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Serene_observer5E99
Inspiring
July 19, 2021
Answered

Embedded images in pdf file opened in Illustrator cut to pieces

  • July 19, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 4415 views

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I have a pdf file created by someone else from which I need to extract high-rez illustrations. Normally, I'd open the pdf in illustrator, release the clipping map, select the illustration and unembed. But the images in this file are divided/cut up into many separate pieces, each of which has to be unembedded and then reassembled somehow.

I'm sure there must be a better solution than opening each portion and reassembling the image in photoshop, right? Is there a way to make all of the pieces into a single illustration file again?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Ton Frederiks

Illustrator is not a PDF editor, so the best thing to do is ask the someone else who created the file for the original.

If that is not possible you could have a look at the Links or the Control panel to find the ppi of the fragments.

Select them and Object > rasterize them at that resolution. You may be lucky and do not see any lines where they are combined.

3 replies

Participant
March 22, 2023

HERE IS A LITTLE HACK FOR YOU GUYS 

1. JUST OPEN THE FILE IN PS AND INSTEAD OF SELECTING THE PAGES JUST SELECT THE IMAGES AND SAVE THEM.

2. REPLACE THE IMAGES

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 22, 2023
quote

HERE IS A LITTLE HACK FOR YOU GUYS 

1. JUST OPEN THE FILE IN PS AND INSTEAD OF SELECTING THE PAGES JUST SELECT THE IMAGES AND SAVE THEM.

2. REPLACE THE IMAGES


By @Raza29005407mnn6

 

As Larry already wrote 2 years ago.

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 20, 2021

Could you try opening the PDF in Photoshop and select the images tab to see if the embedded copies will work?

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 19, 2021

Illustrator is not a PDF editor, so the best thing to do is ask the someone else who created the file for the original.

If that is not possible you could have a look at the Links or the Control panel to find the ppi of the fragments.

Select them and Object > rasterize them at that resolution. You may be lucky and do not see any lines where they are combined.

Serene_observer5E99
Inspiring
July 20, 2021

That solution actually worked...thanks.

BTW, nothing about this project is ideal, so the best solutions aren't even an option at this point...the files were created years ago by god knows who and I only have what I have to work with.

Do you have any idea how the image was broken into different pieces like that? It was (and is) for a print job, not web, so I can't figure out why it would have been created like that.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 20, 2021

Good to hear that worked.

The breaking up of the image is probably caused by transparency flattening.

During flattening any transparency gets removed and images that are affected by transparency may get split into new non transparent fragments.