CompuServe Thread

John, Usually, artists using Adobe Illustrator trace a scanned image to create high quality line art and original illustrations. You can use any scanner that saves a file in PICT or MacPaint format in order to be compatible with Adobe Illustrator. To scan full page images, the scanner software must also have the capability of scanning at 72 dots per inch (dpi). Your choice of scanner will not affect the resolution of the Adobe Illustrator document. Adobe Illustrator uses templates – background images imported in PICT or MacPaint format. The template is not incorporated into your artwork; you draw or trace over it. If you digitized an image with a scanner at 300 dots per inch and then opened the file with Adobe Illustrator only part of the scanned image will be visible on the screen. A full 8 1/2 x 11 image will appear if the file has been saved at 75 dpi which is compatible with the MacPaint and PICT format. If you open a file with Adobe Illustrator that has been scanned at 300 dpi, unless the original scanned image is small, you are not likely to see the whole image on your screen. Your Macintosh screen has a resolution of 75 dpi and cannot resolve an entire MacPaint or PICT image on the screen that has been scanned in at 300 dpi. Some scanning software will allow you to reduce a 300 dpi selection by 25% or allow you to select 75 dpi. continued in next message…ek