Inspiring

Open for Voting

Photoshop needs "Color to Alpha" button

37 replies
10053 views
Translate

I was just chatting with a group of other artists about the need to convert a color into transparency sometimes, and we've all needed such a function, then somebody said that in GIMP there's just a simple button for it, "Color to Alpha." It does exactly what we need and very easily. In Photshop this is possible but very cumbersome, having to use the channels to make a selection, then apply a mask.

Googling leads to 10 year old articles and people recommending plugins. But yeah, I'd just like to suggest this as an official feature request.

You know how in Photoshop you can use Replace Color? And you can pick a color, and vary the fuzziness of the selection, then change the color to something else? It would be just like that I imagine, but instead of changing the color, you increase the opacity of those pixels.

Feature request

This topic is closed to new replies. Start a new post to keep the conversation going.

Show previous replies

A

Anonymous

F Sose: your reply is wrong. Select , Color range does it NOT. Check e.g. GIMPs Color to alpha... set black, and it is perfect. I CAN NOT THIS REPLICAtE in photoshop. It is IMPOSSIBLE via any feature. Why is photoshop OVERLIMITED? You are NOT expert, you answer is USELESS. And LIE.

Translate

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

@28298186

With hindsight, now that we have examples from Krita and GIMP that were not available when @D Fosse originally posted, I agree that the method outlined by D Fosse doesn't result in the same effect. I will unmark that as a correct answer.

The result of the action posted by @Jeff Arola is very similar to both Krita and GIMP, so I do believe that that is a correct answer. As the original action contained Japanese language-specific steps and failed on English versions, I have made an English version of the script.

The method shown by @c.pfaffenbichler should also be considered a correct answer.

This topic is a "discussion" and not an "idea" (feature request). @Alexander32558309721z if you make a new post labelled as an "idea" then I'll vote on it (You could just copy/paste most of your reply from here).

@28298186 I am not a moderator, however, I don't believe that your response meets community guidelines of being "kind and respectful".

Translate

D Fosse

Community Expert

@Stephen Marsh

Actually I just misunderstood the original request. Or some of the subsequent posters misunderstood, I don't know.

The fact is that there is a "color to alpha" action that has been floating around for years and years. I picked it up in 2014 and still have that thread bookmarked. These are the steps:

Open the doc (RGB mode only)
Make a new layer, fill it with full red. Invert it (Cmd-i).It'll go cyan.
Make a layer, fill it with green. Invert it, so it goes magenta.
Make another layer, fill with blue, invert to make yellow.
Turn off the new layers so you can only see your original.
Go to the channels palette.
Create three new blank channels. They'll be black.
Command-click the Red channel. This will make a selection. Change to your first new channel, and fill that selection with white.
Do the same thing for the green channel, into your second new custom channel.
Do the same for the blue channel, into the third custom one.
Control click your first custom channel (with the selection from the red layer). Invert the selection (command-shift-i). Go to your new red layer (which is now cyan), and apply the selection as a mask (by clicking the mask button).
Do again using custom channel 2, onto the new Green (changed to Magenta) layer.
And again, from channel 3, into the Blue (now Yellow) layer.
Set all 3 of your layers to blend type "Multiply"
Turn off any other layers.

I've kept and used this action occasionally over the years, and it works pretty well.

The only thing that offended me with G2829's post was that he got my name as "F Sose". Huh, you're talking to me? 😉 😄

Translate

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

Alexander,

Here's an action that works on your particular image and other images that you want to remove the black or white background from.

http://www.ayatoweb.com/download/down04.html

google translated

https://www-ayatoweb-com.translate.goog/download/down04.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_sch=http

The page is in Japanese, however, the action that still seems to work in photoshop 2024 is the

Photoshop Action File for MacOSX・Windows（Photoshop CS5・CS6）that includes an English version

and the action is called Un-Multiply

There is an updated version 2021, but some of the action steps are in Japanese

so the action doesn't work in English photoshop versions.

Anyhow, before running the action Un-Multiply on an image such as yours where you want to remove the white, first make sure the layer is a layer and not a Background layer, Invert the image, run the Un-Multiply action, then invert the image again.

Invert image

run Un-Multiply action

Invert image

Image on black background

final transparent png

Translate

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

The result of that Action seems very good, better than my approach actually.

Edit: But their set-up can be recreated with Smart Objects, too; that may not seem like a great improvement over an Action but it would allow for editing the original illustration »on the fly« if necessary.

Translate

D Fosse

Community Expert

This is a very sensible request on the face of it. The problem is that Select > Color Range already does it. The output is a selection, not a mask. But all you have to do is click the mask button.

Generally, "new" features that only combine existing ones get low priority. That's just my experience, not my opinion.

In short...well, maybe it might be worth it. Whether it actually happens depends on the marketing value.

Translate

dolldivineAuthor

Inspiring

Whoooa, what? I didnt know this tool existed! This is exactly what I needed! This is SO much easier than fiddling with channels and layer masks. Thank you!

Translate