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

[Bojan Živković]

You can "crop" bitmap image in Illustrator using clipping mask and Clip to Artboard option in Save for Web dialog. Trick is to set artboard bounds to same size as clipping path. - See more at: http://adobephotoshopsecrets.blogspot.com/2013/01/crop-and-save-bitmap-images-for-web.html

[Guest]

Mark,

How did you do with the clipping masks? I just started a new job and the files have a ton of clipping masks built into them. It's driving me crazy. Any tips you can give me?

[Guest]

I opened a cs6 illustrator file in CS5 and it doesn't retain any of my layers. If I purchase CS6 I should see my layers, right?

[Larry G. Schneider]

You will need to resave a CS6 file as a CS5 file for the Layers to be retained. Did you not get the warning about losing data when opening the CS6 file in CS5?

[Fobioid]

Cropping raster images is possible with Rasterino, a plug-in by Astute Graphics.

[Macsalag]

1. Select the image that you want to crop ( measure how do you want to crop it )

2. Ctrl+C

3. Run Photoshop > New File  ( size and Color settings are already set )

4. SHIFT+CMD+V ( Paste in place - as smart object )

5. Crop Image.

6. CMD+C ( copy )

7. Back to Illustrator.

8. Delete old Image

9. SHIFT+CMD+V ( paste in place )

10. Have a nice day

*CMD(MAC) = CTRL(PC)

[Kurt Gold]

Same procedure as every year:

Wasn't the original question: How do I crop a photo in Illustrator?

[Macsalag]

Croping for Artwork - Clipping Mask

Croping for Print - Save as PDF or other format ( output file remain the size of the artboard )

[EricaLynneLarson]

Hi everyone,

There are a few Adobe resources out there that show you how to use masks to get an effect similar to cropping in Illustrator, including videos and text explanations. We have now started experimenting with a new format: Visual Tutorials, which use illustrations and minimal text to teach you a technique. If you are wondering how to "crop" an image in Illustrator, follow the Visual Tutorial for creating a mask.

I hope you find this helpful! If you are interested in other Visual Tutorials, try removing redeye in Lightroom.

[Guest]

make me want to jump up and down with frustration

[Subin_ck]

Use clip mask.. that's the easyest way!

[brandbrilliance]

Quick Crop

If you only want to crop the image in a rectangle, then the quickest way is in CS5 or greater to click the MASK button in the top tool information section (between Trace and Opacity). This creates mask immediately the same size as the image. Then you can click the two smaller toolbar buttons on the very left (if the masked object is selected) to toggle between the mask (clipping path) and the raster image. This allows you to independently size/change each one.

Shape Crop

The second method is a bit more steps, but you create any shape you want, e.g. draw a polyline or use the pen tool and refine your outline. Once you are happy with the outline, select both the outline and the raster image and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make in the menu (or CMD+7 on Mac).

In both cases, Illustrator creates a mask group and in the Layers you will be able to select the mask and the image and move/change them separately (on most older versions as well). You can also copy new images into the mask by double-clicking into the mask group and then pasting a new image. This is handy when you have a lot of evenly sized thumbnails and you want to first line them up and then one by one replace their images inside the masks.

What's also good is to drag a file onto the art board, then illustrator creates a linked file, which can be updated without including it directly into your illustrator file.

If you are on a Mac, and you are running Mavericks, you can also use Preview's built in tools for cropping, auto-background removal, lasso and smart lasso (via the editing options), which all are very easy to use and is very quick (no Photoshop required).

[Guest]

You can not crop image in Illustrator.

[Guest]

Here is a link to a video explanation: click here

[Testunit]

It's not a function for a app like Illustrator but you can make something similar with the commands "Paste in place & Make Clipping Mask".

For that you can draw a shape and then put the image or shape or whatever you want, over the new shape with the crop size. Finally place the two objects inside the doc like you want the crop. Select the two objects, select Clipping Mask from the Edit Menu and try Make. The result of that was a clip form the original content inside the new shape...

I apologize for my grammar... if you need more info about this technique, please let me a message and I try to explain me better...

All the best!

[DESIGN LOG]

use to 'cliping mask' skill

[brandbrilliance]

Here is a Adobe Illustrator Tutorial on how to do it:

Image-cropping techniques | Adobe Illustrator CC tutorials

[Guest]

Hey I'm a new one to using adobe illustrator.So this tutorials are really great. That may help my company staffs Techshoutme

[anjar91]

You can making a mask in illustrator..
but you can't crop any thing..

But I think it has same function..

just different name..

[PenCreation]

Clipping masks are awesome for this.

• Just draw a square/shape over the area you want to keep.
• Select both the shape & image.
• Right click > Make clipping mask.
• If the shape is not quite the right size or proportion you can later edit this with the direct selection tool (white arrow).
  
  Hope that helps

[chanaart]

You cannot crop an image but you can use:

Clipping Mask or Opacity Mask.

Use ArtBoards to crop by saving it as a PDF

If this does not work for now I am using AstuteGraphics plug in they have a crop tool!

www.astutegraphics.com

Chana

[Qwertyfly___]

+1 for astutegraphics

I use VectorScribe

[chanaart]

I use all of their pluginns!!!

[CarlosCanto]

here's a script that crops Raster Images, I didn't come up with a method, I just cooked up a script based on the original answer given here by Harron.

Image Crop Script | Ai Scripts

[Doug A Roberts]

maestro!