9

Chapter 1: Overview and Tutorial

his chapter gives an overview of Adobe 3 Set the program options you want. If desired,

T Streamline and provides a short tutorial on

how to open a file, edit an image before con-
version, convert a bitmap image to vector artwork,
save the options for later use with similar images.
Program options include General Preferences
options; the conversion method; color/black-and-
and edit the converted image. (To learn more white setup options; custom colors; dialog box
about conversion, selection, and editing options, placement; and pencil, line, and eraser thicknesses.
see Chapters 2 through 4.) 4 Convert the image, or convert a batch of images.

5 Modify the converted artwork in Streamline,

Overview of using Adobe using the selection tools and the Paint Style dialog
box. You can also edit paths in the converted
Streamline artwork by using the add-anchor-point and
The following steps outline the basic procedure for delete-anchor-point tools, the adjust-curve and
converting images, using Adobe Streamline: adjust-line tools, and the Smooth Path and
Smooth Direction Points commands.
1 Obtain an image for conversion by creating
or acquiring an image in the PICT (Macintosh), 6 Import or place the final image into an illustra-
PCX (Windows), TIFF, MacPaint, or Adobe tion or image-processing program for further
Photoshop format. You can create an image in an modification, or export the image to a page-layout
image-processing application and import it, or word-processing program. You can export
import an image from a clip-art collection, or Streamline artwork to other applications by using
acquire an image by using a scanner or video digi- the Copy and Paste commands, by dragging and
tizer. The quality and resolution of the original file dropping the image, or by using the Save Art As
determines the quality of the converted image. (A command. (For more information on placing an
resolution between 300 dots per inch (dpi) and image into another application, see the applica-
600 dpi is recommended.) tion’s documentation.)
2 Start Streamline, open an image, and then edit
the image by using the selection and painting
tools. For more extensive editing, you can use a
paint or image-processing program, such as
Adobe Photoshop, to touch up or alter the image
before converting it.
10 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

Tutorial A line drawing of a woman appears, scaled to fit

into the Streamline window.
In this tutorial you will learn how to select an
image, add to or delete from the image, convert the
image to PostScript language line art, and edit the
converted image.

Select an image
The first step in using Adobe Streamline is to
obtain an image for conversion. You can select an
image in two ways: by scanning the image directly
into Streamline using the Acquire command in the
File menu, or by opening an existing image using
the Open command in the File menu. (See
“Acquiring images directly from a scanner” on
page 26 for more information about the Acquire
command.) In the following example, you will
select an image saved in the TIFF format.
1 Start Adobe Streamline.

2 Choose File > Open.

3 Open the Tutorial Images folder, select the file

ladyb&w.psd, and click OK. Edit an image before conversion
Before converting an image to PostScript line art,
you can edit it using Streamline’s palette of editing
tools. The toolbox automatically appears when
 11

you first open an image in Streamline; however, 2 Position the marquee tool at the upper left edge
only some of the tools are available for use before of the top button on the woman’s coat.
conversion:

Marquee Selection

Magic wand Lasso

Pencil Line

Eraser Eyedropper

Adjust-curve Adjust line

Drag the marquee to select part of the image.
Add- Delete-
anchor-point anchor-point
Hand Zoom 3 Hold down the mouse button, drag to select the
button, and then release the mouse button. The
Swatch
selected part of the image is highlighted with a
marquee.
You can use these tools to select specific colors, to 4 To delete what you have just selected, choose
delete unwanted details from the image, or to Edit > Clear or press Delete (Macintosh) or Back
select a part of the image and change its color. In Space (Windows).
this example, you will edit the black-and-white
5 Select the eraser tool (e) by clicking the eraser
ladyb&w.psd image that you just opened.
icon in the toolbox.
First you will select and delete a button on the You can change the width of the eraser tool by
woman’s coat, and then you will erase the remain- double-clicking the eraser tool icon and selecting
ing button. from the palette of choices. Note that the sizes of
1 With the ladyb&w.psd image open in the the pencil tool and line tool also change when you
window, select the marquee tool (p). resize the eraser tool.
6 Position the eraser tool over the remaining
button on the woman’s coat.
7 Drag to erase the button.
12 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

8 Move the eraser tool over the button holes on 11 Hold down the mouse button, and begin drag-
the left side of the jacket, and erase by dragging. ging to fill in the hat band. Release the mouse
button when you have finished filling the gap.

Select a conversion method

Once you have edited an image, you need to select
conversion options that are appropriate for the
type of image you are converting. (See Chapter 4,
“Setting Conversion Options,” for information on
the types of conversion methods available in
Streamline.)
Drag the eraser tool to erase.
You can manually select conversion options using
You can use the pencil tool and the line tool to add the Conversion Setup dialog box. In this example,
to the image. In this example, you will fill a gap in you’ll use the outline method of conversion to
a hat band. convert the line drawing of the woman.

