# How to make a transparent background in Paint or Photoscape



## Maniacal

Hello,

Does anyone know how to do it?

Thanks


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## Winspear

Do you mean for saving or during editing?
Saving - transparent backgrounds only work on GIF images so save as GIF
Editing in paint - select it and go to the arrow under select, and press transparent selection. The colour assigned to your right mouse click will be transparent.


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## highlordmugfug

EtherealEntity said:


> Do you mean for saving or during editing?
> Saving - transparent backgrounds only work on GIF images so save as GIF
> Editing in paint - select it and go to the arrow under select, and press transparent selection. The colour assigned to your right mouse click will be transparent.


I'm pretty sure that png files can have transparent backgrounds as well, correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Winspear

^ You're right  A quick google though and it seems GIF are more reliable and PNG sometimes don't show transparency in IE.


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## Randy

Correct. But I think PNG files come out better (ie. less artifacts and blurry pixel edges). 

EDIT: Shameless self promotion;


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## Winspear

^ Tested and that's most definately true haha


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## Maniacal

I tried selecting the colour but it remains black, shouldnt it turn white?

What do I select the colour with?


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## Winspear

In paint?
In the old version left click a colour to make it your primary colour, right click for secondary. In Windows 7, you have to select the Colour 1 or Colour 2 box first and then choose.
Choose the colour you wish to make transparent.
Then select all, go to the arrow and press transparent selection. Now you can drop it onto something else to use as a background.

May be able to help more if you describe what it is your trying to do


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## CrushingAnvil

My internet has capped, so I thought Randy was loading a giant image of Captain Kirk's head


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## Maniacal

Thanks for the help, really appreciate it. I will give this a go later today.


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## Xaios

How to get the best results in Photoshop with transparent PNG's:

1) After your image has been made, in the "Layers" tab, make the Background layer invisible.
2) File Menu -> Save For Web
3) Under "Settings," select "PNG-24." Make sure "Transparency" is also selected.
4) Save it!

An alternate way of doing it:

1) After your image has been made, in the "Layers" tab, make the Background layer invisible.
2) Go to the "Channels" tab and click "New Channel." It should come out titled "Alpha 1," or something like that.
3) File -> Save
4) Select ".PNG" file type and save your image!

An optional step between steps 1 and 2 in either case is to select all the non-background layers and flatten them, in case you have layers that are using different rendering methods such as Dodge or Burn. This will make them come out closer to what you intend.

Don't use the "Export Transparent Image" wizard under the help menu. The results are shoddy at best, as it tends to feather edges.

The best part of PNG's is that they're both lossless and support semi-transparency, as opposed to the "all or nothing" approach that GIF's go for. This is demonstrated in Randy's image with the soft shading around the border of the guitar. Granted, they're also larger than either GIF's or JPG's, but I think the results speak for themselves.


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