making a background transparent?

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I have an image that was hand drawn on paper and then scanned. I want to useit against a coloured background on my website, and am struggling to make the background transparent.

I am using Paint Shop Pro. I saved the scanned image, originally as a .bmp file. I then cropped and played and then have saved it as both .png and .gif (it is simple black and white).

In PSP, I can see that the canvas is transparent, but my image background is not. I found some instructions that talked about using the eye dropper tool and then using the Colour menu, but the Set transparency options are greyed out.

I have figured out that my lack of understanding of Layers is part of my problem, but I am not sure where to go from there. I thought that this would be easy, but its not.

Any ideas, suggestions?

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I don’t use PSP, but it probably has a background or magic eraser tool, or a magic wand. Try selecting the area you want transparent and deleting it. Then you should be able to save as GIF with transparency. Still a good idea to set a transparent color since it can be difficult to get the edges just right.

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I think this should work:

1) Click on the Magic Wand tool in the toolbar to the left. Position it over the background of the graphic and click the right mouse button.
2) Choose Selections, then Select All. Click Selections again and choose Modify, then Transparent Color.
3) Choose Background Color from the menu and set the Tolerance level to 0. Click OK.
4) Click on the Colors menu and choose Set Palette Transparency. Click the middle button, “Set transparency value to current background color.” Click OK.
5) Click on the Colors menu again and select View Palette Transparency. The transparent areas will now show up as gray checks behind the image.
6) Choose Save As from the File menu.
7) In the box that appears, click the Options button. The options should be set as Version 89a and Non-interlaced. Save the image and click OK

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Thanks, everyone. I will get on to this on the weekend. (for now, the urgent has overtaken the important and I am called away)

I’ll let you know how I go.

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I spent a fair bit of time on this over the weekend and have achieved absolutely nothing.

The short story is that the effect obtained is not the effect that I wanted. My transparent image looked stark and amateurish.

So I am going back to the thinking stage and will try something else. Don’t know what yet. (I might have to go for a ride on my bike – that often gets the creative juices flowing)

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johbot

send it to me and I will see what I can do….offers there

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Attachment zipped by HansV because it was far too wide – it made the Lounge window scroll horizontally

Thank you,

The file is attached.

ps. The bike ride was good therapy, but creatively unproductive!!

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(Edited by Jezza on 04-Dec-06 23:10. To reduce size and add to seperate post)

Hi There

Howzabout this?

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..and the larger zipped version

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Thank you.

Give me a moment and I will test it out against my background. I’ll be back.

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Jezza,

It looks good in your post with the lighter background, but when I use it I get the white pixels on the edges showing. (my backgound colour is #339900)

I also spent some time in PSP thinking that converting the brush strokes to 3D might change that and give it a less flat look, but that didn’t work either.

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Here’s one transparent background.

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And one green

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OK try this.

I have made the backgrounf transparent but could make it green

Attachment zipped by HansV because it was MUCH too wide. Please don’t post images larger than 64-x480

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Thank you both for the work that you have done for me. I am very lucky to have such resources.

I am sure that I can use your offerings.

Johanna

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I also would like to take a wack at it.

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A bit faster than Jezza method….
1. Open your image in PSP and check the size of the canvas Image>Canvas Size and then click File>New to create a blank canvas and resize the new canvas to match your original.
2. Go back to the original image and click on Selections>Select All, then go to Edit and select Copy.
3. Now go to the new blank canvas and select Edit>Paste>As transparent selection and then drag the image to center it and then left click to set it in place.
4. Save as a .gif and you’ve got it.

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I just went back and checked my work, and the method I posted doesn’t work. The image appears transparent in PSP, but when reopened after saving, the background is not transparent. My appologies for the bad information.

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<A bit faster than Jezza method….

Less haste more speed

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Kinda like the old carpenters adage…”Measure twice, cut once.”

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