Solved How to make internet image backgrounds transparent?

[CanAm]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post so bear with me. I think I am in the right thread, but if I'm not I hope the moderator will move this post to the correct one.

What I want to do is download an image from the internet and then make the background transparent so I can use it on a Tee Shirt Design website.

First off, I already have "Paint" and it has a 'Transparent Selection" feature, but I don't know how to use it the way I explained above. Can someone tell me how to do this, or if it is even possible?

Secondly, if 'Paint" won't do what I want, do I need to download "Windows Essentials" or some other free software? I don't know if Windows Essentials has this feature.

Thanks in advance for your replies and I will check back tomorrow to read them.

 

[GokAy]

You can check out GIMP, it's free and has more features than paint. I am no good with image manipulation though, you will have to ask others about it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
I would leave all of the details to the t-shirt maker just give them the files you want to use they will do the magic
Cheers.

 

[CanAm]

Thanks GokAy and ThrashZone for the replies! I will look into GIMP as you sugessted GokAy, thanks! ThrashZone, one of the Tee Shirt websites I use does have a transparency feature, but the other one doesn't. I would use the first one exclusively, but the brand they use for the 2XLT size I need only comes in a limited amount of colors. But thanks for your reply anyway. Hopefully GIMP will have the feature I am looking for, or someone else will come forward and tell me of some free software that definitely has it. It would also be great if someone else could tell me how to use Windows 7 "Paint" the way I want it to. In the meantime, thanks again to both of you for your help.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yes GIMP uses Layer Opacity not a transparent listing,
So really you just need to
A- Make sure you have a high resolution image to work with,
Open GIMP and use File/ Open as Layer,
Then on the top it will show Opacity and click on the little down arrow until you like it,
Then go to File and Export image,
Type a name and file type in the top and Export.

 

[wasnotwas]

I don't think the OP wants to make his image transparent, but to delete the background ie cut out the subject and save it with a transparent background. GIMP can do this. You import the image, add alpha channel (alpha means transparency), select and delete the background and export as png. PNG supports transparency unlike jpg etc. This video shows how

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCoTky6ddcU

 

[Amar65]

Sorry for posting something irrelevant , but how do you post on this forum ?

 

[CanAm]

Thanks ThrashZone and wasnotwas for the help on GIMP. I also found Clipping Magic https://clippingmagic.com/ but that costs money, and Lunapic LunaPic | Free Online Photo Editor which is also free. I will be checking out all of these over the weekend and wil be back on Monday if there are any further posts.

Thanks again to ALL of you!

 

[CanAm]

Hi all,

I was just trying to download GIMP when I saw this: SourceForge grabs GIMP for Windows

Sounds like something I will stay away from, at least until it gets worked out for Windows 7.

Have a great weekend everybody and I will be back on Monday.

 

[GokAy]

From Gimp official page:



You can still download from them GIMP - Downloads

 

[wasnotwas]

I downloaded GIMP from here today, and it seems clean

GIMP Image Editor for Windows download | SourceForge.net

 

[CanAm]

OK, I downloaded GIMP. It's getting late in the day for me here, so I will have to let you know later how I did with it. I am marking this thread as closed and will start a new one after I get a chance to look at GIMP.

 

[wasnotwas]

The hard part for what you want to do in GIMP is selecting the background. It takes a while to master, but there's plenty of tutorials on YouTube on using the fuzzy select tool combined with quick mask selection for this task.

 

[CanAm]

Hi All,
This is the final update I spoke of in my last post. Like I said I downloaded GIMP and after trying all the other great suggestions I ended up following the You Tube video that wasnotwas had left here on an earlier post. There were so many steps I had to stop and replay the video to write down all the instructions. The result came out VERY well though, and all I had to do was export my saved GIMP image to a format my tee shirt websites use, like PNG.

So, a BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU for all your help, and I will be back next time I have a problem I can't solve. I'm also going to save this Windows 7 forum to my FAVORITES list because I'm glad I found it!

 

[wasnotwas]

Glad you got it sorted.