Advertisement

Creating Transparent Images?

Started by July 11, 2002 12:24 PM
14 comments, last by Jonathon 22 years, 5 months ago
Hey, folks! I wonder whether anyone can help me figure out how to create transparent backgrounds for images using the Paint program that comes with Window$ 98. There is a menu item called "Draw Opaque," and I have unchecked that box. But my images still include opaque backgrounds. Does anyone know how to create .bmps or .gifs with transparent backgrounds with Paint? Thanks. Jonathon
quote: "Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush "When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu
Jonathon[quote]"Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu America: Love it or leave it ... in the mess it's in. [/quote]
ok, well the bitmap format doesnt support transparency,
and MS Paint only supports the bitmap format.. so in either
scenario you''re screwed if you want to use that prog.
i''d suggest you download gimp or a trial version of paint
shop pro.



-eldee
;another space monkey;
[ Forced Evolution Studios ]

::evolve::

-eldee;another space monkey;[ Forced Evolution Studios ]
Advertisement
Aggh! What a bummer. Oh well. I''m only using them for games I make as a hobby anyway. But this gives me a good excuse to use Linux more often. Thanks for the information.

But wait a minute. The Paint program I''m using creates .gif images also -- not only .bmps. Anyway, I''m probably still better off learning to use that GIMP-thing I haven''t looked at yet.


Jonathon
quote: "Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush

"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu

Jonathon[quote]"Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu America: Love it or leave it ... in the mess it's in. [/quote]
Someone is a little confused. Paint supports bitmaps, GIF''s, and JPEG''s. To make a color transparent:

1. Make sure you have saved the file as GIF (I don''t think JPEG has transparency)

2. Pick a color to become transparent.

3. Draw everything to be transparent in that color.

4. Click [Image][Attributes].

5. Check "Use Transparent Background Color".

6. Select your transparent color.

7. Enjoy

_____________________________

And the Phoenix shall rise from the ashes...

--Thunder_Hawk -- ¦þ
______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________The Phoenix shall arise from the ashes... ThunderHawk -- ¦þ"So. Any n00bs need some pointers? I have a std::vector<n00b*> right here..." - ZahlmanMySite | Forum FAQ | File Formats______________________________________________________________________________________
Reasons not to use the GIF format:
*It's copyrighted pretty strictly (not sure if M$ has a liscense for it on MSPaint, but I don't think you can legally write an importer anyway)
*Cryptic format (not an issue if you use an image loading library, but it's probably more than you want to mess with)

Other option(s):
*Create a bitmap and then use something called 'colorkeying' in your game. This is a process whereby you select a color (something uncommon like neon pink), and make it your colorkey. Then, when drawing, you ignore all pixels of this color, creating a transparency-like effect. The difficulty and efficiency of this depend greatly on your experience and graphics API.
*Use Thunder_Hawk's method for GIFs.

Later,
ZE.

//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links


[edited by - zealouselixir on July 11, 2002 1:55:23 PM]

[twitter]warrenm[/twitter]

Aha! I haven''t tried that yet. Thanks, folks. I''ll let you know how it goes.

Jonathon
quote: "Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush

"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu

Jonathon[quote]"Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." -George W. Bush"When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish." - Lao Tzu America: Love it or leave it ... in the mess it's in. [/quote]
Advertisement
hrm.. as of win98 first edition paint didnt support anything other
than 24bit bitmaps... or did it? now you''ve got me second
guessing myself


-eldee
;another space monkey;
[ Forced Evolution Studios ]

::evolve::

-eldee;another space monkey;[ Forced Evolution Studios ]
@eldee: Yeah. Win95 only had BMPs, and it sounds like Win98 FE had only BMPs, with JPGs/GIFs being added in SE. Anyway, are you ever gonna update your site? You have a kickbutt logo, but the site''s been "Coming Soon" for a good long while now. Heck, I''d do free webdev for you just to get it up

Later,
ZE.

//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links

[twitter]warrenm[/twitter]

>1. Make sure you have saved the file as GIF (I don''t think JPEG >has transparency)

Actually I tried with the latest version of IJL
and there is support for alpha channels in JPG

Regards
/Roger
quote: Original post by eldee
hrm.. as of win98 first edition paint didnt support anything other
than 24bit bitmaps... or did it? now you''ve got me second
guessing myself


IIRC, win98 paint had this really schizophrenic behavior with 24-bit BMPs; it couldn''t create them, only load them, and it remapped chunks of them to a 256-color palette at random intervals. Freakish and buggy. Yuck.

I''ll never understand why so many newbies stick with MS Paint. It''s a sucky program, people! Use the GIMP! It''s free, it''s for windows, and it''s moderately easy to learn.

GIMP GIMP GIMP!


Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Advertisement