How do I add transparency to PSP pic

[tidyup]

I'm wondering if there is a way to add transparency to a pic made by PSP.

What I'm trying to do is add a pic to a frame and no matter what I've tried to do I can't get the outline of the pic I'm trying to use completely transparent. It still shows up white around the edges when I add it to the frame. I'm posting the pics I'm using 'cause I can't explain very well what I'm asking. Hopefully you can see what I mean.

I'm trying to add the cowboy to the frame w the horses in it that I've made.

[D_Spider]

tidyup,

First: to get transparency in PSP, choose a color not in your image and make it the background color; go to Colors | Set Palette Transparency, and when the dialog box asks, check "use current background color." That's it. But don't do this till the very end, since it will make all your layers into one layer and the image will be harder to edit that way.

Second: you don't want the whole thing transparent so much as you want those images of the horses and of the cowboy to be transparent, right? See below about Layers and "Background" vs. "Layer 1"; I think that's what you're looking for.

Third: if you're going to use the finished image on the web you'll have to change the file format to .gif (see "First" above, plus you Save As and choose gif), but still, you shouldn't do this till you're finished editing the image. So see "Second" above and all the stuff below.

Are you making this image using layers? if you are just "pasting as transparent selection," try using layers because it's easier to manage all the parts of the image that way. In the main program window, click View, click Toolbars, and put a check in front of Layer Palette. That will put the palette in your workspace where you can see it. Your main dark image will be "background" or "Layer 1" in that palette. If it's "background," double-click on that label and choose "duplicate" from the drop-down menu. That will give you "background" and "copy of background," and you can delete "background" because now you have a copy of it (rename it something nice) that supports transparency; if you erase things in this image now, the erased parts will be truly transparent.

When you add your other images, the horses and the cowboy, paste them as layers into the image you just made transparency possible with. Now you can make adjustments to all the parts much more easily.

(I) BUT... The image of the cowboy has white-ish pixels around the edges of his upper body, and the background you're planning on is black, right? Same with the horses, probably. The way to get the result you want with the least frustration is to make the horses-image and the cowboy-image have a black background, then use the magic wand tool to select the surrounding black area and erase it. What's left will have black-ish pixels around the edges, and they won't show, except where the images overlap, and you can edit those areas once you see through all of them as layers.

(II) BUT... The images of the horses and of the cowboy originally had a light-colored background, right? If the "(I) BUT" doesn't apply because of the white-ish pixels, you're stuck with having to work at the solution.

Attempt #1: in each of those layers, select all and then with the rectangular-selection tool click on the middle of the image (a horse or the cowboy's chest); the selection will now be close around the image. Go to Selections on the main menu, then Modify, then Contract, and fill in 1; does the marquee (dotted outline) leave out the white-ish pixels? if not, do it again and fill in 1. Then do Selections | Invert and delete. If you're lucky, you will have gotten rid of all the light-colored pixels but none of the horses or cowboy. Not that lucky, eh?

Attempt #2 (real work): Which looks better, the result of "(I) BUT" or "(II) BUT"? Use the better one and make bezier lines one pixel thick with antialias along the whole outline where wrong-colored pixels or left-out pixels are, matching the color of each segment of the line to the horse's hair or the cowboy's skin. At long last you'll have images (layers) of the horses and cowboy that you can put together and be happy about.

You can then merge the layers ("visible"! if you merge all "flatten" you'll lose transparency) or leave them as separate layers. You can print an image with multiple layers, and I think it's better to leave the layers in case you want to use the cowboy or the horses again as one part of another image. Keeping separate layers does increase the file size, but all the labor of taking an image apart again and making separate layers that you can work with is a very practical and compelling argument for a bigger hard drive or for storing all your finished work on CDs.

[tidyup]

Hey Spider, thanks for your reply BUT the trouble is that I don't use PSP and that's why I was asking about how to add transparency to a gif done with PSP so that I could use it.

See I'm trying to combine the Cowboy image (done with PSP) with my Frame and Horses (done with ImageMagic) but I can't get rid of the white outline around the Cowboy. I took it to Gifworks to add transparency and I even tried to paint it with MSPaint but nothing seems to work. I was hoping someone knew of some other way to do it.

[Linda]

Nanci, can you post the cowboy before you did anything to the image? :wink:

[tidyup]

I only add transparency at GifWorks

[D_Spider]

tidyup,
the easy way of getting the white stuff off the cowboy is "attempt #1" in my post. If that doesn't work, there's "attempt #2." I don't think the fact that the pic was made with PSP has anything to do with those light-colored pixels; they're what show up if you pull a part out of an image.

[tidyup]

tidyup,
the fact that the pic was made with PSP has anything to do with those light-colored pixels; they're what show up if you pull a part out of an image.

Thanks Spider :linda:
I didn't know that and it's certainly good to know!! Sure will save me a lot of aggravation trying to do the impossible :hammer: