When you merge the layers, you only merge the visible layers not the invisible layers. When you flatten an image, you convert all the layers that make up that image into one layer. PNG does preserve it but IE6 and 7 do not properly render (display) transparency in PNG images GIF preserves image transparency data and it is properly rendered by all browsers JPEG doesn’t preserve image transparency at all.įlattening and Merging Layers are not the same actions. Not all image formats are capable of preserving image transparency data. Images with opacity hide (occlude) any images over which they are displayed. Images with transparent regions will not hide (occlude) any image they overlay where those transparent images are present. Transparency is the property of being entirely see-through and without any associated back-drop colour. Opacity is the property of being variably see-through and usually has an associated back-drop colour (in the above watermark that back-drop colour is white). Transparency and opacity are not the same properties. Sometimes PNG files are smaller than GIF files, other times they’re larger – it varies from file to file. JPEG files are smaler than PNG’s so convert them to jpeg once you’ve finished editing them if you want them to take-up less storage space. PNG Files are lossless which means they do not suffer image degradation during edits so convert your images to png format should you be editing and saving them multiple times. Interlaced images contain more data than their non-interlaced counterparts so use non-interlaced files when you want an image to take up less room. Watermark: Polar Bear Sticking Out His Tongue Extra Tips We do this to ensure that the opacity is preserved when we save the image as a jpeg, gif or png etc. next we flatten the image by right-clicking over the image, moving the cursor to Image then selecting Flatten Image.Ensure your image is highlighted then move the slider to your desired opacity level (50% is generally good enough), the Layers dialogue box has an Opacity slider control.
#Save photo with transparent background gimp windows#
use the top menu bar to browse the Windows menu and move your cursor downwards to Dockable Dialogues then select Layers.To turn the image into a “watermark” I’d need to make it partially transparent by altering the image’s opacitysetting in GIMP. I would need to make it a little more watermark like before I could use it as a background image otherwise it could make it hard to discern any text on the page. Here’s a picture that I could use as a background image on a web-page: Polar bear sticking out his blue tongue Had I wanted to remove that then I could either re-apply the above method but choosing that particular shade of blue to make transparent or I could have rubbed it out using the eraser with an opacity setting chosen. If you look closely you will see that the image with the transparent background still has some blue sky showing at its top. Image 3: The image with a background I wished to make transparent. Image 2: the highlighted box contains the colour value that is to be made transparent. Image 1: the highlighted box contains the colour that is to be made transparent. To merge the layers, right-click the image, move your cursor to Image then select Merge Visible Layers. Either save the image as a PNG file else merge the layers then save it as a GIF or JPEG.that’s it, anything of your chosen colour will now be transparent.Left-click the dropper then left-click the color on your image that you’d like to make transparent. To the right of that bar is an image of a dropper. In this new box there is another coloured bar (highlighted in red in Image 2). Left-click that bar and a Colour to Alpha Colour Picker dialogue box will pop-up ( image 2). in the pop-up box you will see a preview of your image with a (usually) white rectangular bar displayed below it (as outlined in red in image 1).right-click the image then move your cursor to Colours and select Colour to Alpha,.open the image you want to edit with GIMP (right-click it, select Open With… then choose GIMP),.You can make any background colour or any colour within an item transparent. Make an image semi transparent so that it may be used as a watermark.Convert every occurrence of a particular colour into a transparent region (good for web graphics), and.Two things I recently learned to do with GIMP: I know GIMP is a powerful graphics editor I just wish it were more intuitive. To prove that point, I frequently open images in Kolourpaint (the Linux equivalent to Window’s Paint) to make minor edits then re-open them in GIMP to do the bits I can’t do in Kolourpaint and vice-verse. If you’ve ever used GIMP then you will know that it’s not the most intuitive graphics editor to learn to use. Took me ages to work this out so I hope it comes in handy for you. See also: All About GIMP – A Simple User Guide.