Photoshop help!

[Melf]

Question: How do I make the background of an image transparent?

[Regus]

Make sure the layer you're working in isn't locked, and that there isn't anything at the bottom of the layers pallete that could get in the way. Select what you want gone, then delete it. You should then see a grey and white checkered background in it's place. Save it as a .gif and make sure transparencies are checked.

[Calliander]

Regus, that was a tad confusing.

Delete the background. Save as GIF or TIFF with transparency. To save a TIFF like that, you have to click a button for special options somewhere. I don't have PS in front of me to check.

[Melf]

Where do I check transparencies?

[Calliander]

I'm on a Mac, but I believe it's in the same place. The best way to do it is to "Save For Web". On the right hand side, somewhere, there's a check box for transparency.

[Rich]

Simple, and easiest, way.

Highlight image Magic Wand to highlight pic, then Help>Export Transparent Image. Option to make the background transparent.

[Dolemite]

Don't listen to these guys. If you're making the image from scratch, the easiest way is click on file, click on new, and then choose the "transparent" option under contents. Your background is now transparent. Just save the image as a gif when you're done.

If you're talking about a pre-existing image where the background isn't transparent, do the same thing as above. Then cut the main image from the background of the original pic (using either the magic wand or magnetic lasso tools) and paste it onto your transparent background.

[Rtificial]

When I sprite rip, I just cut the background out. Then save as .png and it automatically has a transparent background.

[Melf]

I tried what Dole said but it didn't come out too well. This it the pic I want to give a transparent background. It's the very first avatar I used back when I first registered at GameGo.

[Regus]

- Open photoshop.
- Drag and drop that image into it, or open it normally, whatever.
- Unlock the layer. There's a little lock on it's layer in the layer pallete. If you don't know how to do this then use the marquee tool and select everything and copy it, then open a new file and paste it in that (if you do it like this then you're going to have to delete the original layer so only your image remains in the layers pallete).
- Now use the magic wand tool (You can do this many other ways, this is just the quickest) and click on what you want to go away.
- Once it's selected delete it. Pressing backscpace or delete will do it.
- Now if all goes well you should now see a grey and white checkered pattern where there was once an image. This signifies a tranparent area.
- Now go to file -> save for web and pick what format you want to save it as. If you go .gif you have to tell it to use transparencies. I don't know if it's different in other versions (I'm on PS6), you select the file format in a drop down menu and you select transparency by checking it's box.
- Save it.
- The end.

Don't let the thumbnail fool you.