How do I crop a photo in Illustrator?

[_Mark_Nadell_]

I can't believe I can't figure this out. (I came over from Freehand, and it was simple).

All I want to do is:
1) Crop a placed photo within Illustrator
2) Create a border around it.

I can't seem to find the answer in any help file. Is it so simple in Illustrator that they don't explain how to do it? I don't want to create crop marks for the entire image, just crop off part of a photo without going back into Photoshop. How?

Thanks very much.

Mark

[Fray55]

Thanks, that's all I needed.

[crowfly]

YES! Adjusting the art board, then when exporting, clicking "Use Artboards" was the simplest, most effective solution.

Thank you.

[Qwertyfly___]

This stops the extra White space in exported images.

it is a question I have been asked many times.

[Monika Gause]

Use a clipping mask.

If this does not answer your question, please elaborate

[HelenaCromwell]

Thanks for bringing this up, as I too have

issues with photo illustrator.  I  have problems saving my picture once I've made changes to it.

[bachelor_of_fine_arts]

kindly please do help me to find where can i find the clipping mask in adobe illustrator cs5? pls!!! thank you

[KC29]

With Illustrator open, click on "Help" at the top of the screen, then "Illustrator Help", then in the Search field type "Clipping Mask"

[Commmm-oggzt2]

you can't crop an image in Ill. so U have to make clipin' mark it

[JETalmage]

And here we are, four years (and hundreds of dollars) later. And illustrator still cannot perform one of the most taken-for-granted functions in graphics.

JET

[SeniorSSS]

And here we are, four years (and hundreds of dollars) later. And illustrator still cannot perform one of the most taken-for-granted functions in graphics.

Not quite right for my opinion. It have been done for a while ago. There is a tool - Artboard Tool. It's do crop function and actually they made it look more like crop tool in PS.

[brandbrilliance]

Actually Illustrator wasn't intended as a raster operations program, hence it doesn't have a "true" image cropping tool, e.g. crop and render the image. It's more a layout program, where you can non-destructively include the original linked images without making it permanent. Both primary methods allow you to change the  mask and contents separately.

The easiest ways are:

• Path Clipping [easiest] -- which leaves the original image scalable and is non-destructive. Either click the MASK button on the image (toolbar) or Simply draw a path over the image where you want to crop it (e.g. a rectangle, but it can be a circle or other random shape too) and select Make Clipping mask. Highlight both the path (on top) and the image (underneath) and right-click select
• Using an Opacity Mask [more complex, features]-- this is achieved using the transparency mask, is more complex, but allows you to do gradient fading and cool stuff like that. Again, non-destructive and can be changed afterwards.

Both covered in the Adobe Tutorial.

Image-cropping techniques | Adobe Illustrator CC tutorials

There are other "cropping" methods, which include using an artboard, using slices.

[Kris Hunt]

matth86069857 wrote:

I've gotten into it with some people (who all work for Adobe) on other forums about these programs being unnecessarily complicated and intentionally confusing. I'll send the link to this thread over to them for sure.

3 full pages on how to simply crop something in Illustrator!!!

And as expected the "MVP" posters only insist that you cannot crop something in Illustrator because they are brainwashed into only using Adobe's semantics. As has already been stated here by people who really know what's going on, all you actually have to do is use the artboard tool... you'll recognize it by the icon that looks like... what else, the crop tool!!! or SHIFT+O. Scale the crop/artboard to what you want to keep, then on export select "Use Artboards" under "Save as Type."

DONE!

I hope you're trolling... because wow.

[Guest]

Follow the steps given below so that you can crop your Photo/Embedded image as you desired/required in Illustrator.

1) Select the Photo/Image you want to Crop then press Ctrl+Shift +Alt +2 to lock all objects other than you selected.

2) Make a clipping mask of your Photo/Embedded image as you required.

3)Choose the "Group Selection Tool" from the Tools palette and choose View>Outline or press Ctrl + Y. It will change your screen to Outline mode. Now select your clipping path(which you created to make a clipping mask) using the "Group Selection Tool" then "Copy" and "Paste in Front" or simply doing by shortcut Ctrl + C and Ctrl + F. Dont Forget to bring back your screen to the Normal mode by using the same shortcut Ctrl + Y.

4)Now fill the path with white ensure the stroke should be none.

5)Choose Window>Transparency and choose the "Multiply" from Blending Mode then make a Opacity to 0%.

6)Choose Select>All or press Ctrl + A.

7)Choose Object>Flatten Transparency give 100 to the Raster/Vector Balance next give desired resolution to LineArt and Gradient Mesh then Check off for all other options and press OK.

Now your photo/image has been cropped as you required.

[Jacob Bugge]

bedo,

Regardless of version it may be done by:

1) Create a rectangle where you wish to crop the image,

2) Select the rectangle and the image and Object>Clipping Mask>Make,

3) In the Transparency palette/panel dropdown list select anything but Normal (Multiply is fine),

4) Object>Flatten Transparency, just keep the defaults including 100% Vector.

[Guest]

you are right!

[Guest]

This direction for clipping or cropping doesn't work for me. Keep getting message saying cannot clip more than one object? Still in a pickle, crop wise.

[Guest]

Also, how do you select Rectangle, the Image, and the Object with Clipping Mask option all at same time?

[Jacob Bugge]

Ryan,

You should be able to create a Clipping Mask containing one Clipping Path (the rectangle) on top of one or more objects (raster images, vector artwork, whatever), by selecting all and then use the dropdown Object>Clipping Mask>Make or the keyboard combination Alt/Option+O+M+M (hold Alt/Option and press O then M then M).

I have to leave for a while, 1:33 PM here.

[EricaLynneLarson]

We've recently created videos explaining two methods of doing this.

With Clipping Masks:

With Opacity Masks:

I hope you find these helpful!

[Jacob Bugge]

Erica, others,

This thread is quite unique.

[EricaLynneLarson]

You're right, it's a lot of discussion for a task that's as simple as cmd7. However, to be honest, a clipping path would not be my first instinct as a new user. Especially with the Crop tool in Photoshop.

[Jacob Bugge]

Even more than that, Erica.

In this thread we have been discussing this subject for more than four years now, ever since it was brought up four months ago, in the OP of this thread.

You may also have a look here, from post #5 on,

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1021391?tstart=0

and look at the Views count in the thread list.

[Guest]

hii

the illustrator was built for vector files u cant crop a pixel photo in a vector software but you can make a clipping mask  u have to choose the object and the shape u want tp crop ( the shape must be on the photo ) and then click shift + 7

i hope it was usefull my friend

[JETalmage]

...u cant crop a pixel photo in a vector software...

Really?

Maybe you  should explain that to the makers of FreeHand, Draw, Canvas, Fireworks, Designer Pro...

JET

[rotten_69]

I'd try using photoshop