change bitmap black channel to colour?

MM
Posted By
matt_mccambridge
Dec 3, 2003
Views
1989
Replies
7
Status
Closed
Hi,
Does anyone know if it is possible to change the black channel in a B&W bitmap to a specified colour?

I would still like the white areas to be naturally transparent in Illustrator, once placed.

Cheers,
Related Tags
bitmap black channel change color

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RC
Richard_Coencas
Dec 3, 2003
Matt,

Switch to RGB, convert to Layer 0, use magic wand to select black. Use edit>fill to change color. Invert Selection and delete white. Now save as a file type that illustrator can handle. PSD, EPS or Tif ought to work.

A bitmap can only be black and white and does not support transparency, so you have to convert it to get what you want.

Rich
MM
matt_mccambridge
Dec 4, 2003
Thanx Rich,
I thought that was the case. The reason that I would’ve preferred to remain as a bitmap is to keep the file size low & that a placed bitmap in Illustrator naturally knocks out the white areas to be transparent.

So, to have the white background remain transparent for a placed RGB image, I’ll have to include a transparency in the form of a .psd?

Does a .tif support transparency?

Is there anyway to further reduce the file size of the image (all that white space seems to be a waste), besides LZW compression?

Cheers,
RC
Richard_Coencas
Dec 5, 2003
Tif does support transparency. Not sure of the answer to your second question. There are other image types that support transparency, like gif, and ping, but I don’t know if those will work in Illustrator.

Rich
EW
Ed_Wurster
Dec 5, 2003
wrote…
Hi,
Does anyone know if it is possible to change the black channel in a B&W
bitmap to a specified colour?
I would still like the white areas to be naturally transparent in
Illustrator, once placed.

Hi Matt.

I made a bitmap file in PSE, drew a line, and copied the entire image. I switched to AI and pasted this. It is a black line with transparent background, and I can see objects whoich I draw and place behind it.

Is this what you want to do?

Ed
RC
Richard_Coencas
Dec 5, 2003
Ed,

I think he wanted the bitmap to have a color other than black.

Rich
EW
Ed_Wurster
Dec 5, 2003
wrote…
Ed,

I think he wanted the bitmap to have a color other than black.
Rich

I was able to select my transparent bitmap and change the color of the black pixels to ssomething else.

Ed
MM
matt_mccambridge
Dec 7, 2003
Ed,
was your bitmap an actual 1 channel or something else like RGB/CMYK etc.

If it is a single channel bitmap, I would love to know how you changed the black to another colour!

Cheers guys,

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