The next step is to prepare the images. Adobe®
Photoshop® was used for these examples.
Note: If
you are planning to generate a PDF from QuarkXPress™
you should save images as EPS files in RGB color
mode. The RGB color in GIF images will become pale
or "washed out" because Quark™ uses
the CMYK color space and will shift RGB colors in
the process. Although QuarkXPress version 4.1 now
supports printing using the RGB color space you
should achieve the best results if you use RGB EPS
images.
Photoshop version 4.x does not
support background transparency in images using indexed
color. GIF images use indexed color and the bulb image
is a GIF file. The onscreen appearance of the image
depends on whether you are using Photoshop version 4.x
or 5.x. I have provided different screen shots for each
version.
1. Launch Photoshop and click File > Open
and select "bulb_small.gif". You will see
the dark red background color if you are using Photoshop
version 4.x. This color appears transparent in your
browser because this color has been set as transparent.
Your browser may support GIF image transparency but
Quark doesn't so the image must be saved in EPS format
with a clipping path. The image mode for the GIF format
is "indexed color" because it supports a maximum
of 256 colors. We want the EPS file to be an RGB image
so the first thing to do is to change the color mode
from indexed color to RGB.
Click Image > Mode > RGB Color, then File
> Save As and choose the Photoshop (*.PSD; *.PDD)
from the "Save As" pull down. Enter "bulb_small.psd"
and click "Save".
Photoshop 4.x
Photoshop 5.x
2. Click the magic wand tool. In the Options palette,
click the "Magic Wand Options" tab. Enter
zero in the "Tolerance" field and un-check
the "Anti-aliased" box. Click anywhere in
the background then click Select > Similar.
Your image should look like one of the screen shots
below with all the background pixels selected.
Photoshop 4.x:
Photoshop 5.x:
3. Next click Select > Inverse (Ctrl-Shift
"I" Windows® or Cmd-Shift "I"
Mac®). This will reverse the selection so all the
remaining pixels are enclosed by the selection marquee.
Photoshop 4.x:
Photoshop 5.x:
4. In the Layers palette group, click the "Path"
tab to bring up the Paths palette. Click the arrow on
the right to bring up the Path Options Menu. Choose "Make
Work Path".
5. In the "Make Work Path" dialog, enter a tolerance
of 0.5 pixels. Click "OK".
