Illustrator to Toonboom?

I haven't played with Toonboom a lot, but how about exporting your backgrounds as pngs from Illustrator? or maybe swf, I am not sure what version Illustrator you are using so not familiar with the export options open to you.

I suppose i could just go through every file and change the transparancies to colours that approach the right shade but i'd like to know for sure first that this is necesary and if there's any other unpleasant suprises i can expect while importing material.

There are always going to be surprises, that's life.

Bitmaps should never be one of the first choices for a graphic artist unless you are saving raw data. Only people with a new camera or computer save to bmps. Time to raise your hand and ask your teacher for some input.

Have you heard of the png format? You can import and use them widely in Flash. I am not going to reinstall ToonBoom to work out your problem for you, you need to visit the forums at ToonBoom if that's the software of your choice.

Hi Snottle, I don't use Toonboom, I'm a Flash guy. But Flash has a similar problem. How are you importing your files? Are you actually importing them, or are you copying them in Ill, then pasting them in Toonboom? In Flash I think if you copy and pasted, the transparancies went back to zero, but worked if you imported them. Or maybe it was the other way around. Anyway, if one way doesn't work, try it the other way. Thats all the help I can give other than to recomend creating your BGs in Toonboom from the start.

Aloha,
the Ape

running into them one by one hardly seems efficient.

Actually this is the best way to learn, not the fastest, not the easiest, but hit all the problems early on and software is usually a trick from then on.

I haven't used Toon Boom either, but I think Phacker had it right with the "png" file. A "png" file lets you save transparencies. While in Illustrator, go to File > Export and select "PNG" from the Save As Type drop down menu. Then try importing the png file into Toon Boom. Hopefully it will work.

I use the heck out of Toon Boom, especially lately, but haven't tried importing Illustrator files. I use 3.0.

I looked in Help (as you likely did) and found this:

To import Adobe® Illustrator® and PDF files into your scene:

1. Select a cell in a Drawing element in the Exposure Sheet or Timeline.

2. Right-click the selected cell and select Import Illustrator. The Open dialog box opens.

3. Select the file you want to import and confirm your selection.

You can modify this drawing just like you would modify vector drawings you created in Toon Boom Studio.

Also:

When you import Adobe® Illustrator® or PDF files, Toon Boom Studio:

Converts CMYK colors to RGB.
You can convert the color space of your Adobe® Illustrator® or PDF files when you save them. See Adobe® Illustrator® documentation for instructions. However, to ensure the color results you want, you should develop your Web colors in the Web-safe RGB palette.

Displays objects that were hidden in the Adobe® Illustrator® file.
Does not import text. You must convert text to outlines to import it.
Does not import global color swatches from V8 and under.
Does not convert transparent objects drawn with the brush tool.
If your Adobe® Illustrator® file contains bitmaps, be sure those bitmaps are copied into the file. If they are linked, Toon Boom Studio can not import them.

also:

Toon Boom Studio supports Adobe® Illustrator® files from version 5. You must create a PDF compatible file when you save Adobe® Illustrator® CS files to be able to import them into Toon Boom Studio.

A few ideas:

You can edit these images as vectors in Toon Boom. You may need to Break Apart them first--I'm actually not sure, but I think this is a Toon Boom command that I've used on imported Flash symbols.

Look in your properties panel at the paint palletes imported with the Illustrator files. Try adjusting the colors and their transparency. Find the color by using the eyedropper (aaah! I've dropped my eye!), then adjust its alpha.

How many separate Illustrator files are you importing?

Oh yeah--try dropping this question at the Toon Boom forum. There's a few pretty helpful and smart folks around there, and you may even get help from a guy named Mathieu who works at Toon Boom.

Feel free to drop me an email and we'll see what we can come up with. At any rate, let us know how it goes.

Along with what Rupert says, you may want to make sure that your preferences in Illustrator are being saved in a PDF compatible format. Several graphics programs that I've used require Illustrator files as such. Go to Preferences->File Handling & Clipboard->Clipboard on quit and check the PDF box.