Logo on transparent background

petkum · 11-03-2003, 07:48 PM

hello everybody,

i am new in this forum (and pretty new with photoshop) and have my first question:

i have a black logo on white background. how can i get this logo on transparent background, that there is just the logo when i put it in xpress and no background. i know it has something to do with making it a path, but actually i am a little lost here...

i look forward to your answers !

wbiss · 11-03-2003, 08:12 PM

Hi petkum and welcome to the forum!

Firstly, make sure that your image is in an RGB format and that it is editable. IOW words, if you open it up and it says "Index", go to Image>Mode and click on RGB. Now your file will say Background with a little lock icon on it in your Layers palette. To unlock and make the file editable, just double-click on the layer in the Layers palette.

You you will have to remove the white background from your logo. If it's a solid white background, the magic wand tool should do a bangup job on making a selection. Just click on the white background area of your image and hit delete.

You can export your image as either a GIF or PNG file, the only two formats that support transparency, for your purposes. To lessen the "jaggies" around your logo, you should matte your file with a colour to match the background that you will be putting it on.

I hope that this helps and answers your question. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask some more.

Enjoy PS and the forum! [excited]

petkum · 11-03-2003, 10:36 PM

whoa, that was quick!!! thanx very much wbiss...

i was in the forum sometimes and everybody seems to be very nice and it really looks that you don't have to feel stupid if you don't even know the easiest questions - that's great...

to my little problem: i tried it your way but it still doesn't work. everytime i try to import the picture in xpress i have a white background [doh]

like i mentioned before, i heard somewhere that it has something to do with a path. i seem to have to make the logo a vector image and then it should work. but how do i do ???

please help...
petra[/b]

Bacardi · 11-03-2003, 11:51 PM

Quark XPress needs clipping paths to be able to use transparancy.

Everything inside the Clipping path is opaque, everything outside it is transparant.

In itself this is not complicated, but very tricky (as you well know).

First you need to select your logo, then you have to make a working path from the selection, next step is to give the path a real name, and the to clip it at a value of some 3 for flatness. Lastly save as Photoshop EPS.

If you're new to PS, this can be a bit complicated though...

petkum · 11-04-2003, 11:32 AM

ok, ok....what means "clip it at a value of some 3 for flatness".... [saywhat]

Bacardi · 11-04-2003, 12:54 PM

Well I don't know what you know about Photoshop, Illustrator,...but if you use XPress you must be familiar with clipping paths.
I also don't know what your logo looks like.

But you can proceed as follows:

1/ Open that logo in PS
2/ Image>Mode>Greyscale (Bitmap is too limited to work with)
3/ Go to Channels Palette and duplicate the greychannel.
4/ Invert this duplicate and make selection out of it.
5/ Deactivate the duplicated channel or discard it (keep the selection!!!) and reactivate the normal greyscale
6/ Go to Paths palette and make path from selection (all this with the icons at the bottom of the palettes).
7/ Double click the workpath to turn it into a real path. Give it a recognisable name.
8/ Click the little triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the Paths Palette and choose Clipping Path from the drop down list.

The flatness setting means the following: instead of remembering curves (mathematical formulae) these are turned into small straight lines. The shorter these are, the more they will be able to exactly follow the original curved line. BUt the more memory they will take. 3 is a good setting for rather detailed reproduction of complex curves. For a simple rectangle you can use a far higher setting.

9/ Save as photoshop eps or tiff. I don't know whether XPress can do anything with tiff yet, but that is something you will certainly know.

wbiss · 11-04-2003, 05:04 PM

My misunderstanding petkum... I didn't know that you were refering to Quark!

Yes, as I recall, Quark does indeed handle TIFFS. Unfortunately, I've never had to import an image with a transparent background so I have no experience with it.

I did find this information on the net:

Quote:

Create transparent backgrounds in Adobe Photoshop on TIFF or TIF-LZW (RGB or CMYK) color images with Clipping Path by:

1. selecting an area of the image (with the wand tool) you want transparent
2. "inverse" so the image portion is selected
3. in Palette window under "Path" select Make Path, Save Path and give it a name
4. make it a "Clipping Path"
5. save as EPS

Then, place the EPS image in your brochure.

Seems clear and simple enough...