For this tutorial we'll be turning the white within an image to "true" transparency. Some people confuse this with gif transparency which in fact is "fake" since in that case you actually have an existing color within an image that you are telling a browser to ignore and display as transparent against a page background.
We are going to take an image that exists on a white background and will remove the white so that the rest of the contents can be used as a separate layer within another image. We'll be using this image, but any piece of clipart will do.
The first thing you have to do with any technique you use here is make your image a layer so if it's a .gif or .jpg image, right click on "Background" on your layer palette and choose "Promote To Layer" or a quicker way is to double click the 'Background on your layer pallette and the layer option box will pop up.'
Now I've seen people suggest that the method to use here is to simply select the background and delete it. The problem with this is you have to use the magic wand to do the selecting and since the magic wand doesn't have an anti-alias setting, you will get less than desirable results. It doesn't matter how much feathering and tolerance settings you use, the results just aren't that good. (These images are against a contrasting background so as to view the remnants left)
No feather setting. Same results with low or high tolerance settings. With a 3 feather, slightly better. So what's the best solution?
A tool I wouldn't be without the Eliminate White Filter
To instal filters is quite easy to do if you are new to using filters. Create a folder in your Paint Shop Pro folder and call it 'Plug-ins'. Download your filters to this folder. Then go to Paint Shop Pro/File/Preferences/File Locations. Up will pop up a menu so click on Plug-Ins. Add the path (where your folder for plug-ins is) then close. You may have to restart Paint Shop Pro. Then go to Effects and you'll see Plug-Ins listed so when you click on that you'll now see your Filter. You'll note there is also a filter for removing black from a background too :)
Again, make sure before you apply this filter you have promoted your background to a layer. So after applying the filter we get:
This process turned some of the pixels in our image semi-transparent so to counteract that we'll need to do the following: a few extra steps of:
Selections/Select All
Click anywhere within the image to "snap" your selection to capture existing pixels
Selections/Modify/Contract with a 1 setting
Add a new layer underneath the one you've been working on
Fill that layer with a solid white (may take a few clicks to get 100% opacity)
Layers/Merge/Merge Visible
And the results without ugly remnants:
The image is now perfect to use on a graphic or for making a tag on a pretty background:)
As always, if you have a problem going through this tutorial or get stuck, feel free to email me and I'll help you through it :)
