Icon/Image question

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Capp, May 8, 2007.

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  1. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Hey guys, I have a question.

    I have photoshop 7 and a few others, and I have a problem. How do you create an icon or image that the rest of the image besides the picture is transparent, so when I put it on my forms or whatever, the background color shows through where i want?
     
  2. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    just erase the background or part you want transparent and then save it as gif, png, or other format that supports transparency.
     
  3. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Ok, talk to me like I'm 4. How do you erase the background and how do I know what formats support transparency? :)

    I do appreciate the help.
     
  4. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    Well youre not 4 ;), so this will have to do:

    If teh background is one color or just simple looking, it should be easy to use the Magic Wand.

    After selecting the wand, just click on the background area and hopefully only teh part you dont want should be selected. Then just press delete to get rid of it.

    Then just save the picture as PNG.

    Edit: Uguel707 had a thread on using Photofiltre; im sure the magic wand is mentioned at least once in there.
     
  5. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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  6. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    That looks cool, but if you notice the big white box that surrounds the picture. I want to get rid of that.

    @WSFuser => I will give that a try and see how it works. Is .png the only image format that supports transparency?
     
  7. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    gif is another format with transparency; i dont know if there are others though.
     
  8. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Hello,
    Capp, you can make it entirely transparent and / or any color to fit a specific background. White is something I aimed for purposefully. Is that what you're looking for?
    Mrk
     
  9. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    I might be interested. Would I have to use different software and is it free? I already own a photoshop license so I don't want to pay for another piece of software if I can essentially do the same thing via PS.

    If its freeware and very easy to use, I might be willing to give it a go. :)
     
  10. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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  11. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Alrighty. I installed GIMP to give it a try.

    Now, how in the world do you go about changing the selected regions to transparent? Selecting them and deleting them doesn't do anything.

    I know about 5% of photoshop-esque editing, so I will need some definite help.


    **EDIT** I think I figured it out. The eraser tool will erase to transparent.

    Do you happen to know what all file formats support transparency?
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2007
  12. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Nope. Didn't work. I imported the image to my software form and it shows the background as solid white.

    Obviously I missed something. Any ideas?
     
  13. Alphalutra1

    Alphalutra1 Registered Member

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  14. Rmus

    Rmus Exploit Analyst

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    Hi Capp,

    Can you post a link to the image so we can look at it?

    -rich
     
  15. HAN

    HAN Registered Member

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    I know you're running PhotoShop or the GIMP, but here is an example from the help file of Paint.NET (using the erase tool)
    http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/EraserTool.html

    The best file format (IMO) to use for transparentcy is png. Storage-wise, it's very space conscious. But if memory serves, it is not a compressed format.
     
  16. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Ok,
    Thank you guys for your responses. I found an online tutorial that helped me figure it out in GimpShop.

    Apparently, .PNG is the only format that supports transparent backgrounds. BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF do not.

    I did get it to work. Only if I could get a bmp or jpg to have transparent backgrounds, I would be very happy.
     
  17. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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  18. Capp

    Capp Registered Member

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    Thanks Mrk. That is pretty sweet. I'll have to try that out.
     
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