Tips

Transparent Background

From How to make a transparent background /selection on an image using GIMP

Open your image.

Select the area you want to make transparent.

Select the appropriate selection tool from the Tool window or the Tools - Selection Tools menu on the Layer window. I usually use the magic wand/fuzzy select (select contiguous region) tool or the Select regions by color tool.

Click in the region you want selected. Use shift-click to add more regions/colors.

Tip: It’s easier if you zoom in (View - Zoom menu) to see finer details of exactly what you’re selecting.

In the Layer window (the one showing your image), select Layer - Transparency - Add Alpha Channel. If this is blanked out then it’s already done. This makes sure your image can store transparency data. Select Edit - Clear. This makes the selection transparent.

Save the file

Note: If you save it as a PNG file, be sure to select the ‘Save colour values from transparent pixels’ option in the Save as PNG dialog box.

And that’s it.

NOTE: IE does not support showing PNG transparencies (alpha channels) natively. There are a few work arounds for this (theres loads to be found on google) - here’s MS’s solution. However, personally, I find the simplest approach is to save the image as a GIF (which all major browers support transparencies for).

When saving your image as a GIF from within Gimp, it will prompt you to export it - you can select either Indexed or Greyscale - however, on the next screen (Save as GIF) be sure to check the ‘Interlace’ option.