lucky. Please point me in the right direction. If I can make this happen with an Adobe product, then I will buy it.....I have hundreds of photos to convert. Thanks.....Bob

If you use Threshold, you can add some gaussian blur to the image to make the edges smoother. You can also add a brightness/contrast adjustment layer between the blurred image and the threshold layer to fine tune the edges.
If you have Windows, you might want to look at Medhi's Fine Threshold filter (freeware) found here:
http://www.mehdiplugins.com/english/finethreshold.htm
Edit: You could also use Find Edges on the image first; desaturate it; then use a threshold adjustment layer. Go back to the Find Edges layer and add gaussian blur to taste. To further fine tune, slip a brightness/contrast layer between the blurred image and the threshold to control line thickness/detail. (FWIW, I would make a copy of the Find Edges layer and blur the duplicate so if you change your mind you don't have to start the project from scratch.)

Need to add a cut line around text with a stroke

This has been driving me nuts for years and I've often found ways to "kind of" accomplish this, but I figured someone here might be able to help.
Create text, convert to outlines, add a stroke. Ok now I want to add a cut line around that entire thing so it's dye-cut out on vinyl. My cut line is just a stroke with a color defined in my pallet. I can create 2 strokes, but I can't figure out how to get one to go to the edge of the other. I also tried duplicating the image, creating just an outline, but it's impossible to get it exactly outlined by hand.
If I'm not explaining this right, please let me know.
So there I have the text, converted to outlines, white fill and gold stroke. I need to be able to dye-cut this. If you add a new stroke, it's on top of the old one. Basically I want to add a stroke, to the stroke, but only the outside.
Thanks in advance!!

Thank you Larry. I kind of followed what you said but I think there's some steps missing here?
I'm glad you showed me how to create additional strokes without creating outlines, I was never clicking above "character", I had to click above it to add a new stroke, if you have the text selected, it's greyed out.
Ok so I created a new stroke, then selected it, went to FX > Path > Offset Path. I chose 0.02 (closest I could seem to get, but not perfect, ok in some areas, bad in others), miter joins set to 4? Are those the same settings you used? You didn't tell me how much you offset yours. Then I selected the offset path stroke and went object > expand apperance, but it didn't seem to do anything? It just removed the offset path FX option on the stroke? This is where I'm pretty confused. Why even do the step after the offset, couldn't I just stop there and print?
After adding a stroke and offsetting
After selecting Object > Expand appearance.
As you can see, like on the C. There is a gap between the cut line and the stroke at the top, but there's no gap on the left side, but there is on the right, and there is on the bottom as well? If I printed this, I would get white fill, gold stroke, and then another white stroke basically.
Thank you for your patience, I'm self-taught but over the last 4 years of using it every day I'm still learning new tricks!

How I fixed the colored vertical lines on my Mac Powerbook G4 17"

