scanned handwriting to photoshop to illustrator... 2

[jdubz]

hey all...
okay, what i have is a handwritten document (black ink on white paper)that i want to scan into photoshop then get rid of any background (including white) and then grab the text and bring it into illustrator so i can then resize and such.

i know it's a newbe question, but i've searched...

thanks in advance.

 

[barehug]

Anything scanned will be raster art, you will have to convert the handwriting to vector art.

Adobe streamline can do this, also Flash. If you don't want to buy, do a google search for raster to vector conversion free/shareware.

or

1. In Photoshop, use the wand selection tool to select the white then invert the selection, paths palette convert the selection to paths(alt while pressing will give more options). Then export paths to Illustrator.

or

2. Illustrator has a limited tracing tool that may be good enough for you, you could clean up the image in PShop(define the areas to convert and make the background white), place it in Illustrator and use the trace tool(behind the blend tool in CS) to select the handwriting.

Moe: It could have been a real ugly situation, but luckily I managed to shoot him in the spine.

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

You can also just make a new layer above the signature layer then using the pen tool in photoshop make the path of the signature. This will give you a vector path which you can then export to AI and resize, or keep in photoshop and resize.

Hope this helps!

NATE

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

Got a question? Search G O O G L E for links to the fastest answers: www.google.com

 

[jdubz]

thanks both of you for the help....

unfortunetly it's about a page of handwriting, and so doing the pen tool really isn't an option. the problem with magic wand is that there are loops, and it can be time consuming to go in and magic wand all the loops...

now what i've also tried is going in and deleating all the channels except black and then doing all the inverting and such, but there has to be an easier way, maybe?

thanks.
jw

 

[signal49]

To get the loops inside the letters and export the paths to Illustrator like BareHug suggested: Select -> Color Range... Then with the eyedropper, click on the color in your image window that you want to select (in your case, white). Then you can adjust the slider to mask more or less of the other colors. When you're satisfied with the contrast, click OK, then follow barehug's instructions. This method allows you to select all of a particular color/shade without trying to fiddle with the magic wand.

 

[mscallisto]

Here is an Advanced Background Extract tutorial that shows a nice way to create the path without being so time consuming.

Where handwriting can be a challange, this may (or may not) help.

It's a quicktime movie that has helped me with similar difficult extractions.

http://www.russellbrown.com/body.html

choose the Advanced Background Extract tutorial

much luck

 

[mscallisto]

I should have added ... click "more tips" then choose Advanced Background Extraction

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

Is this image just black an white? If not make it completely black and white. Adjust your levels as needs and then go in with your paintbrush and touchup any spots that are slightly grey or faded etc.

Then do the following:
Select All (Ctrl+A)
Cut (Ctrl+X)
Quickmask Mode (Q)
Paste (Ctrl+V)
Get out of Quickmask (Q)
Invert the Selection (Ctrl+Shift+I)
Choose Default Colors (D)
Edit > Fill > Foreground Color
Deselect (Ctrl+D)

Done. You have now perfectly extracted your black and white signature using quickmask. You don't have to mess around with the magic wand or color range or anything. This will give you a perfect extraction. Now you can turn this into a vector shape and export to AI or whatever you want to do with it.

Hope this helps!

NATE

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

Got a question? Search G O O G L E for links to the fastest answers: www.google.com

 

[mscallisto]

SPYDERIV

I tried this with a scanned type font and the selection was flawless.

From the path tab I did a make workpath from selection and found the horiz and vert's to be perfect but the angles and curves require quite a bit of bezier work.

Am I doing something wrong or is the nature of the beast?

 

[barehug]

Did you lower the tolerance when coverting the selection to a path? hold 'Alt' down while clicking and lower the tolerance (the lower the tolerance = more accurate, but more anchor points).

Moe: It could have been a real ugly situation, but luckily I managed to shoot him in the spine.

 

[mscallisto]

Ah much better...tolerance was 2, plus I didn't know I could go to tolerance .5

Thanks to both very helpful worth a star

 

[jdubz]

very cool... thank you all!