I have used extract (I thought) to take out the background of an object.  I assumed this would leave all but the object transparent for me to import/place in an illustrator piece of work.  That is, the object  shape only not the background etc.

Anyway, I did the extract, imported into Illustrator but still get the whole square canvas complete with opaque (white) background which is totally, no good to me at all.  I tried importing, placing and cutting pasting - same result.  I even did it in several formats. PSD JPEG TIFF.....  same result.

I am sure its "me".  Anyone have any pearls of wisdom with which to point this damsel in distress in the right direction?  Oh yes... I'm using CS3 if that makes a diference.