MJEOL TUTORIAL - HOW TO MAKE TRANSPARENT IMAGES
By Adele Heyes
1. First of all, open the blend that you want to make ‘transparent’ and create a transparent base of the same size.
2. Go to the Selection tool in the toolbar and choose the ‘Shape’ option. For mine, I usually choose ‘Rounded Rectangle’ but use which ever it is that you want.
3. Drag over the part of your blend which you want to make into the transparency.
4. If you so wish, you can insert other parts of your blend into the selection too. IMPORTANT: Pay attention to the text which I have outlined in the red elipse in the screencap below. You must press and hold down Shift to add to your selection or press and hold Control to take parts away.
5. When you have outlined everything which you wish to make into your transparency go to EDIT>COPY.
6. Select the window which is a completely transparent canvas, make a new layer (VERY important) and paste. Your selections from the original blend should now appear in the transparency window.
7. To make the outline of a transparency, which in my opinion makes it look a lot more professional and neat, first go to SELECTIONS>DEFLOAT and then go to SELECTIONS>MODIFY>EXPAND. Make sure that in the window that opens, the option is set to expand the current selection by 1 pixel. Press OK.
8. Make a new layer (DON’T deselect your expanded selection otherwise it won’t work), make the colour that you want your outline to be, your foreground colour, go the FILL tool and click once. Then drag the layer with the filled in shapes behind the layer with your blend on and go to SELECTIONS>SELECT NONE.
9. To save your transparency properly, go to FILE>EXPORT>GIF OPTIMISER.
10. You should see a window like below. Click on the PARTIAL TRANSPARENCY tab and make sure that you have clicked on the ‘50% DITHER’ or the ‘ERROR DIFFUSION’ options otherwise your edges will look craggy and shabby.
By Adele Heyes
1. First of all, open the blend that you want to make ‘transparent’ and create a transparent base of the same size.
2. Go to the Selection tool in the toolbar and choose the ‘Shape’ option. For mine, I usually choose ‘Rounded Rectangle’ but use which ever it is that you want.
3. Drag over the part of your blend which you want to make into the transparency.
4. If you so wish, you can insert other parts of your blend into the selection too. IMPORTANT: Pay attention to the text which I have outlined in the red elipse in the screencap below. You must press and hold down Shift to add to your selection or press and hold Control to take parts away.
5. When you have outlined everything which you wish to make into your transparency go to EDIT>COPY.
6. Select the window which is a completely transparent canvas, make a new layer (VERY important) and paste. Your selections from the original blend should now appear in the transparency window.
7. To make the outline of a transparency, which in my opinion makes it look a lot more professional and neat, first go to SELECTIONS>DEFLOAT and then go to SELECTIONS>MODIFY>EXPAND. Make sure that in the window that opens, the option is set to expand the current selection by 1 pixel. Press OK.
8. Make a new layer (DON’T deselect your expanded selection otherwise it won’t work), make the colour that you want your outline to be, your foreground colour, go the FILL tool and click once. Then drag the layer with the filled in shapes behind the layer with your blend on and go to SELECTIONS>SELECT NONE.
9. To save your transparency properly, go to FILE>EXPORT>GIF OPTIMISER.
10. You should see a window like below. Click on the PARTIAL TRANSPARENCY tab and make sure that you have clicked on the ‘50% DITHER’ or the ‘ERROR DIFFUSION’ options otherwise your edges will look craggy and shabby.
