preserve transparency -- Illustrator beginner

[Nels Dipi]

BS"D
I'm designing the artwork for a CD and its packaging, and I didn't know until recently that the design specifications require that it be converted to CMYK, saved in Illustrator, and submitted in .EPS format. I have done all of my work until now in Microsoft programs like Picture It! Photo 2002, and saved the images I've created as 24-bit .PNGs. Most of my images (logo, text, watermark image, etc.) have transparent backgrounds, and are themselves something like 83% transparent.

For some reason, when I open my files in Illustrator (no matter what program I saved them in OR what file format they are), either the transparency is gone, the image is gone, or the colors are wacky.

I am indeed new at Adobe Illustrator (or at least I was until I realized I had spent a good two weeks trying to figure out why I can't preserve the tranparency I want), and now I'm hoping someone out there can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.

How do I keep the transparency of my images the same in Illustrator as they are in other programs like Photoshop?

[The Repro Kid]

I'm kinda thinking that you should rejoice in the fact that you're even able to open an image made in "Microsoft Picture It! Photo 2002" in Illustrator and salvage anything at all. That alone sounds like a pretty decent accomplishment.

[Nels Dipi]

BS"D
Strangely enough, when I open the files in Adobe Photoshop, they are just how I want them, transparency and all. I thought that it would translate well by either dragging, placing, or saving and opening them from Photoshop to Illustrator, but nothing's working for me, no matter what file format I save them as in Photoshop. Is it perhaps possible that maybe it's because there some kind of transparency setting in my Illustrator 9.0 that I need to use that I don't know about?

[The Repro Kid]

Once it is a photoshop file it will, from that point on, always be pixels. You can't then, "go back" to Illustrator.

[Nels Dipi]

BS"D
I've come VERY close twice.
I need the equivalent of the Photoshop "Magic Wand" function in Illustrator, in order to change what has become a solid white background to a transparent background.

1 - What I had created as 83% transparent has remained 83% transparent, but what was 100% transparent is now also only 83% transparent.

OR

2 - I was able to maintain ALL of my transparency settings, but the white became a purpleish, and the different shades of gray became solid black.

What am I missing? Is there a magic wand-like function in Illustrator 9.0?
OR
Is there some way I can export my .PNGs out of Photoshop or some other program so that they don't become pixels?
OR
Any other recommendations?

[The Repro Kid]

BS"D
I've come VERY close twice...

:confused:

I need the equivalent of the Photoshop "Magic Wand" function in Illustrator, in order to change what has become a solid white background to a transparent background.

No really, they are not interchangeable file formats. Unfortunately, this is like mixing computer graphics metaphors.

Have a look at this thread and see if this helps.

http://www.layersmagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=508

[Nels Dipi]

BS"D
I DID IT!!!!
Thank you for all your help, Repro Kid.
Here's what I did:
I saved my .PNG in Photoshop as a .PSD, and then I opened it in Illustrator. What I got was an image with the correct transparency but the wrong colors. Then, I dragged my .PNG image (the same one I saved as a .PSD) from Photoshop to Illustrator, and I got an image with the correct colors but no transparency. Then, in Illustrator, I centered the first image over the second, created an "opacity mask" in the Transparency pane, inverted the mask, and voila! I saved it as an .EPS, and tonight I plan on finally having a good night's sleep.