Hello all,
I know that many people with a Powerbook G4 17" are suffering from the colored vertical line problem on their displays. This is were a pixel wide vertical line of color (yellow, green, purple, red, and/or blue) randomly appears on the laptop's display, usually between 24-36 months after purchase. This is also known on various internet forums as the "bridget riley effect" -- named after a painter whose art looks very similar to this effect. Many, if not all, of the laptops that suffer from this defect are 17" displays and have a serial number that starts with W8. Mine starts with W85; you can check yours by looking underneath the battery. It usually starts off as just one line, then two, then a few months pass and before you know it your screen looks like this:
This is my screen two years after the first line showed up, which was two and half years after getting it in December of 2005. Not so pretty. And completely useless without an external display, kind of killing the purpose of a Laptop. As a film editor I needed my screen to see the images and more importantly I needed it to be mobile. There's not always a screen to plug into.
I tried getting Apple to fix the problem, but apparently they're just ignoring the fact that almost all the laptops that came from this certain factory in Thailand (indicated by the serial number starting with W8) have failing displays. They delete threads and forums on their website, and try to censor and ignore the problem as much as they can. Unless some huge media blitz happens, or there is some kind of legitimate lawsuit, I highly doubt they ever will do anything about it, and you can't really blame them. They are a big business and addressing this problem with cost them potentially millions in repairs and tarnish their reputation as a quality manufacturer, and Apple's biggest commodity is its reputation. It ***** that Apple allowed this kind of thing to happen, but as things stand right now, it would be a poor business decision to fix it.
So, fellow vertical line sufferers, AKA the W8 club, my advice to you is stop holding out hope that they will pay for your screen to be fixed and get it done yourself! If you do it right you can get it done for between $60-$99. Here's how I did it.
First off, know that this is a hardware problem. There is no setting in system preferences you can change that will make the lines go away. There are failing physical parts in your computer to blame and they need to be replaced.
Second, in order to keep things as cheap as possible, you are going to replace the parts. It's actually pretty easy.
Thirdly, you are going to need a whole new display. I thought maybe if I replaced the display data cable (the cable that runs from the computer under the key board to the back of the screen) it might solve the problem very cheaply, since a brand new one only costs about $9 online. I took the computer apart, replaced the cable, but the display did not change at all. So the problem is the screen, not the cable. I needed a whole new screen, however, a brand spanking new one can cost between $350-$600. So I went on eBay, typed in my computer, and looked for computers that were being sold for "parts" or "repair." These are usually much cheaper because they are not working computers, but you don't need the computer to work, you just need the display to work. If you do this, make sure you read the descriptions. If there's any mention of display problems, move on and keep looking. You don't want to replace the display only to have the lines show up all over again a few months down the line. They wont always give you the serial number, but obviously try to stay away from serial numbers that start with W8. I found a used Powerbook being sold for parts for $63. It didn't have RAM, or a Hard-drive, or screws to keep the keyboard on, but the display apparently had no issues. With shipping and handling it cost me $94 total and three days to get it. The serial number started with V7. I'm sure with a little patience and vigilance, you can find something just as cheap or even cheaper.
NOTE: Some powerbooks have High-Res display screens, so make sure you know which screen yours has so you know which to look for.
Now, how to actually replace the display. I used an awesome website called ifixit.com. They give you detailed easy-to-follow instructions with photographs. I'll let them give you the nitty gritty of how to replace the display. Here is the actual How-to guide I used:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-PowerBook-G4-Aluminum-17-Inch-1-1-67-GHz- Display/258/1
The only tools you really need are a small phillips head screwdriver and a T6 and T8 Torx screwdriver (they are starred on the end, as oppose to crossed like the end of a phillips head). They say you need a "spudger" but I didn't. You can get these at any hardware or auto-parts store. Return them when your done if you are really on a budget, but you might want to take more part from this new computer in the future, so your call. You'll need to print out the instructions first, or use another computer to follow them since you obviously can't use your Powerbook. Find a flat, well-lit work space, preferably near a TV so you don't get bored while working, and use the how-to guide to switch the old display with the new one. It only took me a couple of hours to finish the whole thing, and I didn't have to pay a repair man hundreds. My display works perfectly now! It's so nice to be have the mobility of a laptop again (especially since the computer i got off of eBay came with a battery that can actually hold a charge).
NOTE: There are a bunch of screws and a few small parts that will need to be taken out while replacing the display, and its important they all go back in their proper spots. So I highly recommend you take a long piece of tape, loop it, and stick it flat onto the side of your work space. As you take out each screw or small part, stick them in order to the tape. This way nothing gets lost and when you work backwards to put your computer back together you'll always know which screw or small part is next in line and which one the how-to guide is referring to.
I really hope this helps people with this problem. This seems to be the only solution. And for less than $100 bucks, I think its worth it, especially since you now have back up parts for any other part of your computer that might fail in the future. My disc drive stopped working recently so I'm replacing it with the one that came with the computer I got off eBay; a $90 part. I tried to make this as easy-to-follow, practical, and comprehensive as I could -- for as cheap as I could. GOOD LUCK!!!
-R

I suspect not. There are long threads with hundreds of reports, most with PowerBooks whose serial numbers began with W8 (or W85). Still there is no Repair Extension Program for this issue.
At this point, your only recourse is to discuss the issue with Apple Consumer Relations at 1-800-767-2775, if you are in North America.

PSE 7 Need to transparent the background of a line art logo and name

PSE7 How do I make the background transparent behind a line art logo (a lily and my name)? There used to be a tutorial about a line art map in black and white, but I can't find it. Thanks.

There are several ways. One way:
1. Select>All
2. Edit>Copy
3. add a black color solid fill layer
4. alt (option) click on the layer mask in the layers panel
5. Edit>Paste (your pasting into the layer mask)
6. Filter>adjustments>invert (invert the layer mask) Ctrl(cmd)-I
That gives your logo on transparency (the logo will be black, so if you want to change the color, you clip a color fill layer)
transparent:
on color:
layers:
color changed (solid color clipped ) Layer>Create Clipping Mask
Message was edited by: R_Kelly

Best File Format For Online Line Art?

I thought the conventional wisdom was that all line art for the screen should be saved as GIFs, all photographic line art should be saved as JPEGs.
Then PNGs came along and offered an alternative to GIFs.
I've been exploring this because I've been having a problem when exporting line art from Illustrator 8 as a PNG and opening it in Fireworks MX, where it appears washed out.
I did a bit of research among comic strip artists -- the art I'm exporting from Illustrator is a comic strip -- and came up with conflicting results.
Dilbert seems to save black and white line art as GIFs, e.g. http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2008611230313.gif
... But its Sunday colored strips seem to be saved as JPEGs, e.g. http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2008040261966.jpg
Meanwhile Donnesbury seems to save colored comic strips as GIFs, e.g. http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2008/db080406.gif
Any thoughts, suggestions?
Thanks.

