Partially transparent images

LoLth

<muttermumblemutter>

I want to put up a webpage with a quite nice background image. Unfortunately the image is a bit difficult to read text on. So, I came up with the idea of using a table to contain the text and using the cell background to provide a block of colour that makes the text easier to read.

Problem: now the block hides my nice image.

My solution: make the colour block a background image for the table cell and then have the image partially transparent (opacity is set to 22%) so the main page background picture can still be seen, but 'filtered' by the table cell.

Unfortunately, everytime I try to get PSP to save my lovingly created partially transparent image, it insists on merging the background and leaving me with a flat colour that hides the image I want to show....

AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Anyone know how to save a partially transparent image with a completely transparent background?

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 25-07-2000).]

PhilipMarlowe

heh...this ****ed me off too..
and the PSP help needs its' own help file to even give you a chance to try and understand what's going on...

but i did see this in it...

Changing Overall Layer Opacity

The overall opacity of a layer and the opacity of its pixels are independent. Changing a layer’s opacity changes the appearance of the pixels, but not their opacity values.

opaque layers look fine in psp format but get flattened (merged with white kind of..) when you save in different formats......

I can certainly see why this can severly **** you off but i'm afraid i haven't a clue what to do....nnnnggggghhhhhh

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Pretence

Was so bored today spent a few hours tring to figure this one out.......

No joy, every time it save it just merges with the background, thats p1ssed me off for the evening.

Is there no way to save the file and prevent merging GODDAMIT!!

LoLth

Well,

I did a little digging and found out that the *.png file format has a major advantage over the *.gif format.

It CAN be partially transparent! Yaaaaay!
So, armed with this knowledge I went into PSP and saved my lovely mostly-opaque block of colour as a PNG file. Do you think PSP realised the advantage of PNG over GIF? Hell no! Despite some absolutely fantastic and inspired rhetoric on my part (bastaaaaaard! Piece of ****** machine! Retarded **** of a paint package!) I failed to get PSP to cease with its merging activities and ended up with yet another solid block of colour.

Anyone want to buy a solid block of colour? C'mon, I've got loads at this stage. Never know when a block of colour'll come in handy....

Pretence

What about Adobe Photoshop would it work in that or GNU GIMP maybe?

[This message has been edited by Pretence (edited 27-07-2000).]

PhilipMarlowe

it works in Paint shop as long as you save it in .psp format.....recognises layers and opacity etc...

Problem is, when you save it for the web, ie in .gif or .png or whatever, it gets flattened into a solid colour (say if i make a solid block of red....set opacity to 20%...you get a filtered red look...but save it for the web and you get a very non-transparent pink....)

now this is certainly not my area of expertise (dunno what is really ...) but like the lads here, i did spend a wee while trying to work around it with no luck...and i tried a few different image editors too...

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SantaHoe

What's this now?

LoLth

hmmm,

ok. I haven't given up yet.

two ideas:

1. Layers: make the image for the text background a seperate layer. Unfortunately I still can't save a semi-transparent image without it merging into a solid colour.

2. Tracing image: Is there a way that I can insert a tracing image into a table cell? The tracing image can be made visible, invisible or anywhere in between. Then hte text could be place on it and set to ignore the trace pattern

SantaHoe

Depending on the background...
you could use two seperate images... one that you can use for the table and another you can use for the background.
But it will probably give rise to alignment issues.
Blagh, or you could just use flash...

PJ Hunt

Heck !!

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‡PJ‡