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GIMP help


Loc

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My own personal opinion "GIMP stinks - badly."

 

It's probably the best free program you can find on the net though.

 

I use Paint Shop Pro, by Corel.

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Well I could take a series of screenshots for you to demonstrate how to get rid of the background - would you like me to use a particular image as an example?

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Hooray! An axe! :P

 

Well here is my first ever GIMP tutorial:

 

GIMP Tutorial: How to remove white backgrounds

 

The first step is to create an empty image window for you to mess around in. You'll generally want the new image to be the same size, or a bit bigger than the image you're editing. The image I edited for my example is 150 by 150 pixels, so I set the new image to that size.

 

857a359a.png

 

Note the menu I circled - if you want your image to have a transparent background, you have to set it that way don't ya? ;)

 

The next step is to paste the image you're working with into the window. Just use copy & paste or whatever and place it in your window. I took the Mutant Bori from the Neopets Redraws section on TDN in this case. Remember to anchor your image so that you can edit it properly.

 

9ad2c456.png

 

Then pick the 'Select by Colour' tool from your toolbox.

 

6be8184a.png

 

Note: If some the colours in the actual image are very similar to that of the background, you may want to use the 'Fuzzy Select Tool' just to the left of the Select by Colour tool. The Fuzzy Select Tool will only select one particular block of colour, instead of selecting any pixels in the image that are the same colour, so it will help to avoid accidentally deleting any parts of the image itself. However, there may be bits of the background that are isolated from the rest, so you'll have to select those separately. In this case, the background is white while the image is quite dark, so I used Select by Colour.

 

Click on any point in the background to select the whole background.

 

d6dfe87b.png

 

Then simply press delete, and presto! Background removed (you probably know this already, but the checkered squares in GIMP are used to show transparent areas).

 

a33ab384.png

 

From here, you can save the image, or copy & paste it into another one - whatever you like. There may be a few stray pixels here and there, but those are relatively easy to clean up with a sharp eye and a small brush.

 

And that ends this tutorial. :D

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AA you are a lightsaber!!! Thanks a lot!! But um, when I paste it somwhere else, it is the bottom layer and I can't see it, how do I move it up?

 

EDIT: NVM figured it out, but when I try to do it with a mutant Buzz, it won't delete the background

 

CRAP!! I just took like 40min on an image and it is not saved!!!!

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How about trying out Adobe Photoshop CS3? It's magic wand tool works absolute wonders removing backgrounds. I can remove one in about 30 seconds.

 

It's disadvantage is being paid, but you can get a free trial on their website.

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How about trying out Adobe Photoshop CS3? It's magic wand tool works absolute wonders removing backgrounds. I can remove one in about 30 seconds.

 

It's disadvantage is being paid, but you can get a free trial on their website.

Could you give me a few more details on that magic wand tool? Because GIMP's Fuzzy Select Tool is represented by a magic wand thingy.

 

@Loc: Did you remember to anchor the layer? And is the background a single colour?

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