Re: Transparency H*ll

Hi everyone,

The method to export an image to gif is very easy but also very specific.
I'll explain how it is done in Photoshop and I'm sure it works in a similar
manner in PSP.

The actual color of the background of your image is not important.  If you
work in Photoshop or PSP5, you can leave the background transparent till
the end.  You can also fill the bottom layer with a color that contrasts
sharply with the opaque parts of your image.  It will help later when you
select the colors you want to set to transparent.

Now here's the important part.  The graphic your worked on is probably in
RGB color mode at that point.  You need to set it to Indexed color mode
before you export it to gif.  In Photoshop you go to Image/Mode/Indexed
Color.  For the palette choose Adaptive.  Photoshop will ask you if you
want to "flatten" the image.  Do so now.  If you were working on a real
transparent background, Photoshop will fill it with white.  It's fine if
you don't want to keep white parts transparent in your final image.  If you
do, you should have filled the bottom layer with a contrasting color
earlier.  At this point in Photoshop you will have to choose the color
depth of your final gif...  you can try different choices and see how it
looks.  When you click ok you'll be presented with another dialog where you
can select colors.  Click on the background and it will turn gray.  That
will be the transparent part.  If there are some "yucky little dots" left
as Carol put it, zoom in your image in the preview and select those to be
transparent as well.  Zoom in very close if you don't want to set the wrong
color as transparent.  When you are done, click OK, give it a name and save.

The only reason I see when you cannot set transparent colors is when you
export to gif right from RGB mode without changing the image to Indexed
Color first.  The export dialog is different in Photoshop in that case and
you don't get to "set" any color(s) as transparent.

Hope that was clear enough!

St=E9phane=20

>What I have done is make the background a color and when the graphic is
>completed, I then set it to transparent.  That is how I got around it.  For
>some reason when you start out with a transparent background, as soon as=
 you
>save it, it goes to white.  I do not understand why.  I think it has
>something to do with the format.  gif or jpg.  but I do not know.  So as I
>said, I will set the background to some oddball color, that wont leave=
 yucky
>little dots around the graphic after I set the transparency, do the graphic
>the way I want, then do the transparency deal.  Hope this helps.  I found=
 it
>to be quite frustrating and maybe someone that knows more than I will come
>up with a better answer.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Elysia De Chenn <elysia(at)mindspring.com>
>To: hwg-graphics(at)hwg.org <hwg-graphics(at)hwg.org>
>Cc: hwg-basics(at)hwg.org <hwg-basics(at)hwg.org>
>Date: Tuesday, November 10, 1998 1:31 PM
>Subject: Transparency H*ll
>
>
>>Thanks for everyone who's responded (2) I really appreciate it...however,=
 I
>>seem to have given the wrong impression as to what the problem is, so I'll
>>restate it again *sigh*
>>
>>In PSP 5.0 --
>>
>>When I save a .GIF as transparent, then display it on my webpage, it has a
>>white background.  When I'm working with the graphic, I go to my "set
>>transparent color" menu option, set it to the correct color, and I even
>>"proof" it before I save it.  According to what I see in PSP, the graphic
>>is transparent.
>>
>>Until I load it up in the browser and take a look at it.  It's a different
>>story then, as I said, the background is white instead of transparent...I
>>think I may have changed a setting by mistake, thing is...I've been=
 through
>>every setting I can think of that remotely involves transparency or
>>tolerance, I've modified every setting in combinations that most have only
>>dreamed of, and still nothing.
>>
>>Please!  *grovelling and begging pitifully*  If you have some clue of
>>what's wrong, please help!  I'm at a complete standstill until I figure
>>this out!
>>Could it be something I'm not doing right with the HTML?  I'm stumped.
>>
>>//Elysia
>>
>>
>>--
>>"You framed the sun...shot out | No Faith
>> the stars...you paled the sky |  [ http://members.xoom.com/no_faith/]
>> and hung the moon..."          |
>>   "Hung the moon" -- BTE      | ..
>>

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