How do I create transparency in an image using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop?

I have a black and white image with thick black outlines and I need all the WHITE SPACE to be transparent. How can I do this using Photoshop or Illustrator?How do I create transparency in an image using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop?
Open the picture in photoshop, if the toolbar is not showing on the screen, go to window drop down- click tools,


about halfway down left side is the erase button, click and drag should open different options, click the magic eraser tool, then click within the white section you wish to remove,How do I create transparency in an image using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop?
Okay, to add to what has been previously answered, there are a couple of major details I need to point out.





1. If it's a black-and-white image, you need to check if it's been saved as ';bitmap'; ';grayscale'; or in color (';RGB'; or ';CMYK'; Once you open it in Photoshop, notice the title bar for the image. In parentheses it will say one of those things. In order to use the magic wand it cannot be in ';bitmap.'; You can change this by going to the ';Image'; menu and selecting ';Mode'; and then ';grayscale'; If it's already in ';grayscale'; or one of the color modes you're okay.





[I'll point out here that if you're importing it into another program, just make it ';bitmap,'; save it as a TIFF and you'll be completely fine. It will be transparent automatically once you import it.]





2. Like they said, select all the background layer and copy/paste, which will create a new layer. You can then delete the background layer in the layers pallette.





3. The magic wand looks just like that. It's like a stick with little sparklies at the tip. Once you select the magic wand from the toolbox, you'll need to look at the top of the screen, where the tool options are. You should see a checkbox that says ';contiquous.'; You want to have that checked. If you don't you'll end up selecting all the white space, both outside and inside, which may not be what you want. If you're just trying to get the space around it to be transparent, you want to check continquous.





4. Then click in the white space around the object. If the lines of the object hit the outside edges, you may not get all of it at once. There are two ways you can get around this.


a. change the canvas size. ';Image'; menu, ';Canvas Size...'; and add just .1 inch on every size. Make sure you select the middle square so it addes that .1 inch all around. Then try the magic wand.


or


b. Select all the surrounding white space by holding down the Shift Key during the selection with the magic wand.


Then delete.





5. Flatten the image using the layers pallette (the little arrow at the top right of the layers pallette reveals a popup menu)





6. Save as a gif.
ok you need Photoshop. first you need to duplicate the layer if it is a BG layer,then get the magic wand tool and select the white part then right click and chose similar. then go to the transparency lvl at the layer pallet and lower it. so I think this should help its a little advanced if you haven't used photoshop before if you need more help I can do it for you or make a tutorial for you you pick!
Open the file in photoshop. If your layer is locked, make a copy and delete the locked copy. Select the white space with the wand tool or the lasso tool and hit delete. If you want to keep the picture without a background, try saving it as an eps.file, sometimes pdfs will work as well, but a jpeg will save the pic with the background when you are ready to print.
If the image was created in Illustrator, create your checkerboard pattern larger than the line drawing and send it to the back and position it behind the line drawing. Then make a copy of the line drawing and move it off to the side your workspace. Select the first line drawing along with the checkerboard and from the ';object'; menu, pull down to ';clipping path'; then ';make.'; This will crop the checkerboard background to the shape of the drawing. Then select the second copy of the drawing and place it exactly on top of the first. That's it.