With a JPEG photo in Photo-Paint, I've been able to make the background transparent and just show a specific image either through masking or cutout lab. However, the photo still has its original rectangular shape. I want to remove the transparent background completely and just have the outlined image. Is this possible and how is it accomplished?
Hi Vickie,
first off, as hunter said, you cannot have a transparent JPEG. Secondly, even though the "visible" part of an image can be any shape you like, the overall image itself is always a rectangle. To store an image in a file there has to be a reference to each pixel in the image - referencing its x and y co-ordinate and its colour values. The rectangle forms a grid with absolute references to every pixel on the grid. For example, the top left pixel might be green and could be referenced as x,y values 0,0 and r,g,b values 0,255,0. Imagine there was no rectangle around the image....if you had a red circle how could you address each pixel along the left-hand half of the circle? Every pixel would be at x position 0 as there would be no pixels to the left of it. What would tell the file that first pixel in the first row is 50 pixels in from the left, the first pixel in the second row is 45 pixels in from the left and so on when in fact there are no pixels to the left of either of those pixels? I hope that made sense. LOL.
I am wondering if what you are really asking is "how do I lose the white background"? If so, then after masking off your image you need to save the file in a format which supports transparency and this does not include the JPEG format.
Best regards,Brian.
Hi Brian:
Thanks for all the effort you put into your response. It makes sense. However, you said to accomplish my task I would need to save the file in a format which supports transparency (not JPEG format). What format supports transparency?
I will bring my photo into Photo-Paint, apply my mask, and save as what file type?
Vickie