If you use the clipping mask tool, it will "crop" your image, but if you try to export it as a raster file, your dimensions will remain the same as the original photo's dimensions, meaning you will have white space in your jpeg/png/bmp/gif/tif file where your clipping mask is...I've had this problem before, the way I deal with it is...get ready...I use MS paint to easily crop out the white space by pulling the image limiters(little blue dots)to only where my image should show, rotating the image if necessary, and repeating the process until I have my image cropped...no need to go back into photoshop, or even use photoshop.

One of the RARE times when MS paint comes in handy...to be honest, I've never used it for anything else.

If you want to totally eliminate content outside a mask in Illustrator (giving you a true crop), you can use the following method:

Select the path that you would have used for the clipping mask and, instead of making a mask, fill it with, oh, say, white. Then, set the opacity for that masking object to 0% using the transparency palette/panel. Then, with that object and the underlying raster image selected, flatten transparency. (Use 100% vector on the quality slider and make sure the 'Preserve alpha channel' option is unchecked.) Ungroup the result.

You should now be able to independently select the various portions (inside and outside the mask) and discard those you don't need. The links palette/panel will show you what's going on.

You can use this method with multiple clipping masks in a single operation. You don't even have to initially embed the underlying image for this to work.

Why?

We are doomed.

Has anyone noticed that question 2) in post #0 is still unanswered? Some are doomed, indeed.

The border around the photo.

Question 2.

Not sure. I'm one of the 1 or 2. Will have to study it.

Stop notifications.

Thank you.

Nathan Driskell

Owner // Designer

DriskellMade Studio | driskellmade.com

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Huh?

I'm actually kind of glad I ended up with a fever last night, and had to divert my attention to it...I'm lost now.  I just draw the pretty pictures.

Ahh...yep.  It's all becoming clear to me now.

Thanks for this, I've used the clipping masks, but I didn't know how to flatten images. After the clipping mask, I have cropped, then exported as an image file in order to print. For some reason Illustrator couldn't deal with the masks and complicated images below when asked to print.

There has always been a crop tool ACTUALLY.. I just got CS5 not too long ago and have found that is has been renamed to Artboard Tool.

Use this tool to create the bounding box and once you're ready to export, do so and then click on the 'use artboards' box at the bottom of the export window.

kindly please do help me to find where can i find the clipping mask in adobe illustrator cs5? pls!!! thank you

hiiii . hey there's chicken !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks TheMarkness!!! I've always wondered how to take an image from a JPG in CS2 and crop the white space around, your instructions are the clearest I've read! Good ole MS Paint!