1. | Import an EPS, TIFF, BMP, PCX, or PICT file into a rectangular picture box. For this first attempt, we suggest you use an image that's silhouetted on a white background. |
2. | To layer a picture, make sure its box has a background of None. (Select the box, click the background icon |
3. | Choose Item > Clipping (Cmd-Option-T/Ctrl-Alt-T). |
4. | Note the green line around the image in the preview window, which denotes the clipping path, as you choose from the Type pop-up menu |
5. | As you choose any of these optional settings, click Apply at any time to preview the current settings in the document: Click Crop To Box, if available, to have the clipping path stop at the edge of the box. Click Rescan to restore the original path. Check Invert to switch the cropped and visible areas Figure 3a. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas with the Invert option on—only pixels in the outer fringe will print.Check Outside Edges Only for an Alpha Channel, Embedded Path, or Non-White Areas (not Item or Picture Bounds) clipping path if the picture contains a blank hole or holes where the background white shows through, and you don't want the clipping path to include them. With Outside Edges Only unchecked, an additional clipping path will be created for each hole Figure 4a. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Outset -15—the clipping path shrinks slightly inward.Figure 4b. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Outset 15—the clipping path expands slightly outward. |
6. | Choose Tolerance settings for an Embedded Path, Alpha Channel, or Non-White Areas type of clipping path: For an alpha channel clipping path, the Noise value (0–288 pt.) is the minimum size an area near the border of an alpha channel must be to be included in the clipping path ( Figure 5a. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas at the default Noise setting of 2 pt.—the clipping path includes extraneous pixels outside the oval.Figure 5b. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Noise 30 pt. —the extraneous blobs aren't included in the clipping path.Smoothness (0–100) makes the clipping path more or less smooth by adding or decreasing points ( Figure 6a. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas at the default Smoothness setting of 2 pt.—the clipping path has many points, and hugs the image precisely.Figure 6b. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Smoothness 75 pt.—here the clipping path is smoother, but it's less accurate.Threshold works with an Alpha Channel or Non-White Areas clipping path ( Figure 7a. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Threshold 2 —the clipping path includes the gray background.Figure 7b. Clipping Type: Non-White Areas, Threshold 10 —the clipping path ignores the gray background. |
7. | Click Apply, then click OK. If you'd like to reshape the clipping path, follow the instructions on the page 201. |