I assume your line art is drawn as vector art in Illustrator, correct?
As far as I'm concened, the "best file format for online line art" would be .swf, because it would retain its scaleable vector nature, and the Flash Player is most likely embedded in any reasonably recent computer's browser.
But a little simple experimentation would be in order regarding file size. SWF (as exported from Flash, not necessarily AI) is very efficient. But the complexity of the line art could still make a given image require more bandwidth as .swf than as a rasterized version.
The former conventional-wisdom regarding PNG is the old "not supported in older browsers" saw. I see even Firworks's online help still says:
> However, not all web browsers can view PNG graphics.
Personally, I think its way past time to stop cow-towing to outdated browsers and use PNGs anyway. So if it were me, and the nature of my line art required rasterization for online use, I would use PNG for its obvious advantages. But then, my livlihood is not affected by some minority of outdated web viewers not being able to view my PNGs.
I would think that whatever color problems you are having in getting your AI files exported to PNG can be worked out with a little investigation/experimentation. (PNG supports color management profiles, so that alone may be your problem, and may be easily fixed in your workflow.) GIF is by definition limited to a subset of colors. JPEG is by definition a lossy compression format. So there are certainly precise color-accuracy issues with those overused formats, too.
But again, that's just me. What little I do in web graphics that would involve this issue doesn't really affect my livelihood. Lowest-common-denominator compatibility may be more important to you.
> Gilbert seems to...
> Doonsbury seems to...
The two images are very close to the same size (132K & 125K). They both include contone grads. Between JPEG and GIF, I would expect JPEG to more consistently yield acceptable results. Since GIF is limited to an 8-bit lookup table, I would expect aberations such as unwanted banding to be more likely in GIF if the artwork contains many colors and alot of highly-rendered shading.
Since you specify
line art, though, that would rule out contone fills, and you could use GIF with a very small color table.
On the other hand, you do not specify whether you want to use transparency in your line art images. If you do, PNG would be far superior, because it supports true alpha transparency. In a GIF, if you can only make one particular color transparent. So even with line art, if the line art is antialiased at all, you'll have the ugly halos so commonly seen in GIFs when displayed on a wrong-colored background.
The only functional "advantage" that I see in GIF over PNG is its multi-image capability, for quick & dirty frame-by-frame animation. My personal animation efforts focus entirely on Flash/SWF, and use scripted animation whenever possible to avoid frame-by-frame. But I recognize the simplicity convenience of animated GIFs for web banners and those (often-annoying) moving icons and such.
JET

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

How do I 1)use airbrush type tool in illustrator CS4 or 2) use PS4 airbrush tool on vector line art?

That's basically my question in a nutty nut. I am drawing illustrations in Illustrator,
can't find an airbrush tool there, so I export to Photoshop to use that airbrush and the
lines pixelate. I want the clean, vector lines of Illustrator with the yummy fuzzy airbrush tool. In short, can I go back and forth from Illustrator to Photoshop without the line art ping ponging between pixel and vector?

See this PDF for one approach. The subject was really more about exploring ways to exploit Isolation Mode, but it does so in the context of a poor-man's "airbrush" effect.
I want the clean, vector lines of Illustrator with the yummy fuzzy airbrush tool.
In reality, then, you're not wanting vector artwork to look like vector artwork. Here's the thing:
Vector artwork, is by its fundamental nature "hard edged." That's one of its advantages and one of its disadvantages. Soft-edged fuzzy effect (and its sister, texture) is one of the mainstays of raster imaging. It's one of the main reasons why there are two primary kinds of computer graphics.
Historically, soft edges and graduations are primarily done with Blends and Graduated Fills. A Blend is really just a semi-automated stack of multiple paths with incrementally changing color. Grad fills are mathematically-defined variations of a path's fill color across the path. Generally speaking, grad fills are limited to a small set of geometric shapes. For most of Illustrator's history that was a very limited set: linear or radial. So when you needed to render tonal graduations in more elaborate shapes, you employed Blends.
More recently, programs have acquired a newer construct, which is an elaboration of grad fills: Mesh Grads. Mesh Grads are also mathematically-derived and remain as such up to print time--that is, they are vector. They offer more control over the shape of the color transitions. But that control is quite tedious, and is not at all like painting with an airbrush.
That's about the extent of it when it comes to maintaining "clean, vector edges". With skill and discernment, the results can look just as realistic as airbrush work, and it can be entirely vector. But the interface for doing it is not an emulation of painitng with an airbrush.
Far more common than a purely vector tool in a vector drawing program that tries to act like an airbrush is the workaround of applying filters or effects to vector paths. Doing that is not purely vector: It's actually rasterization that is re-applied whenever you edit the paths. If you set such an effect as the current default, then you can draw paths with the Brush tool, the Pencil Tool, or really, any of the vector path tools, and that's about as close to emulating an airbrush in a vector program as you'll get. The PDF mentioned above employs that kind of approach. But you should understand, you're really creating raster images when you do that. It's just that, rather than the raster images being "nailed down", they are effectively deleted and re-created on-the-fly if you edit the paths to which the effect is applied.
Illustrator isn't great at this. Other programs--Xara Xtreme in particular--do it much faster and responsively. But again, even though it retains the lossless editability advantage of vector art, the soft-edged effects are not really vector art. The are on-the-fly rasterizations of vector art.
Look up Blends, Grads, and Mesh Grad in Illustrator's Help files.
JET

Unable to add color over line art.

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