Trouble creating transparent watermark file

[RayTheRat]

I know I'm doing something wrong. I've done it before, but transparent images (for me) seem to depend on the phase of the moon or the alignment of the planets. Here goes:

System: Windows 7 on a self-built dual quad-core Opteron, Tyan mobo system with 16 gig RAM, 50gig SSD for the OS, programs on their own disk and 5.5 tb internal SATA disk, dual Acer monitors.

I'm using PSP X2. built 12.50. For the record, I'm a retired application developer/analyst with a new career as a freelance photographer/web developer. I've been working with computing systems since 1966, starting with vacuum-tube, analog systems and working on everything from electro-mechanical posting machines to system software on mainframes/ Not bragging, just background. It is what it is.

I've used PSP for a long time and I only started using transparent watermarks a couple of years ago with PSP X2. I got tired of having my photos ripped off.

So. I've tried numerous methods and sometimes I seem to day the magic words in the proper order and I get a watermark image that truly has a transparent background. I'll attach a couple of files to illustrate what I do.

First, I call my self an automotive photographer. I shot 2 car shows today. I'm attaching a shot from one of them.

1967 Corvette 01 01r8.jpg (64.8 KiB) Viewed 4445 times

After I've edited the file I use a watermark file to overlay the image.

C 2010 Ray the Rat.png (30.94 KiB) Viewed 4445 times

This is one I created earlier in the year. The moon must have been in the 7th house or the goat I sacrificed worked because it has a true transparent background.

But I decided to change the font. So I created a new file, set the background color to white, saved it as a png (or gif, didn't matter.) Then I added the text and came up with this file...or one of literally 15 different variants of it:

scrawl8.gif (2.23 KiB) Viewed 4445 times

I just made this one. I created a new image, set the background color to white, added the text and then used the gif optimizer to export it. I used the wizard in the optimizer to make sure I didn't overlook anything. As I did the export, the output image showed up as transparent. But when I attempted to use it as a transparent overlay, the background reverted to white. Same thing it did with the previous 15 attempts.

I've also tried creating a file, setting the background color, saving the file and reloading it just to make sure that PSP knows it's working with a png or gif. Then I'd add the text, set the transparency under the Image|Palette| Set/View transparency and it always showed me that I had a transparent background. I also tried colors other than white or gray with no success.

Apparently the waning moon isn't the right time to do this or maybe I should sacrifice a chicken instead of a goat. (note: only virtual animals were harmed during the writing of this post, no living, breathing ones.)

I hope someone can show me the error of my ways. I'd really like to be able to create transparent images consistently...and the price of goats has skyrocketed following the last few natural catastrophes. Maybe I'm not the only one sacrificing 'em.

Thanks in advance,

RtR in the High Desert of the western US

[LeviFiction]

I'm in no place to show you the error of your ways.

My suggestion would be, when creating your text, don't set a background color. Leave it transparent. Save as a PNG using the optimizer to use the current transparent area as the transparent area.

Or if you want to use the one that you've already made you can put it on its own layer, use a multiply blend mode to get rid of the white color.

[RayTheRat]

Well, I'd say you did a good job of showing me the error of my ways. By creating a new image with no background color I was able to do just exactly what I wanted. Apparently it was the process of trying to set the background color as the transparent color that bit me on the butt.


This allows me to use the same watermark on light and dark backgrounds.

@ 2020 RTR Some's Style.png (20.7 KiB) Viewed 4430 times

Thank you. I appreciate your help.

[RayTheRat]

Apparently the reply I sent was eaten by zombies on the way to the forum database.

However, it works fine. It appears the problem was with setting the background color.

Thank you. I'm very grateful for the help.

RtR