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Posted By
Phosphor
Sep 27, 2003
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349
Replies
9
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Closed
My neice recently placed high in an important swimming event. I want to take the results which I have in a pdf file and overlay a picture of her ao that I can have the results as a backround for the picture. I tried several things but have been getting nowhere. What should I do?

Robert Daniels
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Phosphor
Sep 27, 2003
Robert, I don’t work with PDF, but try this while waiting for somebody else to respond who knows what they’re talking about! The concept here is to create two separate images that can be combined on one canvas, and you’ll be using Opacity to adjust the degree of visibility of the background through your niece’s face.

First, see if you can convert the PDF document to another format like TIFF or PSD. I don’t happen to know if this will work or not, but if it will, we’re on a roll! Then, check the resolution of that image through Image>Resize>Image Size.

Once you’re able to convert the PDF to a somewhat standard image format, make sure the image of your niece is in the same format and set to the same resolution.

Also make sure the Layers pallet is open so you can watch what’s going on.

Open the file containing the image you want as the background, which I believe you said would be the results, and leave it open on your desktop.

Now open the image of your niece. On your Layers pallet,double click on the background layer, which will simplify it.

Now, with the picture of your niece still active, select the Move tool, click on the image, and drag it to the "results" image.

If I’m envisioning this right, you should be frustrated because all you’ve accomplished is to cover the results with your niece’s face. Not to panic. Move over to the Layers pallet, make sure the picture of your niece is the active layer (it’ll be highlighted), and look toward the top of the pallet for "Opacity." Click on the arrow to the right, and you’ll get a slider. Reduce the opacity until the meet results are visible through the face.

I’ve never tried anything quite like this, but it should get you started. There are some exceptionally creative people who’ll be along shortly to correct my instructions, I’m sure! 🙂
CS
Chuck Snyder
Sep 27, 2003
Robert, congratulations to your niece! O\one relatively straightforward way is:

1. Open both the results pdf and the picture of your niece in Elements.
2. Make sure both pictures are set to RGB color (Image<Mode<RGB Color) and
set to the same resolution (Image<Resize<Image Size, set ppi)
3. Copy the picture of your niece (Select<All then Edit<Copy)
4. Paste onto the results picture (Edit<Paste). This will give you a second layer on the results picture
5. Choose the layer your daughter’s picture is on in the Layers palette of the results picture. Then reduce the opacity (slider on the layers palette) until the results become visible below her picture. You might have to go down to 70-80% or lower to achieve the desired effect

You may have to play with the sizes of the pictures to get exactly the image you’re after.

Hope that steers you in the right direction.

Chuck
CS
Chuck Snyder
Sep 27, 2003
Beth, I think we gave Robert two very similar ways to accomplish the same thing – that’s good!

🙂
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Phosphor
Sep 27, 2003
I noticed that! The other thing I noticed was that you said the PDF file could stay in that format; that’s one thing I wasn’t sure about. I guess I better work with those someday and get a little more knowledgeable about their strengths and weaknesses.
CS
Chuck Snyder
Sep 27, 2003
Beth, once you open it, it’s no longer a PDF or a TIFF or a JPEG; it’s just a bunch of pixels at that point. Important thing: convert both (if necessary) to RGB>

Gotta head out to dinner – more later!

Chuck
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Phosphor
Sep 28, 2003
Thanks – You made me amaze myself. I did use the PDF file without any change. I am a little confused about how to use the layers pallet correctly but I’ll keep trying.

Robert Daniels
LK
Leen Koper
Sep 28, 2003
Robert,
Once you succeeded -and no doubt you will with these instructions- it is time to fine tune this image in a very simple way.

Click on the selection brush, set the feather to about 100 or higher and paint roughly over the face. Go to the selection menu and reverse the selection.
Now you set the opacity for the text much higher.
Deselect and that ‘s all. NOw you have mastered a few new techniques. So many other ones to go…;-)

Leen
JM
Jon_McGoran
Oct 17, 2003
Chuck,
I am knew to the forum (or any) but I have a question and I think you might know the answer. I am trying to load black and white pdf files into Elements and then save them as tiffs or bmps so that I can import them into Quark 3.32. Elements seems top let mwe do this, and I can open the tiff and bmp files in Elements, but when I got o quark, it displays the files in the menu, but then says it cannot find them. In an earlier post, you said that once tghe file is opened in Elements, it is just a bunch of pixels, so this should work. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jon
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Oct 18, 2003
Jon, hello and welcome. I don’t know anything about Quark, unfortunately; however, if it’s supposed to be able to open .bmp and .pdf files, I would think it should open the ones generated by Elements. Did you close the files in Elements before trying to open with Quark? Some programs may not like trying to deal with an image that’s already open in another program…

Chuck

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