How to get a transparent background

[Ken Veal]

PSPro 2018.I have an image of a car against a solid white background which I want to be made transparent.I have used the background eraser tool to achieve a chequerboard pattern around the car and saved it as a .png.
I am not doing something right here or enough because when I load the image to use elsewhere the white background still shows.Help please
Ken

[flagpole]

Are you sure the program you're opening it in doesn't also use a grey checked background to denote transparency? It's pretty standard.

[hartpaul]

Does all of the white background show or only some parts around the car?
Can you post a cropped image part to show what you are experiencing.
By using elsewhere I will presume that you are working in PSP only and you mean that you are placing the image elsewhere in another image. You might clarify that as judging from the previous post that was ambiguous.

[JoeB]

When saving as PNG using PSP the setting does not necessarily default to saving with transparency. You have to use File>Save as> and select the PNG option. Then click the Options button and on the dialogue that opens click the Run Optimizer button. Then click the Transparency tab and select Alpha Channel Transparency and Existing Image or Layer transparency. Then click OK, then Save.

[Ken Veal]

I am not at my pc at the moment.The car is on and completely surrounded by white.I am in this situation because I am trying to put an image of this particular car in a Video Studio FX called Roto Pen where you can map a route out and insert an image of a car to move along a route on a map.I do not want to be able to see the white rectangular back ground, just the car.

[JoeB]

The image you posted looks like it has a muted transparency checkerboard pattern surrounding the car. That indicates that when you used the background eraser you didn't have the opacity set to 100 so you don't have full transparency but only partial transparency. You should have both opacity and hardness set to 100 to ensure that you get full erasure. Then make sure to save using the method I outlined above.

[Ken Veal]

ok, thanks for sharing your knowledge JoeB.Will report back.

[Ken Veal]

Thanks for your replies and thanks to you I have sorted my problem.Below was my workflow.(opacity and hardness and opacity has always been set to 100)

use background eraser with opacity and hardness set to 100. brush out background
when done use file>save as> and select the png option
then click the options button and on the dialogue that opens click the run optimizer button.
. then click the transparency tab .
select existing image or layer transparency
ok
save.
Now the car image in Roto Pen (and elsewhere) has no background
Ken

[JoeB]

Thanks for your replies and thanks to you I have sorted my problem.Below was my workflow.(opacity and hardness and opacity has always been set to 100)

use background eraser with opacity and hardness set to 100. brush out background
when done use file>save as> and select the png option
then click the options button and on the dialogue that opens click the run optimizer button.
. then click the transparency tab .
select existing image or layer transparency
ok
save.
Now the car image in Roto Pen (and elsewhere) has no background
Ken

Glad to see it works for you now. It would be nice if Corel would have some option in the PNG dialogue that would allow a user to save as PNG using the last used settings, which would mean also maintaining the last used settings from the Optimizer dialogue. And the optimum would be that ALL PNG saves would automatically save any transparency. While people often think of PNG as just a way to save in a lossless format, it's also a way to save transparency, which can't be done with TIF or JPG files. So the assumption - and default - should be that users want to save both losslessly and - if transparency exists - also save that transparency so that the image can be used in other programs. It's ridiculous to think that people saving as a PNG would want the default to lose any transparency they have created. Typical Corel thinking, unfortunately.

[bruce1951]

Just a comment re transparency in PSP.

PSP does something to transparencies. I use Photoline as my go to editor with PSPx8 as an external editor. If I send a layer with a transparent section from Photoline to PSPx8 for some adjustments all works fine until it returns to Photoline where the transparent edges are corrupted/blurry. (Layers are tiffs). If edited in PSPx8 and save as a PNG file the corrupted edges are fine. I have done this with a number of other external editors from Photoline. Only PSPx8 gives a problem. FWIW.

bruce

[Ken Veal]

I sometimes wonder when I post a plea for help on this great resource of a forum that the issue in question can only be happening to me and it is not just due to my ignorance in this field.It is reassuring when I get answers that seem so easy when you know how, but if the software/help system explained the options/workflow required to achieve the result, things would be so much easier

[caspia1]

Get Topaz Remask 5. It will solve all your problems and is relatively easy to use.