9 Select the pencil tool (b) by clicking the pencil 1 Choose Options > Conversion Setup.
icon in the toolbox.
You can change the width of the pencil tool by first
double-clicking the pencil tool icon and then
selecting from the palette of choices. Note that the
sizes of the eraser tool and line tool also change
when you resize the pencil tool.
10 Position the tip of the pencil over the gap in the
hat band.

2 In the Methods section of the Conversion box,

select the Outline option.

Drag the pencil tool to draw on the image.

 13

3 In the Accuracy section of the Conversion box, 8 Click OK.

set Noise Suppression to 10 pixels and Tolerance to You can now retrieve these settings at any time by
4.0, either by dragging the sliders or entering the clicking Outline Black/White in the Conversion
correct value in the text fields. Settings scroll box.
4 In the Lines section of the Path Options box,
select the Curved and Straight Lines option, and
Convert a single image
move the slider to 3.0 or enter 3.0 in the text field.
Once you have selected the appropriate conversion
5 Click OK. options for the image, you can then convert it to
You can save specific conversion options and set- line art.
tings—or choose from a list of preset options—
Choose File > Convert. The image is automatically
using the Settings dialog box. In this example,
converted using the current conversion settings.
you will assign a name for the black-and-white
outlining conversion method you just set in the As the conversion progresses, the progress bar
preceding section. displays the conversion method, the conversion
percentage completed, and the number of
6 Choose Options > Settings.
paths created.
Once the conversion is complete, the converted
image appears. To view the image as an outline art-
work image, choose View > Artwork. In Artwork
view, straight paths appear green and curved paths
appear red.

A list of preset conversion options appears in the

Conversion Settings scroll box in the upper left of
the dialog box. A list of the current conversion set- Converted image Artwork view
tings appears at the bottom of the dialog box.
The bitmap image no longer appears on-screen.
7 In the Settings Name text box, enter Outline You can return to the bitmap image by choosing
Black/White. Raster Image from the Image Mode pop-up menu
14 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

in the upper left corner of the image window. You 4 Choose File > Batch Select.
can view the converted image superimposed over
the original bitmap image by choosing Art & Ras-
ter from the Image Mode pop-up menu.
The converted file has also been renamed (in this
case, the ladyb&w.psd file has been renamed
lady.ai) to prevent overwriting the original bitmap
image file. The title bar at the top of the document
window shows the filename of the original image
and the new name of the converted art.
You can edit the converted image using Stream-
line. After you save the converted image, you can
import it and edit it in a drawing program such as
5 Open the Tutorial Images folder from the
Adobe Illustrator or you can place the artwork into
scrolling list in the Batch Select dialog box.
a page-layout application without changes. For
information on editing converted images, see 6 Click the zebra.psd file to select it, and click Add
Chapter 5, “Working With Converted Art.” to add it to the Files to Convert list. Do the same
with the pilot.psd and ladyb&w.psd files.

Convert a batch of images To place all available files in the folder into the File
to Convert list, click Add All. To remove a file from
Adobe Streamline lets you select multiple files
the Files to Convert list, select the file and click
from various drives or folders and convert them as
Remove.
a group. (If you plan to use the Centerline conver-
sion method, all images converted together in a 7 Click Start (Macintosh) or Begin Processing
directory should be scanned at the same resolu- (Windows). The Batch Save Format dialog
tion. For more information, see Chapter 4, “Set- box appears.
ting Conversion Options.”) 8 In the Format pop-up menu, select Illustrator
1 Close the ladyb&w.psd and lady.ai images EPS. Then click None in the Preview dialog box.
without saving your changes. Converted images will be automatically named by
appending the filename with the filename exten-
2 Choose Options > Settings.
sion for the file format you select.
3 Select the Defaults setting in the scroll box at the
upper left of the dialog box, and click OK.
 15

9 Choose the Tutorial Images folder by selecting it 5 In the Posterization pop-up menu, choose Black
from the scroll box (Macintosh) or by highlighting & White Only. Then click OK.
it (Windows) to select it as the output folder for 6 Choose Options > Conversion Setup.
the converted images.
7 In the Methods section, select the Outline
10 Click the Select Tutorial Images button
option. Then click OK.
(Macintosh) or click Continue (Windows) to
convert the batch of images. 8 Choose File > Convert.

