jdavidroberts Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have an existing image that has some stuff surrounded by a white background. I would like to switch it to a transparent background. What's the easiest way to do that? I tried setting the alpha to 0 for my Primary Color, then using the Fill tool to fill. But after I do that, if I use the color picker to pick up the color of the white stuff, it looks like the alpha is still 255. So it didn't seem to take. According to the Help, the eraser tool will do what I want, but unless I'm missing something that means I basically have to go individually erase every pixel, and I don't have the stamina for that. I have a feeling I'm missing a MUCH easier method here, and I was hoping someone could enlighten me. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afcdon Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) One plugin to try is Color Replacer - download from here My link See the following screenshot for the setting you need to change your white background to transparent. http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa341/afdcon/colorreplacer.png Edited January 12, 2011 by afcdon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountnman Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) you could try using the magic wand tool to select the white you want to get rid of (play with the tolerance if it doesnt select all of it, or selects too much) then once you have the area you want transparent selected, just hit the delete button Edited January 12, 2011 by mountnman Quote SARCASM- Just one of the many services I offer free to the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdavidroberts Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks you guys rock! The magic wand tool worked perfectly on the first try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdnnoob Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Just as an explanation for what is happening, the paint bucket fills adds whatever the chosen color is to what you selected. It doesn't actually replace what is there which is why you didn't see a change when you used a color with 0 opacity on your picture (you were adding a big literal nothing). To remove color, you have to erase (adjustable) or delete (not adjustable). Quote No, Paint.NET is not spyware...but, installing it is an IQ test. ~BoltBait Blend modes are like the filling in your sandwich. It's the filling that can change your experience of the sandwich. ~Ego Eram Reputo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 AlphaSpace is another easily used plugin which does the same thing. It also recoginses shadows and deals appropriately with them. Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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