Hi,

what is the proper way to do a scan of a drawing "White / Black" or "Grayscale" in order to obtain a transparent layer.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

If there's shading to any degree I'd use grayscale but if it's a line drawing I go with B&W or sometimes even full colour...

i scan my art type drawings in full color just because it will pick up better detail but if it is a greyscale sketch use grey scal

black and white is usualy better for documents or inked patterns

also what type of resolution are you using?  high details needs a higher resolution

a simple line drawing can work well with 72PPI but a full scetch with any shading needs more i scan at 2200-2400 but i mainly scan technical drawings that need full detail

I need that the drawing on a transparent layer, so that I can add - under it - other transparent layers where I will be working with color.
That way I level with the design above all others.
I wondered if there was another way - over the instrument's "magic wand" - to select the black and gray design, to delete the white background ......

i see the issue

no matter the image use allignment marks

you want layered mages

it can be done using the layers and the standard greyscale images

id have to see the images to say how best to do it but overall it should be simple and for now my itallian is rusty at best and bad at worst

Attached Link: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pluginsfilterseffects/l/bleliminateit1.htm

you could also select by colour eg: select all the white and then invert selection...C&P to a new layer and you should have everything except the white...hope that helps....

Attached Link: http://bakaarts.com/freebies/ready2draw/

I always scan in “color” mode as that seems to do a better job on the different shades of gray as opposed to “grayscale” mode (for whatever reason I don’t know…I just don’t question what works).

Then for eliminating the background, I found the simple “Ready2Color” action works better than anything else I’ve tried (link).

Chuck

If all you want to do is use your top layer as a guide then the technique below may suit your needs:

1. Scan your image in colour

2. Add a "Black and White" adjustment layer and then use the adjustment sliders to get the black/white/greyscale balance that you want

3. Change the blending mode of this layer to "Multiply" and adjust the opacity as you need.  This way you can "see"  through your "template" layer as you paint on the layers below.  It also removes the need to try and select and delete the white in the top layer as white goes transparent in multiply mode. 

4. With the "Black and White" adjustment layer selected press Ctrl+Alt+G to add this as a Clipping Mask to your template image.  This confines the adjustment layers influence to just your template image.

Using the Multiply blending mode with the opacity slider may even eliminate the need to convert to greyscale all together.

Thank all of you for your help!

I will start to experiment ... :)