Make multiple conversions on a single

image
Some images can be most effectively converted by
using different conversion methods for different
areas. Adobe Streamline allows you to select sepa-
rate areas of a bitmap image and convert them
individually. The separate areas are combined in a
single converted image.
1 Open the Tutorial Images folder, and select the 9 Choose Raster Image from the Image Mode
announcer.psd file. pop-up menu in the upper left corner of the image
window to return to the original image.
10 Select the magic wand tool (d). The pointer
becomes a wand when you point in the image area.
11 Click the dark gray border of the ”hello”
balloon, above the announcer’s head, to select it.
12 Choose Options > Conversion Setup.

2 Click the lasso tool (c) to select it. The pointer

becomes a lasso when you point inside the
image area.
3 Drag to draw an outline around the announcer
and the microphone.
4 Choose Options > Color/B&W Setup.
16 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

13 In the Methods section, select the Centerline 19 In the Methods section, select the Line Recog-
option and deselect the Outline option. Then nition option and deselect the Centerline option.
click OK. Then click OK.
14 Choose File > Convert. 20 Choose File > Convert.

15 Choose Raster Image from the Image Mode 21 Close the image without saving your changes.
pop-up menu to return to the original image.
16 Select the magic wand tool (d). Convert a color image
One of Adobe Streamline’s most powerful features
is the ability to convert color drawings or photo-
graphs into PostScript language artwork. You can
use these features to create special effects, such as a
posterization effect on a color photographic
image.
The color conversion process is similar to that of
converting a black-and-white image, but color
conversion includes additional choices in the
Color/B&W Setup and Conversion Setup dialog
17 Click a corner of the image border to select it.
boxes.
18 Choose Options > Conversion Setup.
 17

The following example shows how to convert an 2 Choose Options > Color/B&W Setup.
eight-color drawing using the Outline conversion
method.
1 Open the Tutorial Images folder, and select the
ladycolor.psd file. The color image appears, scaled
to fit the Streamline window.

3 Choose Limited Colors in the Posterization

pop-up menu.
4 Enter a value of 8 in the Maximum # of Colors
text box. Click OK.
18 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

5 Choose Options > Conversion Setup. Edit an image after conversion

You can edit a converted image using the Adobe
Streamline editing tools, menu commands, and
Paint Style palette. After you convert an image, the
toolbox changes slightly. Some tools are available
only for pre-conversion editing and some only for
post-conversion editing.

Selection

Lasso

6 In the Conversion box, select the Outline

Eyedropper
option. Then click OK.
7 Choose File > Convert. As the file is converted, Adjust-curve Adjust-line

a progress bar displays each color and the number Add- Delete-
anchor-point anchor-point
of paths.
Hand Zoom

Swatch

You can use the post-conversion tools to add,

delete, and convert anchor points on the artwork,
8 Choose View > Artwork to see the converted
to move or convert path segments, to select a part
artwork in an outline format.
of the artwork, and to change the color of selected
areas. In this example, you will change the color of
a path using the Paint Style palette, smooth a path
using the Smooth Paths command, and delete
anchor points with the delete-anchor-point tool.
1 Choose View > Preview.

2 Click the selection tool (a) in the toolbox to

select it.

Preview Artwork view

 19

3 Click the red section of the woman’s hat to 6 To change the red color to purple, enter a value
select it. of 70% in the Cyan text box, enter a value of 100%
in the Magenta text box and enter values of 0% in
the Yellow and Black text boxes. The color of the
selected object automatically changes to the new
color.
7 Choose Edit > Select None to deselect the hat.

8 Click the outline along the edge of the lady’s

right arm to select it.
9 Choose Edit > Smooth Paths > Maximum. The
Click directly on an area Result Smooth Paths dialog box indicates the number of
to select it anchor points that were eliminated.
10 Click OK.
4 Choose Options > Paint Style.

Path selected Maximum smoothing applied

11 Choose Edit > Select None to deselect the

left arm.
12 Select the zoom tool (n), and click two or
three times on the lady’s mouth to magnify it.
13 Click the lady’s mouth to select it.

5 Click the Fill box at the top left of the dialog box. 14 Click the delete-anchor-point tool (j) in the
Notice that the Fill box is the same red color as the toolbox. The pointer changes to a pen tip with a
selected object. minus sign.
20 CHAPTER 1
Overview and Tutorial

15 Click several points on the lady’s mouth to 18 Click the selection tool (a) in the toolbox to
delete them. select it.
19 Click a curved (red) path on the lady’s jacket to
select it.
20 Click the adjust-line tool (h) in the toolbox to
select it.
21 Click a curved segment to convert it to a
straight (green) line.
Note: Because Adobe Streamline performs Outline
conversions by layering filled paths over one another,
Path selected Anchor points deleted the segment you convert may lie in the same path as
another curved segment. Then the converted
16 Choose Edit > Select None to deselect the segment still appears red.
mouth.
22 Close the image without saving your changes.
17 Choose View > Artwork to see the artwork in
outline form.