Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Transparent background problem

Dec 21, 2005 11:38PM PST

I have a number of graphics programs and none seem to be able to get the results I need.

I have a graphic .gif file that has a background (multiple shades of white/gray) that I want to make transparent; however some of those shades are used elsewhere in the .gif I want to keep so it looks really bad if I use the transparent color picker since it wipes out the color in the graphic itself.

I understand that I can make the background one solid color and then make IT transparent instead, but how do I do that without also changing the colors again inside the graphic portion I want to keep?

http://www.pcwarfare.com/images/newnavy1.jpg

This is the .jpg version of the same file and you should be able to see what I mean about the outside edges being various shades when I only want the actual blue and yellow 'decal' part so I can paste it into one of my webpages without the white blocked square framing around it.

TONI

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
my try
Dec 22, 2005 10:51AM PST
- Collapse -
That's WONDERFUL
Dec 22, 2005 8:55PM PST

how did you manage to do it and not lose the various shades of white/gray within the decal itself for the lettering part?

I'm developing a website page in my website for my son's Naval accomplishments and countries he goes to, etc. and some of the Navy graphics I've tried to use have similar backgrounds that I haven't been able to figure out how to get transparent.

This particular graphic you fixed for me, perfectly I might add, is actually a magnetic one for my vehicle that I scanned into the computer and reduced in size since it's fairly large.

I'm a good student and learn quickly if you can give me some tips about this part of graphic editing. I would be grateful enough to NOT send you a fruitcake for the holidays. heheheh

If you think the instructions are too lengthy for a post, I invite you to email me via my profile, but plese include your email address so I can respond. Thank you....thank you for your revamping my pic.

TONI

- Collapse -
Hi, Toni
Dec 22, 2005 9:09PM PST

What graphic editing program are you using?

- Collapse -
A couple of ones I've
Dec 23, 2005 1:59AM PST

got that I tried were Ulead SmartSaver Pro, Fireworks2, and IrfanView (limited on what it can do)...and although the first two gave me the option to 'picker' a color for transparency, I couldn't get that done without removing the same colors from the USN part of the graphic, and I couldn't find any options to just remove the background itself.

I do have other programs such as Paint Shop Pro, but being limited in my graphics expertise I would have never figured out on my how to do it using the method used by the member who helped me out. Now that I have his/her instructions saved to a text file, perhaps I can do it myself after playing and experimenting with that.

I have many graphics programs, but didn't think installing them all would be an efficient way to get to the answer. lol

I was actually hoping to find something simple that just says "remove background".....as usual, my life and desires are never simple with regard to the road I have to travel to get to the destination.

TONI

- Collapse -
I was sort of hoping you would say...
Dec 23, 2005 5:21AM PST

that you had some form of Photoshop. The best method is probably that suggested by bugbug, except that if you put the gif on a colored web background you will notice some white fringing in places, especially on the bottom edge. If that's a concern you might be able to carefully erase it out.

This is fairly easy to fix in Photoshop but I am not sure if PSP can do it.

Unfortunately there's no "Remove Background" because what the background is is a matter of judgement. If it's just a solid color or white it can be done with relative ease by some programs by simply selecting that area, as bugbug has done.

PNG would be a great alternative to gif if it were supported by all browsers, but IE doesn't display them properly.

Check out mny attempt:

http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/navy_patch.html

- Collapse -
I have PhotoShop 6
Dec 23, 2005 7:56PM PST

I just didn't think of it as a program for anything other than digital photo editing and not simple graphics as well.

Fireworks2 saves files in PNG format...which I then convert to jpg or gif files for my website and that seems to work OK for me, too.

I bought the MacromediaMX suite that includes Dreamweaver,Fireworks,ColdFusion, etc. and have just started to play around with some of those programs to get a better feel for what they are all able to do. My site is built with FrontPage2003 and I'm pretty pleased with the results, but I have a long way to go to fully understand the abilities of the MX suite of programs and how they intermingle with each other.

I just downloaded a couple of black and white filtering programs after seeing what they can do at a few 'tutoring' sites and was pretty impressed with what can be done with graphics.

Wondering, at 58, when my education will finally get to a point where I really know what I'm doing...and when do I get to the point where I know so much, I'm downright dangerous? lol

TONI

- Collapse -
Photoshop 6 was excellent...
Dec 23, 2005 9:06PM PST

Very versatile. Phpotoshop was originally a program for designers and photographers and it has great resources for professional printing. It also has basic web features in ImageReady which is bundled with it.

Be sure to update to 6.0.1, a free and essential download on the Adobe site.

- Collapse -
Paint Shop Pro
Dec 22, 2005 9:19PM PST

Hi Toni
Glade you liked it this is what I did I opened it in Paint Shop Pro used the magic wand to help cut away the background then copy and past in Animation Shop clean up a little and save it from Animation Shop so the background will save transparent I find that trying to save from Paint Shop Pro will have the background white so that is why it is a .gif file. Merry Christmas
Muriel

- Collapse -
Seytting up for a clipping path
Dec 27, 2005 1:38PM PST

Toni,
I was late reading this issue. I set uo a new discussion on how to do a clipping path if you are interested. Not as a transparent bckground.

-Kevin