Ok,
after I scan the drawing as a 300 dpi image, I save it onto my desktop. I save
it as a PSD file since I always end up opening it with Photoshop. I also make
a backup copy of it, just to be safe.
1.
I open the file I just scan into Photoshop, I use Adobe Photoshop 7.0
under Mac OS X.
2.
When I open the image into photoshop, the image will be in a layer called
"Background", but I need to seperate the image from the background.
There is a problem, since I scanned it in as B/W, photoshop will only let me create
new layers if its in RGB mode.
So
I go to Image->Mode->GrayScale
Do
it a second time Image->Mode->RGB
Now
I'm able to add multiple layers to this image.
3.
Next I create a new layer above the "Background" layer and call it "Line
art" (Labeling your layers is a good practice, easy to search through when
you have thousands of layers."
4.
Now I want to move the image from the "Background" layer to the "Line
art" layer. First I click on the "Background" layer. Then I Select
All, Copy the image , and Delete the image from the "Background" layer.
Finally I click on the "Line art" layer and Paste the image into the
layer
5.
Now I need to get rid of all that white in the "Line art" layer.
I use the magic wand and select a white area on the layer.
While
the area I picked is still selected by the magic wand, I go to Select->Similar...that
will select everything that is white. I press delete and now I have a line
art with a transparent background.
Remember
the image is still 300 dpi. Also, if you're wondering about how I got that checkboard
effect... Notice in the Figure 4, the "Background" layer doesn't
have an "eye" icon, that means the "Background" layer is hidden.
I can make the background appear again by clicking in that box again. The same
princple works with the rest of the layers in Photoshop.
That's
all for now - be sure to check back as I continue on the topic!
