True Transparency without "Matte"

JD
Posted By
Jersey Depot
Sep 20, 2003
Views
1240
Replies
7
Status
Closed
Hello,

First and foremost I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my message. While I have been using Photoshop for some time now, my skills are no where near the same caliber of those individuals who I see using these forums. As such, I am coming here for help with what I think will be a simple answer to you, but has been frustrating me a lot. I’m not quite at the ‘banging my head on the keyboard stage’, but frustrating none the less! =)

I have an image, which I need to "Save For the Web". This image has jagged edges all around it. Whenever I try to save it, I have to ‘matte’ it with a color so that it is smooth. If I have ‘no matte’ then the image looks choppy. The problem with this particular image is that I am making it available to others and I don’t know what background they are going to be putting it on. Hence, I can’t just matte it with one color. Really, I need to save this with a transparent background and have it look good (ie. smooth) regardless of what background color it is placed on. I know there has to be a way to accomplish this in the settings, but all my tweaking and playing has not led me to the solution. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Robert
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matte transparency

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P
Phosphor
Sep 20, 2003
"…The problem with this particular image is that I am making it available to others and I don’t know what background they are going to be putting it on. Hence, I can’t just matte it with one color…."
No can do, mi amigo.

Transparency in GIF images is either "ON" or OFF". when you specify a matte color you’re only seeing blends between the original edges of your image and any matte color you’ve chosen. Those matte-blended edges are as fully opaque as the center of your image. If you’re using a yellow matte color, and place the GIF on a blue BG you’re going to see a yellow halo. Nothing you can do about it.

The only way you can provide images to people using different color backgrounds is to have them send you the RGB or Hexadecimal numbers for the color they’ll be laying that GIF over, and save images out separately using the matte color numbers they provide.

If it’d be a complete hassle to get people to send me the BG color values I’d create a range of differently matted GIFs. Then, I’d place them—aligned to vertical and horizontal center—each in their own cell in an HTML table. Make the table big enough so the individual cells can have their own color show around the GIF. Explain on this page (for those who don’t know) how to save the GIF with the closest–matching colored background to the desktop so they can use it.

Does that make sense?
DJ
dennis johnson
Sep 20, 2003
Or you could use the PNG format. OR, if the people who will use your image have editing software of their own, make your image available as TIF with an alpha channel or clipping path.

But GIF? Phosphor explained it pretty well.
Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 20, 2003
Or you could use the PNG format

Not really – browser support isn’t there. Unless they download the image and add their own background to the transparency.

I know there has to be a way to accomplish this in the settings, but all my tweaking and playing has not led me to the solution. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

As Phosphor said, no, not without some jaggies.
DJ
dennis johnson
Sep 21, 2003
Actually, browser support IS there for the PNG format. Try using Netscape. MS Internet Obscurer is the real problem.
RH
r_harvey
Sep 21, 2003
Try using Netscape.

Or Mozilla (I do). But, almost everybody else on the planet uses Internet Exploiter. Search this forum for PNG and IE, and you’ll see that it’s a bother, but it’s ubiquitous. A sorrowful dilemma, it is.
P
Phosphor
Sep 22, 2003
Hi, I don’t know if this will help or be more of a hindrance, but I thought I’d try and help anyway! Firstly, duplicate your background layer that your image is on and detele the original backround layer. Add a new layer, but ensure it is under your image, colour this layer with some obscure colour that does not appear in your image. Then on your image layer make a selection and delete the background. Your new obscure colour should now show thru. Go to adobe image ready and select the optimise tab, select gif. On your colour pallete there, you should see the pixel with the obscure colour in it, click that colour and at the bottom of that pallete click the transparency icon. This should give you a checkered background indicating it is transparent.
As I say not sure if it will help, but thought I’d put it out there anyway. See ya
Connie
P
Phosphor
Sep 22, 2003
Just thought I’d mention that you can embed png graphics and they work ok in Internet Explorer, see here < http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/ author/filter/reference/filters/AlphaImageLoader.asp>.

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