Import an Image and make it Transparent
- Hi, is there way in Design that I can import an image (jpg, bmp) and set the back ground as transparent (it's currently white background) so that I can overlay that image onto another horizontal banner (rectangle)?
Thanks in advance!
All Replies
- Hi Shayska,
Yes there is,
Briefly - Import your image, use pen to select around the edge of your image, choose front minus back on Path, and export
Will's tutorial eplains it very well.
http://blogs.msdn.com/xdesignsupport/archive/2008/09/03/seeing-through-your-transparency-problem.aspx
Hope this helps
Paul you can also use a clipping path
draw a path around the part of the image you want to have like in Wills tututorial
or use rectangle oval etc
when the path is finished select the path and the image and go to object-clipping path -make with top path
adjust your path till you get satisfied
set the crop marks to bounding box and export your image in png(in design1 in 2 or 3 maybe this can be done with the slice tool?)
I think in webdesign you can set the background to transparancy easily
http://social.expression.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/design/thread/912f2e09-b890-40ae-ac7b-ea2dbea47910/
here a link that can be helpfull- Thanks for the replies!
While, those examples as posted definitely solve the base case scenario, I couldn't imaging trying to outline the following image (which is similar to the image that I'm working with - company logo with text) with a pen to make it transparent. That seems like it would be a lot of work.
Any other methods out there or is Design just not the tool for the job for something this complex (in the least amount of time....or is it do-able in Design ).
it is in design not simple with a path especially there is like a grey shadow on the logo
otherwise using the pen tool with the convert anchor point and using the handlers to make changes to your path is good once you get used to it (a lot of practice) (well explained in the help files)
when I use settings in eraser (Annie s tutorial) I first use no color or switch color on and off till I get finished with my paths
for the text you certainly will be better off with a program that as a magic wand and or a magnetic lasso tool
I must say even in photoshop lessons we had to work a lot with paths to select
if you don t have a program like photoshop you can always try paint.net photobie or other free programs
others may have better solutions
Annie s tutorial- I think it is doable in ED for sure but whether one would wish to invest the time and effort is questionable especially if other applications in a creative artists studio are available.I'll have a try later on with ED.In the meantime, here is a sort of result that took seconds to do in Fireworks CS4
Bitmap editing tools are helpful?And, to be entirely fair, ED's blend modes are not the greatest range available BUT! I don't think that is the point behind ED.Sure it does some fantastic vector constructs but these are within a scope of Studio package yes?
- ED can do no more than the old PhotoDraw. Most artworks would be much easier done in
this old program. The methods in ED lacks the intuitive procedures. If you have access to this old
program, I'd advise you to make this kind of work in it. ED also have a bug when clipping. When clipping
even with a path of streight lines - a box for example - most of the times you get some unexpected behaviour
around the clipping region. Which is out of control of the artist.
It's gone the same way with ED as with EW3 and all other programs from the company in later years. Hopefully
windows 7 shows as a respectfully program -they had some universities to help them. If so, this software company still needs correction of all the rest.
/senn - Hello shyska,
I recently came across almost the same problem. A client gave me a jpg image of their logo and it had a white background. This was a complicated image with special text and images of people doing flips. Try as I might in Design, I couldn't come up with an easy way to delete the background. That's when I turned to Photoshop.
If you have image manipulation software such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, open your image in the program and create a blank layer with a transparent background. Then use the background eraser tool to remove the background from the image layer - my complicated image took about 15-minutes. Save the file as a psd - Photoshop image save - and import that new file - both layers - into Design by using the File->Import function. You can place the image anywhere within your design. Because the new background is transparent, the Design image shows through the picture just as if the picture was a part of the design, (which, of course, it now is).
Sometimes one needs two or three tools to get the job done. For me, this was the perfect answer. I hope that it's of some help to you.
Peace,
Phroneo
