--- How to get rid annoying background colors???? I miss my bezier curves! ---

Hello and thanks for reading my post! I'm hoping that someone can help me out.

Although Flash is supposed to be a vector-based program, I find it noticeably lacking a pen tool with which to draw bezier curves! I'm putting in a large number of graphics which I silhouetted in Photoshop by drawing around them with the pen tool and eliminating the background. I read that Flash doesn't recognize Photoshop EPS files so I realize that that doesn't mean I have a transparent background. When I import them into Flash, I have a white area around the graphics which I need to get rid of.

My dilemma is trying to get rid of the backgrounds! There don't seem to be any Flash tools which allow me to do this easily. Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing??!! What I did was to break apart the image (and in some cases I traced the bitmap). At any rate, I have a bunch of 'pixels' which I can select and delete. I've tried using the magic wand and also the lasso to select the errant 'pixels'. But because my images are aliased, I have to manually delete every little white box that is around the edges. And then I've found that even though there doesn't appear to be any white pixels left, I still am getting an ugly white pixelated edge around some areas of the image, which no matter how deeply I cut into the original image, they stubbornly remain.

Then I tried to silhouette my images by using a mask. I drew around them with a pencil and then filled it in, but I guess because it wasn't a 'shape' (more like a collection of 'shapes'), Flash wouldn't turn it into a usable mask. I also wasn't able to get those nice, smooth rounded edges that I get when using the Bezier pen. Instead, I have a bunch of squares and circles and lines. There *must* be an easier way to do this!!! It takes me two forevers and the result is not usable anyway.

What should I do??? Is there some way of exporting the Photoshop path to Illustrator and then doing further with that? Or, can I create a solid black shape in Photoshop to import into Flash, break it apart and use that as a mask? Or would that give me those same pixelated edges?

AAAAAARGH!!! Please, help me, someone!!!!!

Thanks...............

I have the sae problem. Can anyone help us!!!!!

Please, I'd love to hear all suggestions! How does everyone else do it???

Thank you!

'ding'

have you tried using the line tool
you draw a line then bend and curve it around the white parts
then delete thepart outside the lines

d4demon has got the right idea you really need to work creating curves with the line tool, im sure you know how you draw a line then roll over the middle of it til the curve icon appears then drag it around

The way that ive done it in the past when i need to be very pricise is to 1stly break apart the image and the get rid of as much of the back ground as i can or i dare using either the laso tool or the magic wand. Then i use the line tool and take the picture a curve at a time, i draw a curve around a section then make it into a box. By doing a big square away from the image then fill it in and deleat it all includign the line. Then you should get a clean edge. Use a colour that stands out like red or blue then you can seewhat your doing (its only going to get deleted so it doesnt matter)If u find that drawing curves over your images disrupts them....then try drawing the curves away from the image then drag them over

If you are more familier with the photoshop tools try putting a different colour background on your image something like bright blue then when you are going around it in flash it is far easier to see where and what youve gotta do

Also play around with the flash preferences take off snap to grid and snap to object this should make it easier to be more precise when drawing

It is just a time consuming job

I really hope this helps u sound so stressed
post back if this is of any use to you or if u have a problem good luck

PHENIA

ok this is it ive had a re-think what u need to do is save you image in photoshop as a PNG (24-bit) with transparency. U can use the PHOTOSHOP tools to do your selecting.

Ok this is how its done (I HOPE) open your image in photoshop and select the background, i.e the bit that u dont want to be there in flash...Then invert the selection and you should have hold of the bits you want....OKAY?

Then copy them and open a new window and make sure that transparent is clicked in the content menu on the new window pop up box, paste your image into the box and there should be a checkered back ground.

Now click on SAVE FOR THE WEB a window should open with your image in it click on transparency in the top right hand menu below the ok, cancel and output settings box and in the settings pull downbar (which is above the transparency tick box) select PNG-24 then press ok

Call it what u want and press save

now go into FLASH amd go to import....find where youre PNG is and open it......

and haypresdo you should have the image you want with no white background

PLEASE WRITE BACK AND TELL ME IF THIS WORKS

PHENIA

i did it before many times.
first.u need to work inphotoshop.
let the image be transparent when u import to flash.
for that u need to export with transparent background in photoshop
the when u import it to flash.u need to rub it manually.
if u can't do this.
kindly send ur image file to me.
i will try it.and send it back.(my mail id is in my sign)
victor.A

Thanks everyone, for your good suggestions! I usually draw a path around my images with the pen tool, then save it as a path. I can export with the clipping path into other applications and have a nice silhouette, but Flash is very different. I never tried making a transparent PNG - in fact, I haven't made ANY PNG's! I guess I should investigate that format. Is it generally smaller than an optimized GIF or JPG? Of course I can't export JPGs with transparency <darn>. In those cases when I want to use a JPG, is there any way to create a mask for that image? I can see myself using alot of JPGs because I use alot of photos in my work.

Any ideas on how to create a working mask? I tried making it with circles and squares but that didn't work. Does it have to be one large filled image or can I make it with several 'pieces' that are grouped together?

I'm going to try making transparent GIFs and PNGs today and see how they work. I'll probably get the jaggies on the GIFs but it should help to eliminate at least some of the work in cleaning up the edges.

Thanks, everyone!

OK, I tried a couple of things and here were the results:

I wasn't able to import ANY kind of image with a transparent background. :-( A Photoshop EPS wouldn't even import into Flash4.

The best result I had was to draw my path in Photoshop with the pen tool and save the path. I filled the background with a color as close as possible to my textured background. That was the first file. The second file I copied the path from the first file then filled it with black. I saved both as GIFs and imported into Flash. I did a 'trace as bitmap' on the clipping path (now a solid black image with white background) and selected the white areas around it and deleted. I WAS able to make this a mask for the other image, but still was disappointed by jaggies. I finally decided to use the first image alone, trace as bitmap and rid myself of as most of the background color as possible. Wow, this is a tedious way to create silhouettes from photos. It is my wildest hope that Flash will incorporate a Bezier pen tool in their next version for oldtime graphics artists like myself who rely on paths for all my silhouetting needs.

Perhaps I'm a bit picky, but I really hate the jaggies. <GRRRR>

To PHENIA - I tried the PNG method with transparent background but it still imported with a white background.
:-(

If ANYONE has any suggestions, please let us know! And thank you all for your kind replies, I appreciate it! :-)

'ding'

Does anyone know how to import a PNG into Flash 4 and retain the transparent background?

If so, please help!! And thank you!!!! :-)

'ding'