Importing A Tiff with background Transparency

[coreywilliams@adobeforums.com]

I have Illustrator CS and I am trying to import a tiff with a transparent background.
When I open it in photoshop 7 the background is transparent.
But when I paste or place it into a layer in illustrator it contains a white background.
How can I get it into Illustrator with background transparency?
Why is this happening?

[Larry_G._Schneider@adobeforums.com]

corey,

Is the Tiff file layered? When you copy it, depending on your clipoard selection, it will get flattened which will cause the transparency to disappear. If you place it, the transparency should be honored. Try saving the file as a layered .psd file and place that version.

Larry

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Save it as a.psd file.

[coreywilliams@adobeforums.com]

Saving it as a .psd in photoshop then placing it in Illustrator worked like a charm.
Thanks Guys!

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

OK, but why do we suppose AICS won't honor transparency in a layered tif, even if it's Placed? (I just tried it... AICS fills the transparent background with white as corey indicates.) Isn't AICS "supposed" to see transparency in a tif? Or it doesn't, it never has, and I just never knew this?

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Doug,

Save a transparent tif file with the save transparency checked in tif options.

Place in Illustrator CS.

The message that pops up answers your question. :)

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

It's pretty new that the tiff format supports transparency at all. I think that started with Photoshop 7. If I remember right, before PS6 you couldn't even use clipping paths in Photoshop tiffs to clip out your transparent areas. But it's beyond me why Adobe wouldn't see to it that the transparency option they made available in PS didn't translate into CS.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

JK, I get no message when I Place the tif in AICS. Do you?

I DO get a message, however, in PS when I first save the with transparency checked. It tells me some programs don't support tif transparency. Is this the message you're referring to? A PS message, not an AI message?

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Yes, I do get a message.

That tiff file format is not supported.

Are you saving the transparent tif with the option save transparency checked on in the tif options window?

I am not talking about the layers checkbox.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

AI CS does not support layered tiffs or advanced tiffs and that has been around since PS5.5 I believe. It is a feature request of mine that AI CS support layered tiffs.

Warning or no warning that is the problem.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

John is talking about the message you get in Photoshop after checking the option for transparency.

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

No, I am talking about the warning that Illustrator generates when placing the tif file.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

It does no such thing what you are referring to is that if you place a 16 bit tiff fie it is not supported. Just having a transparent tiff does not generate the warning as it simply gets flattened!

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

Wade's usually right about this stuff, but I'm curious why when I save a tiff from Photoshop the only thing I need to do to generate the "not supported" dialog in AI is to click on save transparency. With every other setting precisely the same, AI will import the file without any warnings, but the image of course isn't transparent. Does adding transparency force PS to save as 16-bit? and if that's the case, the difference seems more semantic than otherwise and John is still correct.

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Hmmm…Really?

Would you like me to send you a test file to place? (or anyone else who would like a file)

Because, I can reproduce the message on 3 different Macs, and 2 Windows boxes. Also, by creating the grayscale tif file on both platforms and on different macs.

Yes, 8 bit and yes transparency.

Now, if you save a transparent tif file WITH layers checked but save transparency NOT checked, then the file IS a flat file in whatever application the tif is placed into. Only opening back up in Photoshop will see the layers and transparency.

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Does adding transparency force PS to save as 16-bit?




No, that is not the case.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Oh I see if the the tiff is a CMYK layer tiff it will generate the warning and if it is an RGB layered tiff it will not generate the warning. John many professionals work in AI CS in RGB as they are going to be working back and forth from AI to Photoshop and other apps that have filters and features only available in RGB and they only convert
to CMYK at the point of sending to Pre press if it is going to press.

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Yes, but that does not rule out grayscale transparent tifs.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Yes it does as grayscale is really one process! Grayscale also has limited support unlike RGB.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

So guys, here's what I get when I link-place tiff files WITH TRANSPARENCY into AICS:

RGB tiff w transparency: no warning, successful link-place, transparency flattened to white.

CMYK tiff with transparency: warning "That tiff file format is not supported" AND THE FILE WILL NOT LINK-PLACE.

Grayscale tif with transparency: "That tiff file format is not supported" AND THE FILE WILL NOT LINK-PLACE.

So it's not simply that the transparency isn't supported (and will be flattened) in the case of CMYK and GS, it's that the file in these format WON'T EVEN PLACE!

Is this exactly what you all get?