Inspiring

Answered

How do i make a transparent background using lasso tool for selection?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
February 29, 2020
5 replies
13724 views

How accurate do you have to be with the lassoo. I've tried to do this and ended up with this image

[Post moved and edited for clarity and better visibility on the forum by Moderator]

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Greg_S.

Just to summarize this thread for future viewers, to clarify some confusion that I introduced, and to answer some remaining questions, here are the main points:

startingtopuff has an image/logo/object on a white background and wants to remove the background so the image/logo/object appears on a transparent background. Presumably, the original image file is in a format that does not support transparency, e.g. a jpeg file.
after opening the original file in the PSE Editor, it probably has a single background layer. A background layer cannot have transparent pixels. Therefore, it is necessary to convert it to an ordinary layer. As Phinny said, you can double-click on a background layer to convert it.
(When I copied startingtopuff's original image from the forum webpage and used the File>New>Image from Clipboard command in the Editor to edit it, only a regular image layer was created. So, it was not necessary for me to convert the layer. @wchettel, sorry for not including this step in my reply, Walter.)
If you select and delete pixels from a background layer, the deleted pixels will be replaced with the color of the background color swatch. I assume this is what happened to wchettel when he said that after trying my method, nothing changed. Presumably, his background color was the default color of white.
Tolerance level of the Magic Wand tool: If you set the tolerance level of the Magic Wand tool to zero, it will only select the exact color of the pixel you click on. In this case, it would only select all pure white pixels if you clicked on the background color. However, in the original image, the background is not pure white, particularly near the edges of the green and black object. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the tolerance of the Magic Wand tool to make sure that the pure white and near white pixels are selected.
Michel is correct about the problem with the original image grabbed from the webpage. It does contain a checkerboard, not transparent pixels. So, although it looks like my original reply worked by clicking on the remaining white background pixels, in fact the checkerboard was only partially selected and deleted. However, because the white pixels were replaced by another checkerboard in my screenshot, it gave the appearance that the entire background had been replaced by transparency in the Editor.

startingtopuff said:

I have assumed by delete you mean clicking on the layer in the layers panel and hitting backspace?

Yes, the backspace and delete keys work the same in this case.

startingtopuff said:

My only question now is should I save image as a .png or .jpeg

As mentioned earlier, jpeg files do not support transparency, so as wchettel has responded, you may use the png format to save the file with transparency. You can also save as a tiff file for transparency.

Hope I am not confusing anyone any further with this post. 😀

M

Mark_Sand

Inspiring

You might consider installing the free add-on KillWhite that does just that: replaces white with transparency. This can work well for complex pictures where it might be difficult to select the white using the PSE tools. It is installed in the Plugins folder (named KillWhite.8bf) and appears in your PSE Filter list under "Mike and Yael". There are no settings; simply click KillWhite.
Note that you can apply it to just a selected area of the picture.

Since the white is replaced with transparency, you would have to apply the filter either to a duplicate of the Background layer or else a renamed Background layer.

Download from https://www.softlookup.com/download.asp?ID=308075

For demonstration purposes, here I ran KillWhite and put the result over a color background.

Greg_S.Correct answer

Community Expert

Just to summarize this thread for future viewers, to clarify some confusion that I introduced, and to answer some remaining questions, here are the main points:

startingtopuff has an image/logo/object on a white background and wants to remove the background so the image/logo/object appears on a transparent background. Presumably, the original image file is in a format that does not support transparency, e.g. a jpeg file.
after opening the original file in the PSE Editor, it probably has a single background layer. A background layer cannot have transparent pixels. Therefore, it is necessary to convert it to an ordinary layer. As Phinny said, you can double-click on a background layer to convert it.
(When I copied startingtopuff's original image from the forum webpage and used the File>New>Image from Clipboard command in the Editor to edit it, only a regular image layer was created. So, it was not necessary for me to convert the layer. @wchettel, sorry for not including this step in my reply, Walter.)
If you select and delete pixels from a background layer, the deleted pixels will be replaced with the color of the background color swatch. I assume this is what happened to wchettel when he said that after trying my method, nothing changed. Presumably, his background color was the default color of white.
Tolerance level of the Magic Wand tool: If you set the tolerance level of the Magic Wand tool to zero, it will only select the exact color of the pixel you click on. In this case, it would only select all pure white pixels if you clicked on the background color. However, in the original image, the background is not pure white, particularly near the edges of the green and black object. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the tolerance of the Magic Wand tool to make sure that the pure white and near white pixels are selected.
Michel is correct about the problem with the original image grabbed from the webpage. It does contain a checkerboard, not transparent pixels. So, although it looks like my original reply worked by clicking on the remaining white background pixels, in fact the checkerboard was only partially selected and deleted. However, because the white pixels were replaced by another checkerboard in my screenshot, it gave the appearance that the entire background had been replaced by transparency in the Editor.

startingtopuff said:

I have assumed by delete you mean clicking on the layer in the layers panel and hitting backspace?

Yes, the backspace and delete keys work the same in this case.

startingtopuff said:

My only question now is should I save image as a .png or .jpeg

As mentioned earlier, jpeg files do not support transparency, so as wchettel has responded, you may use the png format to save the file with transparency. You can also save as a tiff file for transparency.

Hope I am not confusing anyone any further with this post. 😀

Greg_S.

Community Expert

As I said in my last reply, you should use the Magic Wand tool to turn the white background into a transparent one. Simply click on the white background and press the Delete button.

Or are you trying to do something else?

Walter_H

Brainiac

Greg_S said:

"As I said in my last reply, you should use the Magic Wand tool to turn the white background into a transparent one. Simply click on the white background and press the Delete button."

I am learning more about my PSE 2020 every day by reading posts on this forum. But I can NOT make this work. I saved the image posted by startingtopuff above and then did exactly as you mention in your reply, but the selected background does not change. What am I missing?

--Walter in Davie, FL

P

Phinny

Brainiac

wchettel, dbl clk the layer in the layers panel to unlock it first (to unlock it).

Greg_S.

Community Expert

I have moved your post to a new thread so it is more visible on the forum. As hatstead has suggested, it would be helpful to see the whole before image. However, it is likely that you will be better off using a different tool such as the Magic Wand (1) to select all the white pixels. Uncheck the contiguous box (2).

When you delete the selection you should be left with just the non-white pixels on a transparent background (3):