PSP File which you can download here or you can use one of your own
Ok, once you've downloaded the .psp file to where you save your tubes or tutorials we can begin :) Open up the sphere in Paint Shop Pro (or open up your image if you're using your own). Make sure it has an extension of ,psp. If your image is a .jpg then open it up in Paint Shop Pro and got to File/Save As and save it as a .psp file. You can then close down the original .jpg and work with your .psp file :)
The image we have is a sphere on a blue background but saved as a .psp file.
We obviously dont want the blue background but PSP can't change anything to transparent without it knowing what colour it has to change. So click on the eyedropper tool and then right-click on the blue background in the image as below:
You'll now see that the background colour on the materials palette has changed to the blue colour of your image background. What we've done is told PSP that we are working with a background colour that is blue.
Now we have to remove the blue colour before we save it, so go to File/Export/Gif Optimizer
Up will pop the Gif Optimizer Menu box. Use the following setting on the Transparency tab:
Then press the second tab 'Partial Transparency' and use the following settings:
Once you press ok you will be asked to save your image and you MUST save it as a .gif file (Compuserve Graphics Interchange and that's a mouthful, lol!)
It is most important that you don't forget to save it as a .gif! So now you should have started with the first image (on the left) and ended up with the one on the right:)
Don't panic if you notice in Paint Shop Pro that it still has a blue background! It doesn't matter what colour the background of your image is, it WILL become transparent if viewed in your emails or a web page for instance.
As always if you are having trouble, drop me an email and I'll try and help you go through this tutorial :)
and then right-click on the blue background in the image as below:
