Making all semi-transparent pixels fully opaque

Question

I need to make all semi-transparent pixels in an image fully opaque. Saving as a gif does this, but it reduces the colors to 256 max which ruins the image. Flatting the image also does it, but that adds a white background into the areas I need to remain transparent. I've been all over the web trying to find an answer for this and tried all kinds of things but nothing gives me anything close to the results I want except those two things.

A lot of people seem to think that duplicating a layer over and over and then merging them will do the job but it won't because the more I duplicate the more it starts adding pixels outside the original bounds of the image. Well that's fixable by just having all the images original pixels selected and then copying that part of the merged layer right? Wrong! When I then paste the copied fully opaque pixels into a new layer what do I get but semi-transparent pixels around its edges due to the inability to turn off anti-aliasing.

I can't imagine there not being a way to do this basic thing from within photoshop. Has anyone found a solution outside of taking the image into illustrator or some other program?

c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted Answer

Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency

then edit the Layer Mask however necessary (Image > Adjustments > Threshold maybe).

A lot of people seem to think that duplicating a layer over and over and then merging them will do the job but it won't because the more I duplicate the more it starts adding pixels outside the original bounds of the image.

I think you are mistaken and this does not »add« pixels but makes the pixels with previously minuscule visibility/opacity noticeable.

QuinnWinters · Answer

Thanks guys, that worked perfectly. I'm baffled as to why I didn't run into that answer in any of my searches.

I think you are mistaken and this does not »add« pixels but makes the pixels with previously minuscule visibility/opacity noticeable.

That does seem logical, but does ctrl-clicking the image in the layers palette not select every active pixel in the layer? The pixels I see getting "added" are outside of what gets selected through ctrl-clicking the layer or using the quick selection tool to select everything in the layer. Is there perhaps a certain level of opaqueness that a pixel needs to be to get selected?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded