Re: transparent gifs...again (selecting)

Lonna-

As far as selecting goes, you rarely need to use the Lasso
tool. With a plain background like you describe, the
easiest option is usually the Magic Wand tool. Just click
on the background, and then choose Select-->Invert. Now
the book is selected! If you copy this (Ctrl-C) and then
paste into your other image, everything around the book
will be transparent and let the background show through.

Often, an easier tool than the Lasso when you can't use
the Magic Wand (because of a busy background) is the Path
tool (looks like a pen). It's not freehand, but rather a
collection of points connected by straight lines and
bezier curves (click and hold on the pen button to get
tools for moving points, changing from curved to straight
segments, etc.)

If there were three things I would suggest everyone learn
to really use in Photoshop, they would be the Path tool,
Layers and Layer modes, and Masks/Alpha channels. (Well,
maybe that could be more than three.)

Have fun, always ask questions.

Luke

===

                - ( luke opperman ) -
     Spigot Graphics, Cohesive Design for the Web
          - ( http://spigot.hypermart.net/ ) -  
      Viva La Revolution! Linux 2.2 and Beyond!





---Lonna Poland <lonna(at)granbury.com> wrote:
> (I'm
> using Photoshop 5, PC version).
> 
> The gif image of a book is saved on a gray background...
every gif gets some
> color of background, even when I save them as
transparent.  My problem is...
> I wanted to simply do a selection (select all) of the
image of a book, and
> copy it onto the banner.  When I did that, the book went
onto the banner
> with its gray background, and I wanted just the book to
copy, not it's
> background.  So now I'm in the position of needing to
"cut-out" the image
> with that laborious lasso tool... sigh.
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