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Known Participant
April 26, 2022
Answered

how to remove the checkered background to leave image transparent

  • April 26, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 8321 views

Hi I am brand new to Adobe Illustrator,

Hence a newbie question. I have purchased an .ai file from Adobe stock and want to know if I can remove the checkered background to leave the clouds transparent ?  Is this possible and if so could it be explained in baby steps super easy to follow for me.

 

Thanks so much to all.

 

Rob

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Monika Gause

OK  so I resized the white artboard as you said, and I can just about make out the clouds due to the subtle shadows.  So am I now able to export this as a transparent PNG file to be able to reimport into photoshop are are there more stages to go ?


You could export this as a transparent PNG (PNG 24)

Or you could even export it as a PSD (keeping main layers - which might or might not work, depending on the details)

Alternatively: Place the AI file in Photoshop as a Smart Object.

 

Whichever seems most appropriate for your workflow.

3 replies

Mike_Gondek10189183
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 26, 2022

Can we see a screenshot of your layers palette.  Please zoom in also on your art. You may be able to trash a background layer if they put it on its own layer.

Known Participant
April 26, 2022

Ive downloaded an ai file from Adobe Stock, its in isolation and not in a project yet. As part of my enquiry I was looking to see which Adobe platform I need to open the .ai file in. So I am downloading Illustrator I will import the file and get back to you here.  Brb shortly

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 26, 2022

Please check out this video I made about this kin d of files. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiqm5hdQA5A

Known Participant
April 26, 2022

Your video is very helpful Monika, thank you so much for sharing. I am working on a project in Photoshop, is it possible to do the same thing from within Photoshop or must it be done in Illustrator?

 

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 26, 2022

That depends on whether there are blend modes (Multiply or the like) used in the graphic. If that ios not the case, then you could try and delete the checkerboard in Illustrator (this must be done in Illustrator).

 

Also it might be the case that your artwork is rather small (or let's better call that tiny). So you would need to enlarge it in Illustrator - I would use Illustrator for that, because you cannot know how they built this. Inside Illustrator that artwork is scalable, outside of Illustrator maybe not.

 

Then save as AI file (with PDF compatibility). Then open in Photoshop. It should be transparent then and you can put something behind it.

 

But this will all fail, when they used blend modes in the file.

Jacob Bugge
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 26, 2022

Rob,

 

You can try to expand the Layer(s) in the Layers panel and see whether it shows the chequered background at the bottom of the same Layer as the clouds or in a lower Layer.

 

You may very well need a background (colour), or the artwork may look funny.

 

Known Participant
April 26, 2022

Thank you for replying Jacob, Monika shared a really easy Youtube video to follow for newbies like me. But thank you for your willingness to try and help me.