Transparency Help Needed

Okay, so I'm working on a transparent image of Hobbes, (the tiger in my avatar...lol), using Photoshop/GIMP/whatever you use, and I need to know:

1. the formats that transparency works on, (.gif, .png, etc)

2. is there a way to quickly do it, without manually clicking on every pixel with the erase background tool? With this method, I get white dots all over, so that's why I need to know, XD.

3. the best format to use, as I noticed .gif sucks at quality, and often makes more dots than I originally had

The picture is attached, to show you what I mean.

In photoshop, this is the way I do it.

Double click the Background Layer in the Layers panel (if its not showing, you'll find it under the Window menu).

Click Ok to the box that appears.

Adjust the Opacity in the same Layers window. You'll see a checkerboard effect. Try 20% to start.

Got to Layers -> Flatten Image to see the result. Undo it and adjust Opacity if its not right.

Save Picture.

Err, that creates a white background, not a transparent, lol

You want the checkerboard background, right ?

The_Angel wrote:

You want the checkerboard background, right ?

Yes indeedy, and it creates a white background on a .png, lol

If you're using gimp you should be able to select the entire region that excludes the tiger using select contiguous regions tool with a threshold you'll have to determine for yourself. If there isn't an alpha channel you'll need to create one with Layer->Transparency->Add Alpha Channel, you can then use the regular erase tool to erase the background region that you've selected which will make it transparent. If after you've done this you still get the nasty pixels, I'd recommend using some tools to blur and smooth the image edges.

GIMP will allow you to add an alpha channel to any image, and will warn you when you attempt to save that image as a type that doesn't support transparency.

What do I need an Alpha Channel for? It seems to work fine without, to me. o.O


And yeah, that's the problem, those pixels. Not only that, but when I save it, the colors seem to leak onto the transparency, thus rendering it...well...NONtransparent, XD.

Blur it? Um...that just makes it worse? Not only that, it reduces the quality.

Okay, the easiest way in photoshop that I can think of is...

Click on the magic wand tool, then click on your picture. Right click the image and select "Select Inverse". Copy the image, open a new file with a transparent background and paste it.

The_Angel wrote:

Okay, the easiest way in photoshop that I can think of is...

Click on the magic wand tool, then click on your picture. Right click the image and select "Select Inverse". Copy the image, open a new file with a transparent background and paste it.

How do I get the image? The magic wand tool only takes a part of it...

If you click around with it, it should get the full picture.

Let's see if it worked...



(edit) Nope. It counts the white pixels as part of it, lol, so it copies it with it.

Get the copy from the original picture, not the one you already tried to edit.

If I go with the original copy, I have to completely remake the changes I already made, > : (

(edit) Here's the original for clarification, lol

Then... just clean up the picture.. :/

Define "clean up", lol.

Uhm, you could invert the picture and clean up the little dots..

...

Well, English would be nice...XD.

By the way, thanks for helping. I think I should've said that earlier. Now it looks kind of out of place, -.-

Like, if you have the picture on the transparent background.. you could change it to gray scale, then reverse the effect so the little dots are black.. and like, erase them..

Well, this is going to take a while..

Hey, at least it's getting somewhere !

This is what I got on my first try.

Oops... accidentally set border opac to 0%...

this is the fixed



Do you want to know how I did it or you just want the result?

My edits don't even seem to work correctly.

Also, Photoshop is so infuriating. It is the absolute worst. When I say ONE PIXEL, I MEAN ONE FRIGGAN' PIXEL, NOT GO LEAK INTO THE SIDES, AND MAKE A WHITE BLOCK.

(edit)

Fritz wrote:

Oops... accidentally set border opac to 0%...

this is the fixed



Do you want to know how I did it or you just want the result?

I want to know how. Bloody hell.

Bartimaeus wrote:

My edits don't even seem to work correctly.

Also, Photoshop is so infuriating. It is the absolute worst. When I say ONE PIXEL, I MEAN ONE FRIGGAN' PIXEL, NOT GO LEAK INTO THE SIDES, AND MAKE A WHITE BLOCK.

Yes thats frustrating at times- it isn't very noob friendly.

I believe you want to be using the 'pencil' tool, Bart.

Pencil tool edits the immediate pixels it touches and no others... brush will fade pixels next to the ones it touches giving it a better blending look.

Photoshop does both, but many people find it too hard to navigate around the extensive number of features that photoshop has.

Thanks, also, yes, I do want to know how.