Lesson 2 - Removing the Background

**King William the Conqueror** · May 12, 2012, 06:48 AM

Thanks Squid!

**Goofy** · May 12, 2012, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Squid

I'll point out something I realized, for step 6 in the second part of the tutorial you can just press delete and it will delete the entire selected area rather than having to use the eraser tool. In fact it removes the need for the transparent background layer. I'll post my work when I'm done.

Really? I've never tried that.

Originally Posted by Bolkonsky

Yeah, I cheated with that as well. Definitely easier than erasing.

Erasing has it's upsides though. If you use the Eraser Tool with the "Hard edge" mode off your removal may be a little smoother because the eraser will partially erase pixels that are outside of the selection but very near the selection outline. That is not the case this time, however.

@Squid: Wonderful work - that is really a well-cut render (too bad it's not complete; that doesn't matter though, really good work)! Also the Color to Alpha sign is very good (and it's nice to see something else than a skull or a traffic sign).

Originally Posted by Squid

I'll also point out for those not done yet, though I think its been mentioned already, that if the original image is not in a format that supports transparency, such as jpg, then before the erase/delete works in the second part of the lesson you need to add an alpha channel by right clicking on the original layer and selecting add alpha channel.

Good job - I never realised the transparency support issue, as I had actually saved the warlord image as PNG. Then I pasted it to a new image. I think I should add that to the lesson content!

@King Bumi (dammit, change your name back

): Very good.

@megalitho: Beautiful work! And no, you weren't late.

I'm planning to post Lesson 3 today. There are still two people who are yet to complete Lesson 2:

Both of their cases have been dealt with so practically everyone has completed this lesson. Very good!

**SonofPeverel** · May 12, 2012, 02:38 PM

original

new

Original

New

**NobleNick** · May 12, 2012, 11:57 PM

First pic is collage of before and after "Color to Alpha."

Color to Alpha

Color to Alpha 2: Colorized background, and foreground to Alpha

Arrgghhh!! The "free select tool" exercise was a pain! I'm using the 2.6.whatever the prof suggested; set the preferences and restarted GIMP; followed the updated directions meticulously; and still got the white background that others complained about. Tried the control-X technique, then create transparent backround and paste to it; but that didn't work either.

I had managed to turn the cutout portion all white; so, in desparation, I tried turning white to alpha for the entire pic. That ALMOST worked (see second pic) but the background bleeds through: Passable on our almost flesh-colored background, but probably not so great on a green background.

After a few other failed attempts...

Finally, I went back to the original and made multiple cutout selections. For each selection, turned the selection white and then "color (white) to alpha" for the selection. See third pic.

So, as it stands, I think I can get the desired effect of the technique, but for me it is a two-step process after I make the background: color selection to white; then change white in the selection to alpha.

I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong.

Free Select Tool

**Goofy** · May 13, 2012, 11:16 PM

@SonofPeverel: Good work (and a surprising choice for the second image)!

@NobleNick: Great work, especially with the Free Select Tool part.

Originally Posted by NobleNick

Arrgghhh!! The "free select tool" exercise was a pain! I'm using the 2.6.whatever the prof suggested; set the preferences and restarted GIMP; followed the updated directions meticulously; and still got the white background that others complained about. Tried the control-X technique, then create transparent backround and paste to it; but that didn't work either.

had managed to turn the cutout portion all white; so, in desparation, I tried turning white to alpha for the entire pic. That ALMOST worked (see second pic) but the background bleeds through: Passable on our almost flesh-colored background, but probably not so great on a green background.

After a few other failed attempts...

Finally, I went back to the original and made multiple cutout selections. For each selection, turned the selection white and then "color (white) to alpha" for the selection. See third pic.

So, as it stands, I think I can get the desired effect of the technique, but for me it is a two-step process after I make the background: color selection to white; then change white in the selection to alpha.

I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong.

I must still add to the lesson content that you should first save the image to be rendered as PNG.

I can't exactly get your problem, but did you try the transparent layer trick? That should work. Also you could try using that "Add Alpha Channel" command Squid and Bolkonsky were talking about - I have actually never noticed that option because I have never needed it.

Good work on this lesson, everyone - only MBA is still to hand his homework. Also, Lesson 3 is now going on.