I've been experimenting with replacing the unit images displayed when we hit the F2 key for a unit. I've changed several and many are fine, however some do not come through as a solid 175 x 113 image, parts are transparent. When I view the same image in Photoshop, MS Paint, or other image programs the pics appear without transparency, put 'em into JTCS and parts are transparent. Makes for a really ugly image. My question is how do you get rid of this transparency that shows up?? See below:
The white in the picture is too white (pure white)? Run the pictures through a filter that gives them a vintage old look, with sepia tone or something like that.
Only gifs and pngs can add an alpha (transparency) channel and be used on the web. For print, an eps file is usually used, but for your purposes I'd go with the former.
In Photoshop, grab everything you want to show and place on a new layer (or "select inverse" and delete), then delete everything from the first layer making it transparent. Separating an object from it's background is called silhouetting and there are a few ways to do it. The best is to trace a path around the object, then select the path which will marquis what you traced. It takes a bit of practice.
Then, from the file menu, select "Save for web and devices", then save as a 24 bit png. The "ping" file will be larger than a gif, but look nicer, especially if there are a lot of colors, gradients, etc. If black and white, try a gif. Or both and see what you like vs file size, if that's an issue.
By the way, best rule of thumb, the image should be the exact size you want or larger and 72 pixels for screen (266 pixels for print).
If your final image has too sharp and edge, or if you see white or black artifacts, there are tools to help. Under "layers", bottom of the pulldown play with the matting for removing artifacts and defringing and under "select" check out the "modify" section. Feathering is a great technique to learn, but not here. You can probably find some tutorials on youtube.
Lastly, the poormans way of achieving the same effect as transparency is to make your image's background color the same as the background where you intend to place it. Doesn't work with gradients or on top of another image, but fine for plopping it on top of that ugly military green. Save it as a jpg or bmp or anything you prefer.
That help?
Dave
Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us. --Walt Kelly
(02-05-2014, 01:12 AM)Scud Wrote: Lastly, the poormans way of achieving the same effect as transparency is to make your image's background color the same as the background where you intend to place it. Doesn't work with gradients or on top of another image, but fine for plopping it on top of that ugly military green. Save it as a jpg or bmp or anything you prefer.
Dave, I think he asked how to get rid of transparency? You are far better qualified than me to answer that, too (if I understood him right).
(02-05-2014, 01:12 AM)Scud Wrote: Lastly, the poormans way of achieving the same effect as transparency is to make your image's background color the same as the background where you intend to place it. Doesn't work with gradients or on top of another image, but fine for plopping it on top of that ugly military green. Save it as a jpg or bmp or anything you prefer.
Dave, I think he asked how to get rid of transparency? You are far better qualified than me to answer that, too (if I understood him right).
Ack!! In which case I'd have to see the original graphic, before it was saved as a gif or png to see what's happening, but it most likely wasn't silhouetted very well (thus the jagged edges). Going backwards, you pretty much have to bring the image back into Photoshop, and re-sillhouette or select as much of the background areas as you can and apply a color (white as in the attached sample) or black. The image supplied is very pixelated, in fact, looks like a black and white bitmap file which generally is of poor quality.
If your images are showing up in Photoshop with a transparent layer, just flatten them (they'll pick up your chosen background color) or save them as jpgs. Jpgs can't hold a transparency.
Other than that, no easy way and your results will probably not look too great. Quickly made sample attached.
Dave
Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us. --Walt Kelly
Wow, never ran into that problem with the pics!! I usually take an existing pic, change to 16 million colors, select and delete the existing picture, makng sure you have the background color, green, pink whatever selected. Then, resize your photo to what you want, make it grayscale, then copy/paste into the pic you have open, add border or whatever you want to do to it, then change back to 256 color, save as new pic number.
Okay, figured this out by engineering backwards. Apparently whatever pixel is in the 0 0 coordinate of the BMP becomes transparent along with any other pixel in the pic of the same color. The work around I discovered was to take the finished .bmp, run it through photoshop and increase the canvas size by 1 pixel all around. This 1 pixel frame around the .bmp becomes transparent (0 0 coordinate) and frames the now untouched pic. See below.
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Need help with images
Need help with images 
Save it as a jpg or bmp or anything you prefer.
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