Clipping Paths are for simulating transparency when a file is placed into a page layout program like Quark. They don’t do anything in Photoshop.
What you can do is make your Clipping Path (or any path) into a selection and then inverse and delete or make a Layer Mask. Or you could make a Vector Mask out of it. Both methods will give you transparency.
Thanks for the info. I find it currious though that it works in PS CS, which I just tested, but not in CS2. CS2 won’t recognize its own clipping paths. Is this truly the case?
In order for you to "see" the transparency in Photoshop, you have to actually use the function of the path, that is, load the selection made from the path, invert the selection, and then hit the Delete key. Photoshop will then, without hesitation, show you the transparency you desire.
What do you mean, "It works in PS CS?". What exactly are you doing and how are you doing it?
Ed,
Here us what I am doing, and have been for at least the last three versions of PS.
Let’s say I have a picture of a person in front of a brick wall and I want to remove the brick wall and put them in front of a shopping mall. I use the pen tool to carefully outline the person. Once the path is complete, I save it as Path 1. I then select clipping path and assign a flatness of 0.5 px. I save the image as a Photoshop Encapsulated PostScript file (.eps). I open up my picture of the shopping mall and place the .eps file on it. In Photoshop CS (1) and earlier versions the silhouetted person shows up without the brick wall behind them, leaving the mall in full view.
This is the methood I have used for years. My work recently purchased PS CS2, I still have PS CS at home. Last night I tested this methood at home and it still works in CS. When I perforn the same process in CS2 here at work, the subject is not silhouetted, rather the entire background and the person show up when I place the eps file over the mall. Also note that the placed layer is placed as a smart object in CS2.
I understand that this maybe a change in programming for CS2, and I understand that if I place the eps in a different program like Illustrator, the silhouetting works just fine. What I don’t understand is why Adobe would make this feature not work inside photoshop. It’s a perfectly acceptable need to have to silhouette and place inside the same program.
Lastly, maybe there is a new way to do this in CS2. I don’t however like turning my path into a selection due to the fact that the path method creates a smoother silo where as the selection gets choppy as it make its way around the pixels.
Sorry for being so long winded. I just wanted to be clear.
Thanks for bearing with me,
Nate
That’s the long way around the barn. Just turn the Path into a selection and make a Layer Mask, or use the Path to make a vector mask. No need to save as eps at all.
"No need to save as eps at all."
True but you loose the function of placing the file which gives you flexibility in scaling up and down. Granted that I could drag the silhouetted layer onto the mall pic, but the largest the silo can be w/o pixelation is it’s actual size. Sometimes the source files aren’t the correct size for your needs. That’s where placing gives you just a bit more room to scale up, not tons but more than nothing.
" That’s the long way around the barn. Just turn the Path into a selection …"
As I said before, I don’t enjoy using the selection for certain reasons. See my previous post. I agree that it works, but for the benefits of placing, I was hoping not to have to use it.
I guess the point of my original post was to find out why I can’t use my preferred methood, which works in CS and prior versions, anymore. I know all about different ways of removing a background from the Quick Mask Mode to the Extract Filter. I’m not arguing that my way is best, I just miss it and wonder why it’s functionality doesn’t exsist in CS2.
True but you loose the function of placing the file which gives you flexibility in scaling up and down.
??? since when?
(And yes, I know about smart objects, but those where introduced in CS2)
The OP is talking about CS2.
Appparently thed Clipping Path eps won’t work in CS2?
But as I mentioned, the path could be made into a Vector Mask. Would scale (Transform) as well as a Clipping Path.
Also, maybe saving as pdf would work. You can place pdfs.
"But as I mentioned, the path could be made into a Vector Mask. Would scale (Transform) as well as a Clipping Path."
Ahh yes. Sorry, I didn’t pick up on that the first time around. A vector mask is scalable, you’re right.
Thanks!
The OP is talking about CS2.
But he also says his preferred method works in CS and prior versions which is what confused me. I thought he meant placing files allowed scaling in versions before CS2. My bad.
I have to agree with Nate. Placing an EPS is preferable in certain workflows.
I’d like to know <i>why clipping paths are now ignored when placing a Photoshop EPS</i> — previous versions of Photoshop didn’t behave this way.
