The Letterville BullBoard: Photoshop Question

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Posted by Janette Balogh (Member # 192) on :

Hi There!

I'm just wondering how to get rid of the white background of a picture when you turn it into a jpg in photoshop.
You know what I mean? Like when a sketch is in a shape, it still wants to put a white square background around it. Sometimes the pic isn't even centered within that background. I'd like it if the backdrop would act invisible.

Hope I'm making myself clear here, abit difficult to convey. If you aren't catching my drift here, I'll post an example.

Thanks!
Nettie

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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"

Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
jbalogh@earthlink.net
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Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident!
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Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :

Janette... I use a program called L-View. It will create transparent backgrounds on GIF's but I am not sure that it is possible to create transparent backgrounds on JPG's. Since JPG's are intended for photographic images which don't actually have a "background". Try saving your file as a GIF instead and then it can be done.

By the way, L-View is downloadable as shareware, and there is a website that explains how to do it, along with a link to download L-View at http://www.qualitty.com/trans.html

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Dave Grundy shop#340
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
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[This message has been edited by Dave Grundy (edited April 27, 2000).]

Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :

I'm gonna be no help at all.
I save it as a PHOTOSHOP file, then I import it into INSPIRE where one click will change the whit background into a transparent background. I then save it as a jpg or whatever!

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Bob Burns
Bob Burns Signs
LETTERCRAFT SIGN SYSTEMS
www.lettercraft.com
1619 Oregon Ave.
Prescott, Az 86305
1-877-778-5879

Posted by Mark Matyjakowski (Member # 294) on :

jpg doesnt support transparent backgrounds. transparent gif's can be made right from photoshop... convert it to indexed color and export it.
but if you want it centered (I'm using ps5), link all the layers except the background (little box/chain next to the eyeball) merge them (ctrl+E) then select the background... link the picture layer and "align linked" (in the layers menu at top)

If I understand the question

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Pierrepont by day.
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Posted by David Fisher (Member # 107) on :

Gday Nettie,
You can put your artwork on different layers and then using the layers rollup you can turn the background layer off.
Hope that makes sense.
David
Just re-read the post Nettie, I think I may have been off-tangent originally.
If you want to nest your pic with a tranparent background, export it as a gif 89a (?) from the file menu in photoshop but you may need to experiment with the pallete options, it depends on the version and the default values.
David
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D.A. & P.M. Fisher Signwriting
Brisbane Australia
da_pmf@yahoo.com

[This message has been edited by David Fisher (edited April 28, 2000).]

Posted by Pete Kouchis (Member # 343) on :

Nettie,
I don't think JPG images support transparency, but you can achieve this and save the result as a Photoshop (PSD)file. Here's how...

Open your jpg image. Select your image using the magic wand tool (or select the bgnd if it's easier to isolate). You can do this with the "Select/color range" command also. Once selected, cut your image to the clipboard. Then do a "ctrl-a" to select the entire canvas area. Delete this. Then go to "edit/paste into". This will create a new layer with your image. Now in your layer manager, click on the old bgnd layer and drag it to the trash. The background will disappear leaving a transparency. Hope this helps and I didn't just confuse you to death!

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Pete Kouchis
Say it with SIGNS, Inc.
Orland Park, IL, USA
Phone: (708)460-3001
Fax: (708)460-3006

Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way
Booker T. Washington

[This message has been edited by Pete Kouchis (edited April 28, 2000).]

Posted by Janette Balogh (Member # 192) on :

Thanks for the input here! In the next couple days I'll do some playing around in Photoshop and see if I can figure it out.

I recieved a couple responses via email from Mike Jackson with regards to this question. Mike is very adept in Photoshop, so I thought I'd cut and paste his input here for others to benefit from it too.

Response #1:

Hi Nettie_
We did this a lot of our recent web pages.....

1: Open As> generic .AI.....at the prompt we select anit-aliased, picked a resolution
and then the approx. desired size in witdth.....4" or 400 pixels depending on what we
were doing. There is a check box for background either being the "background color,
foreground color, or transparent". Sometimes, transparent isn't available and it comes
in with a white background usually cropped to about the same size as the ornament.

2: If it is cropped too much, I use Canvas Size and add a little space all around with
the white square in the center of the nine boxes.

3: In the layers box, drag the background layer down to the New Layer icon to make
a copy of the current layer. The bottom one will now be your background layer.

