Lesson 19 - Saving a
Transparent Gif
I have received many questions about saving transparent gifs,
it can be confusing. So let's walk through it. First you need
to make sure that the images your are saving are really transparent and don't
have "hidden" backgrounds attached. the best way to do that is try your
gif against a dark background (if saving as a light background).
Unlike a tube or png file gif's aren't actually transparent they just don't show
the background layer. So you need to make sure that the background is
truly transparent first.
Once you are satisfied that you have a true transparency, go
to File\Export\Gif Optimizer
at the bottom of the window click on the Use Wizard button
making sure that the "Existing Image or layer transparency" button is marked.
in the next window we choose the color we are using as the
transparency, white in this case is the existing transparency.
You can choose another color if this is not the
color you want as the transparency.
This window lets you save the gif in smaller
form than the original image, the smaller the file size the less quality
the image will have.
Next make sure mark the "Choose the best
colors" button or your image may not be the same colors as the original.
This is last page of the wizard. Make sure
the file looks the way you want it to look before saving. If not then go
back and readjust the settings accordingly.
This should be the only settings you need to save tubes or
other transparencies into gifs.
Gifs are used for images on web pages, email inserts, and
other things where you need a common file, with transparent background and the
file is rather small in size. I use gifs in my inserts in email
like this.
I like the little personal touch it adds to my messages.
Gifs are not good to use for scrapbooking, card making or
anything that you will be printing as they loose sharpness when condensed into
gif form. Also when printed the "background" will be printed as well,
because gifs only appear to be transparent. . . .
Have Fun!
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