# Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8: Transparency



## Troublesome_x (Nov 2, 2008)

Uhm, hey, I'm new to this and my English is really poor, so I'll try to make myself clear.

I use Paint Shop Pro 8 to edit images, photography and so on, and basically I'm used to the program and use it quite easily. Recently, I've been requested a signature with a transparent bakground and I've been reading forums and tutorials about how to do it. I learned how to turn the opacity on (I don't understand most of it or how to specifically do it but it works), but there's one little problem.



























The image is converted to a 256 color image, loosing most of its quality and ruining the sig.


















So my question is, *is there a way of doing a transparent bankground without reducing the signature to a low quality image?*
I've tried a lot of stuff and it led me here, hoping someone could help. Sorry for the image spam ^^'

Thanks.


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

have you tried saving as a .PNG ... it's a much better quality format that supports transparency

is it only half transparent in your screenshot for a reason


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## Troublesome_x (Nov 2, 2008)

I've tried saving in lots of formats and the image just kept getting even worse. In PNG the background does appear transparent, but the image has still a bad quality, not the original quality in which I did the signature.


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

how big is the original... and what size do you need as a final?

post the original here if you're comfortable with that so we can have a look

it looks like a fairly intricate image that should have been started/drawn on a transparent background


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## Troublesome_x (Nov 2, 2008)

I have just started doing it.
First I opened a new transparent image 450x250 sized. Then I 'drew' a rectangle and painted the effects I wanted on it. I picked a render I was planning to work with and put it on the image, half in the transparent area, half in the painted area.
The ideia is to give the impression of the girl to be getting out of the signature, putting a transparent bg behind her. I still haven't worked on it, adding brushes, effects, gradients an so, but this is the basic image of the project.

So technically, the image should remain 450x250.


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

I'm sorry but I didn't see the girl in your tiny screenshot until you mentioned it

why not do the original on a complete transparent backgroud the add a gradient and any other effects on aditional layers...


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## Troublesome_x (Nov 2, 2008)

It's okay, thanks, I checked all around the internet and Jasc paint Shop Pro booklet and it seems like I need to make the quality worse for the bakcground to appear different. 
Thank you anyway :]


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

Troublesome_x said:


> It's okay, thanks, I checked all around the internet and Jasc paint Shop Pro booklet and it seems like I need to make the quality worse for the bakcground to appear different.
> Thank you anyway :]


that shouldn't be the case if you start with a vector image in animation shop which use to come with PSP.. or another vector based program

I have only PSP7 so I'm not sure about PSP8


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## southernlady (May 6, 2004)

First, always start with a transparent background. When adding your tube (which is what we called renders in paint shop pro) make sure you add it on a new layer. 

When you go to save your signature, if you save it as a gif, use these settings: see the screen shot. Go to Save As>Optimizer and then use the settings I have in the screen shot. 

If you have any color matching the color in your background anywhere in the rest of your image, it will also disappear. For example, you have a white background. But you also have some white in one of your images. The white in your images will also go blank. The way to avoid that is handled one of two ways. !) Either change the background to a color that is not in the image at all. or 2) Change any of the white in the image to a off white by just enough to avoid deleting it.

But for the best change of getting a true transparent image, png is the way to go.

Liz


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