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[Burger]

I have a poster I have to print out, which has a logo and some text over a dark blue background. I also have a graphic (vector, quite complex) of a horse that I want to put behind the text. Now I have desaturated all the colour out of the horse, I kind of want it to blend right into the background, as if it's hardly there.

The easiest way I found to create this effect was to lower the transparency to about 15-20%. This looks great, except all the ends of objects and things that would otherwise be hidden come through and ruin the effect.

I tried different transparency options, played with Knockout Groups (which I couldn't get to do anything) but to no avail.

Help me GAF, your my only hope!

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

I'm not too sure what the problem is, but it sounds like a clipping mask would do the trick. Post a pickie of the problem please.

 

[Burger]

No it's not a problem a clipping mask can solve. I might have solved it by using the pathfinder/merge function to crop anything unseen. I'm just going to output it to have a look...

 

[Manabanana]

Illustrator nuts? Ha! Anyone who uses Illustrator is a nut. That thing is an exercise in futility.

 

[lachesis]

Make the horse as simple as possible, by utilizing pathfinder (unite) and make it as compound path (object-path-make compound path). That should solve the problem.

As for the logo design, Illustrator is the king. As much as I love photoshop and others, some stuff just cannot beat good ol' vector art...

lachesis

 

[DaCocoBrova]

You want a border opacity around the horse... That's simple I'd imagine. Just use the wand tool.


Yes, I am talking out of my ass.

 

[chimpychi]

Illustrator nuts? Ha! Anyone who uses Illustrator is a nut. That thing is an exercise in futility.

pfft..I love Illustrator...as for your problem I'm not exactly sure what you mean...you want the horse behind the text?..is the horse placed behind the text already?...what objects are coming through?...

 

[Manabanana]

Make the horse as simple as possible, by utilizing pathfinder (unite) and make it as compound path (object-path-make compound path). That should solve the problem.

As for the logo design, Illustrator is the king. As much as I love photoshop and others, some stuff just cannot beat good ol' vector art...

lachesis

I just wish it were simpler to use. I usually just get pissed and make a really big file in Photoshop. I have a pretty steady hand, so it turns out fine.

 

[Amneziak]

It'd be easier to help if I could see the poster, but try selecting the horse and enabling "Isolate Blending" in the transparency palette. While you're there also try the different blending modes (maybe Hard Light).

And whoever said Illustrator users are nuts obviously just doesn't know how to use it.

 

[Manabanana]

And whoever said Illustrator users are nuts obviously just doesn't know how to use it.

True dat.

 

[Amneziak]

Oh well, it can be frustrating at first. I've been using it for a few years now and there are still things that piss me off. But you'd be surprised what can be done with it.

This one blew me away, done by Japanese artist Yukio Miyamoto:

Even zoomed in, it still looks like a photo.

 

[Burger]

I fixed it. Used the merge pathfinder to fix the objects. I used it to change this:

Into this:

You can see the transparency was making the hidden paths become visible, ruining the art. Don't know why the Knockout Group option wasn't working for me though.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

Oh well, it can be frustrating at first. I've been using it for a few years now and there are still things that piss me off. But you'd be surprised what can be done with it.

This one blew me away, done by Japanese artist Yukio Miyamoto:

Even zoomed in, it still looks like a photo.

Holy jesus! That makes me weep.


Oh I see now, I was thinking the problem was where the horse met the text.

 

[Manabanana]

Oh well, it can be frustrating at first. I've been using it for a few years now and there are still things that piss me off. But you'd be surprised what can be done with it.

This one blew me away, done by Japanese artist Yukio Miyamoto:

Even zoomed in, it still looks like a photo.

:eek Holy moly! That's amazing.

 

[Amneziak]

At least you found one solution, but I still don't think you had to use Merge; did you try grouping the horse first, then selecting Knockout Group BEFORE adjusting the transparency?

 

[Burger]

Just tried it now and it didn't do shit.

 

[Manabanana]

Did you try holding it upside-down and tickling its tummy? My brother liked that when he was little. (DON'T post the geyser pic.)

 

[carpal]

Can you post a link to more of those photorealistic jawnz?

 

[Amneziak]

Here's a detail on the horn, and another of Miyamoto's works. This artist is amazing. He probably has a website, but I don't know it.

Here's some of mine, which pale in comparison, but what the hell. Here's a Porsche 911 Carrera I did a while ago:

Some of the detail:

And a blatant rip-off of American Beauty:

Also, I did my avatar in Illustrator.