4: make sure the background layer is highlighted and select at Control-A.

5: Make sure the background color is white or whatever color you want it in the two
color boxes in the lower left corner of the toolbar. Then hit Control Delete (or fill with
background color). In my case, I had tan and white as the two colors and did a linear
blend holding down the shift key as I dragged the curser to set the blend.

6: Now highlight the top layer (in the layers box) with the image in it. Use the magic wand
and select the background which is usually white. Hit delete. Depending on what else you
want to make transparent, select one more area of white and it becomes selected. Under
Select, pick "select similar" and it will go over the entire layer and select all remaining
white parts. If some areas are selected that you really don't want to delete or turn clear,
then hold down the ALT key and click on those areas with the Magic Wand. They
will be subtracted from the current selections. Then hit delete.

7: That should do it. Now you can use the mover tool (the right one at the top of the left
toobar) and move that layer around to center it over the background if necessary.
Any time you want to select all the elements in that layer, just hold down the Control
key as you click on that layer in the layers window. If for example, everything is black,
you can select elements on that layer, pick maroon and hit Alt-Backspace and it will turn
everything selected to maroon.

There are other similar tricks but you should get the idea.

Response #2:

Janette,
If your question was directed towards a transparent Gif file for a web image,
then the answer is different. I don't think there is such thing as a transparent
backgroud Jpg file for the web.

To make a Transparent Gif:

1:Bring up your image in photoshop to the size you want it.

2: Whever is easier, select all the positive shapes using the magic wand or
similar selector.....or select all the areas you want to be transparent, and do
a reverse select under the Select menu.

3: Once all the positive shapes are selected, go to Select and down to the
bottom of the screen and "Save Selection" (into an alpha channel). You can
give it a name like "Mask".

4: Return to the screen and change mode to Indexed Color and pick the number
of colors which holds the best color presentation.

5: Under File, there is a Gif "export" command. Hit that. It will bring up a dialog
box. Under one of the pulldown menus, there is a "transparency from" box. Pull
down and you will see your "Mask" there in the list. Click on that one and it
will create the transparent background.

6: Click on the save box and in that section and give it a name. Done (if it is a
fairly large Gif file, you might want to turn on "interlaced" as you save it)

------------------
"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"

Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
jbalogh@earthlink.net
Current Pet Profile - Please send us yours!
http://www.markfair.com/nettie

Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident!
Location, Location, Location! It's all right here!
http://www.letterhead.com/supporters

Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :

Hi Janette. From your past replies, I believe you also have Corel Draw. Here's a tutorial that I came across that's related to your question...also written by one of your fellow Statespersons. The tutorial is related to Corel Draw, but also has references to Photoshop. You may find this informative, or confusing, depending on how familiar you are with the program, and the terms used.http://www.cedesign.com/html/whitebg.html

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Ken Henry
Henry & Henry Signs
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 439-1881
e-mail kjmlhenry@home.

10,000 sperm swimming for that egg...and I won!

Posted by Sarah Clark (Member # 413) on :

JPG doesnt support transparency. You can have it in the layers you are working on but when you flatten them and save it, its gone. You need GIF for transparency. There is a free photoshop filter called eliminate white that can easily turn white to transparent in a photoshop layer. If you want the jpg to show on a web page with a colored background and not show the square image you need to make the background in the jpg to exactly the same as the webpage so that it blends into the background color exactly.

is anyone using the png format? Have you read about the new svg vector format that is being developed?(for webpages) Corel has some filter for the format for coreldraw9 and the new adobe illustrator9 will also be able to save them. Sounds interesting

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S. Clark
Clark Signs (retired)
Compton, Arkansas
sasc@alltel.net
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/notebook/1172/
http://members.xoom.com/sclark/

Posted by LazyEdna (Member # 266) on :

wow.. so many of these responses made it sound SO COMPLICATED:
1. Create the graphic.
2. Make it the size you want
3. Go to Mode, check Indexed color
4. File, Export, use the eyedropper to click on the background color you want made transparent.
5. SAVE.
wham, bam, thank ya ma'am
LE

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LazyEdna
in RL known as Sara Straw
from southern Utah
5 National Parks within 3 hours drive
Red Rock Heaven

Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :

That's why I suggested L-View Edna. Open the file, select the backgound color with the eyedropper, click on OK, and save. Pretty simple!

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