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gbmcneil

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How To Make THe White Space Of A Graphic Translucent

Hello Experts -

Although I haven't seen it used in the past couple of years, there used to be occasions when I would see a graphic (an icon, for example) whose background color was translucent. It was a special tone of pink that let the backdrop of whatever color it appeared on top of, come thru.

Therefore, if you had an icon with one of these translucent backgrounds, the icon appeared to "fit in" no matter where or when it was used.

Can anyone tell me how I could colorize the white background of a simple graphic to give it this quality?

Thanks for input.
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Dave Baldwin
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Actually you see it all the time.  The main image on Google is a PNG with a transparent background.  The 'pink' you used to see was not really there but it was a way to show you the boundaries of the image.  Different programs use different colors or a checkerboard pattern to show you the boundaries of the image.  JPGs do not support transparency so any image you have seen with a 'see thru' background has to be either a GIF or a PNG.
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gbmcneil

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Well, my graphic is currently a JPG. If I convert it to a PNG (or a GIF), does that automatically make the background translucent? I suspect that I need a software utility to make the white background area translucent. What utility will do that?
It is not an icon whose background I would like to make translucent. It is the "white space" of a full photo-sized image.
the answer is no. just by changing the image type does not automatically make it translucent. you need a program like Adobe Photoshop to accomplish this.

This is pretty simple to do if you have the program to do it. If you attach the file I can do it for you fairly quickly.
Thanks for responding mwood6275. And, you too, Dave Baldwin.

Does anyone know of a non-Photoshop software utility that can make my "white background" translucent?
Corel Draw .. there are so many. But you can also search google with free image editing software.
How about Gimp, Irfanview?  Is Corel Draw the old Paint Shop Pro?
Gimp should do it and yea Corel Draw is the old Paint Shop Pro.
Thanks. Let me give them a try. See if I can figure it out,
Corel Draw is Not the old Paint Shop Pro but Corel did buy Paint Shop Pro.  Irfanview won't do it.  I think Paint.Net will also do it but I haven't used it for that yet.
You are correct sir .. my mistake  .. Corel Draw is Not the old Paint Shop Pro but Corel did buy Paint Shop Pro.
I'll try Paint.Net then. Thanks for clarifying.
I know GIMP will do it but it is a more complicated program (I think).  I have all of them and I use the one that is most convenient for whatever reason.  http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
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Paul Sauvé
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Hi Paul. Thanks for joining in. Without your input, I frankly wouldn't have a clue what to do.

The problem is that the graphic that I would like to show thru is so detailed that I am not sure I'm up to the task of drawing an outline around the image.

I was hope that I could indicate that all white pixels were now magically transparent. And, I don't think that this is practical.

See attached graphic.

Picture0003.tif
Okay. I misunderstood you. I see that the outline around the key subject is done automatically.

I think I'm on my way. I'm now going to super-impose the rib cage on a human torso - that being me.

Give me a little bit. I'll be back to you. You've been a big, big help Paul.
Just saying―here are my results in Paint.NET & GIMP
User generated imageUser generated image
If you set the Magic Wand tool Tolerance to 15% (in the top menu bat), use ctrl right-click to select all the white in one shot.
Thanks Paul. Once I got the hang of it, the final result was beyond expectations.
I probably should thank the other fellows for contributing, too.

But, it took Paul to really steer me in the right direction.
don't worry about it - I already have points for this answer ;-)
Well, thank you.