Extract Embedded Images…did you know that…

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

there is actually a feature in Illustrator to do this even though it is not called Extract Images?

Not only that once you extract the image you can update it as well  you do not have to lace it again and reposition it.

When I saw this and realize it was there I could not believe it as it has been asked so many times and there have been numerous work arounds.

The reason I think it has passed everyone by is that it is not located in the links panel.

So to the chase.

Edit>Edit Image

and then

Edit>Update Image

The former opens the embedded image in Photoshop

edit it there and then save it

then back in Illustrator go to the latter and it will be updated.

Never noticed this before.

The only draw back is that it seems to only work on one image at a time.

I wonder how many users here knew about this little feature?

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

False Alarm

It is a plug in I have from Phantasm.

OOps My Bad.

[Nicholas_van_der_Walle]

LOL!

Hi Wade - glad you found this feature of Phantasm CS Studio at last

It's probably the tool I use on virtually every occasion with Illustrator. A further insight can found found in movie 13/13 on this page: www.astutegraphics.com/products/phantasm/

However, if you have a multiple selection, it is typically possible that you can edit all embedded images in the selection in one go. This should also apply to updating the images.

Hope this is of help,

Nick

PS - glad you thought it was an actual feature of Ai - we have worked hard to make all tools in the Phantasm CS range appear as if it's native to the program to improve usability.

[Mario Arizmendi]

I was going crazy trying to find that feature in AI CS3 and CS4....I was thinking to my self...hmmmm maybe Wade has the CS5 top secret version

Don't worry Wade, I have that kind of "oopss" every time...

By the way, that Phantasm plugin seems to do very cool things...!

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

I think it is a very helpful set of tools and when I use one of them I do forget that it is a plug in.

[PrepressPro1]

I'm still using the workaround of saving out a PDF to open as image in Photoshop.

[Silkrooster]

Why not just relink the image if you want to edit the photo in photoshop?

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

What if you no longer have the image or it was sent to you by someone else already embedded?

[Silkrooster]

Good point, I have a tendency to assume things. So...

[PrepressPro1]

What I do is hide all ememets execpt for the embedded image. Then I save the illustrator file out as a PDF and open it in Photoshop as an Image. This should give you a Photoshop file of the emdedded image at the correct size and resolution. You can save this as a .psd and go into Illustrator and relink it to the embedded image without having to resize or move it.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

That is what I used to do and not to promote a plug in but Phantasm

does this in a couple of clicks.

One to extract and one to update.

[PrepressPro1]

I would check out the plug-in if I had to do this type of thing more than a couple times a week. Plus the name Phantasm reminds me of that creepy movie Phantasm from 1979. (Shiver)

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

Well as I wrote I realize this was something that was I was not aware

of as a feature f the plug in and it seems to work fine.

I am not quite sure what the source of your criticism is in this

regard but be that as it may be I have no reason to discuss a third

party plug in

pro or cons unless someone asks about one.

[MMazor]

SOLUTION:

Save the Illustrator file as PDF and drop it into File Juicer app to extract embedded content.

[olpr1234]

An easy way to extract images from an illustrator is to simply save the file as a SVG file..

When you choose save as svg, you can choose if the images should be links or embedded, and if you select links, illustrator will put the images in the same folder as where you save the svg file..

[Nicholas_van_der_Walle]

An interesting method, but one which I fear would only support RGB. Illustrator embedded images can be bitmap (mono), grayscale, RGB, CMYK or multi-ink. Each of these can have an alpha channel - again something which would need testing with SVG.

Another method would be to drop the file into Acrobat and then extract the image from there.

We recently published an article on this topic: Last minute embedded image editing. Hope that's of some help too.

[Guest]

Nicholas, where might I find this plug-in which I've heard has brilliant, Photoshop-like color controls for Illustrator's vector art as well?

[_scott_ · Accepted solution]

The really cool part is linked images can be edited by Option-Double-Clicking, just like Indesign.

Doug,

http://www.astutegraphics.com/

Great plug in.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

ScottWeichert wrote:

The really cool part is linked images can be edited by Option-Double-Clicking, just like Indesign.

Doug,

http://www.astutegraphics.com/

Great plug in.

I'll giveScott the correct answer for doing something I should have done.

Doug you will love it.

[Guest]

Thank you both. Will check it out right now.

[Guest]

(Um, option-double click on a linked image to edit it in the raster application of your choice is a native Illustrator feature, Scott!)

[_scott_]

Well then, great I do have Phantasm installed and wasn't 100% certain that the option-double-click was due to that.

[Nicholas_van_der_Walle]

Hi Scott - LOL! We won't take credit for that linked image feature. Phantasm CS Publisher allows you to convert an embedded image into a linked one, but I'll stop the sales pitch now...

[Nicholas_van_der_Walle]

Hi Doug - due to the time difference, I wasn't able to beat Scott or Wade who kindly answered your question!

If you have any specific questions about the plugin, please let me know via here or our contact form: www.astutegraphics.com/contact/

[wazi9909]

I think Adobe illustrator should have this feature included in the later versions. I wouldn't be happy to first buy an adobe suite, and then for a small tiny feature I need to buy another 3rd party software or plugin. This is pathetic.