A

Anonymous

Answered

What happened to Tiff with alpha/transparency?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
September 6, 2018
10 replies
19057 views

I used to use this trick often. I have some logos that can appear in several colors to match the layouts. I used TIFFs in grayscale (or black) then colored the image in InDesign as needed. Saves time and I only have to keep track of one file.

I can't seem to do that anymore. In InDD, I don't see the alpha channel, or photoshop path under Clipping Path Options. The Tiff Comes in without it. Doing Detect edges is a pain and produces a crap result without having to redraw it.

When I save the Tiff in photoshop, the option to save Alpha Channel is grayed out. The option to save layers in on. What gives? This used to work. So handy.

I know I could save it as PSD, or PNG, or AI, but I specifically wanted Tiff for the ability to assign color on the fly.

Anyone know if it's still possible?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer BobLevine

Colorizing a TIF with transparency has never been possible.

C

camlarchris

Participating Frequently

Had the same problem but found that if I made the tif file bitmap instead of greyscale, it comes into inDesign with clear background and can be colorized. But that only works if the file is solid black, and it's weird because the bitmap file is flattened and "appears" to have a white background. I haven't figured out yet what to do if the image truly needs to be greyscale.

All in all, this latest update to Adobe programs has some very nice features but they've messed a LOT of things up too.

rob day

Community Expert

I haven't figured out yet what to do if the image truly needs to be greyscale.

You would have to work in RGB and set the color in Photoshop.

In that case I would use PSD so the file can be placed with layers. If you use a non destructive Adjustment layer, Option clicking the placed PSD would open it into PS where you can edit the adjustment layer.

So here in PS I'm using a Solid Color Adjustment layer with a grayscale set as its Layer Mask:

I can Option-Click the PSD and easily change the color from the Solid Color adjustment layer's Color Picker:

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

No clipping path. Just transparent pixels in my example.

Mike Witherell

D

DBLjan

Legend

Michael, can you please post your Photoshop/Tiff saveoptions?

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

The yellow is applied to the frame fill, not the transparent tif graphic.

Mike Witherell

rob day

Community Expert

Maybe I'm missing something? If I place a transparent grayscale and direct select the graphic I can't apply a color or swatch—I can color the background but not the graphic. Bob's #2.

The Bitmap's black pixels can be any color and white pixels can be set to [None], while the Grayscale's white pixels have to be a color.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

In my round epi logo saved as transparent grayscale TIFF, above, the background around the round logo is transparent, the logo is dark gray, but colorized to a blue, and the epi letters are a very light gray. It sits in an InDesign graphic frame filled with yellow.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Hmmm. I must be doing something wrong. I tested, too.

I took a logo psd file that had transparency around the edges of the round-shaped logo. Save As to Tiff format. Reduced to Gray single-channel. It still had transparency. I placed it in InDesign, and used the white direct selection tool to colorize tint the gray-scale graphic. And I was able to choose the fill of the frame and apply a different swatch. Looks like a faux duotone.

What am I doing right/wrong that runs counter to what Bob is saying?

Mike Witherell

A

Anonymous

Dang it, Bob. Why are you always right?

BobLevine

Community Expert

Well, not always but I strive for accuracy.

Geоrge

Legend

>> I know I could save it as PSD

You know the answer. Sad but true, better to convert all tiff's to psd, eps to ai, for haven't strange bugs.

I know that my post will be mud-stained by the religion-fanatics from the church of believers to the Saint-EPS and Cardinal-Tiff, but I not fear to say this. I have many times that bugs in my practice.

Remember, never say you can't do something in InDesign, it's always just a question of finding the right workaround to get the job done. © David Blatner

D

DCwaterboy

Participating Frequently

If you are talking about making an RGBA TIFF file, this is still doable in Photoshop. You basically just make an additional channel and do a Save As.

I dont remember the exact steps off hand, but I did make one of these a few months ago, so it can be done. Maybe google “RGBA Photoshop tutorial”?

BTW, the alpha channel is created like any other channel. You don’t need to use clipping paths.

D

DBLjan

Legend

I ran a test:

Grayscale Tiff w/o transparency = Fore-/background Colorable

Grayscale Tiff with transparency = Not able to color

Bitmap = Foreground Colorable

rob day

Community Expert

The grayscale can have transparent layers, but it has to have a Background layer—a default background layer with no transparency. It doesn't have to be TIFF, PSDs work fine:

If the Logo has no gray values it can be saved as Black& White (1-bit line art) and its white pixels will appear transparent in the layout:

A

Anonymous

THANK YOU! I knew I could do it, I just forgot how. I had deleted the background layer before saving my TIFF. with the background layer restored—works like a charm. Awesome.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

A grayscale TIFF doesn't need an alpha channel; nor a path. You can rename the layer so that it is not a background canvas and you therefore have transparency around the edges of your logo. You don't need to use the ID feature called Object > Clipping Path > Options, either. You also don't need to detect edges. Simply select the graphic in the frame, make sure the fill color is targeted, and click any swatch color to recolor it. It still works fine for me.

Mike Witherell

BobLevine

Correct answer

Community Expert

Colorizing a TIF with transparency has never been possible.

L

LEViT∆TE

Participant

[abuse removed by moderator] Whatever adobe has to do to translate this properly in PS, they should have done years ago. I dont care about the coding language, or whatever interpretation of channels is happening on the backend, when I drag a TIFF with an alpha into PS I expect it to just work.
[abuse removed by moderator]

BobLevine

Community Expert

Attacking me over a correct answer isn't going to fix your problem or your attitude.

It's not a bug if it operates as designed. If you don't like it, file a feature request.

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