Digital Graphics/Logos

[West MI-CAP-Ret]

There is a process done to digital graphics that allows items to be placed in other digital pictures without the white box.  If I remember correctly, there were diagonal and when posted, the white box was eliminated.  Does anyone know how to do this, or what the process is called, so when I go looking for this service I'll have a better way to focus my search.


By the by, maybe we could start an IT discussion.


DAVID J. D'ARCY, Capt, CAP
West MI 703 Group

[FlyingThorn]

If, /if/, you're talking about transparency, then the only common file formats which support it is .png and .gif
When you have an image in one of those two formats, certain parts of the picture can be designated as "transparent" and will show through when they are viewed with the proper programs.
< .png version
< .jpg version

On my OS (Windows 8 ) When you click-hold-drag on an image, you get a "shadow" of the image you snatched up. On transparent images, the shadow will also be transparent, so that's a good way to check.

It is possible to turn an image made without the transparency and turn it into an image with the transparency, but it takes a while to learn the process plus and a good hour or more of fiddling before you end up with a professional looking result.
Programs such as GIMP (free) and Photoshop ($$$) can be used  to do it.

[Eclipse]

You'll notice my signature graphic is transparent.

The same or similar can be done to provide depth effects such as shadows and contours.

This is used as my current CAP email signature block:

I left it with a white background for this use as most people who display HTML emails do so with a white background (note, the HTML forces it to display a lot smaller).

If you save it as a web object (.png or .gif) with the background layer turned off, it will accept the background of whatever it is pasted up against,
assuming the browser, application, or viewer recognizes the transparency element, otherwise it would still show white as the background.

You'll note as this one moves across CAPTalk, the background will alternate between the various thread background colors. As will this:


You have to make sure the pixel depth is high enough you will introduce noice or artifacts in to the image.
This is especially an issue with .gif as it is a "lossy" compression format.  .png is "lossless" compression so it's generally preferable for this kind of thing.
I've seen a lot of .gifs that introduce a white border when created, and rarely see that with .png.

If you want to really use the transparency to say tuck a grahic in very tight in Word, or lay it over something else, you have to insert the graphic and
then click it and set the position to be "on top of" so that it will layer over other text or elements.

I use Photoshop for creating these kinds of things.

Which reminds me I've owed Stonewall something for weeks!  Sorry!

[SarDragon]

PaintShop Pro will also do the trick, even as far back as the last"free" version, 4.1.2 . Even if you buy the current version, PaintShop Pro X6 Ultimate, it's still less than $100.