Any person that is involved in the task of media and graphics, looking for any tool to make qualitative changes. Adobe Photoshop is the most popular application to do such tasks. But the functionality is difficult to use and takes time. If one wants to make background transparent gimp it also works as the alternative of Adobe Photoshop.
To make the routine graphic task easy for you GIMP is a suitable tool. GIMP gives you a rich quality image editing experience, it is really easy to use. The process is easy and straightforward and doesn’t make any hard changes on the performance of the PC.
One common task that is basically done by the graphic designer is changing the background of the current image. To give a special effect to your current image, the background should be transparent.
How to make the background transparent in gimp
Making the background transparent the first basic and essential step that one should follow. When the images are ready with the no-color background, you can easily add the favorite background color to the background. Changing the mono-background color is easier than the multi-colored background.
- Setup the GIMP.
- Select the favorite image you wish to change the background and click on Open.
- Alpha channel is used to make the image background transparent.
- To apply the alpha channel, Locate the layer option from the top menu > Transparency > Select Alpha Channel.
- Right-click on the layer of the background, and when the menu options appeared, select alpha Channel.
- If the alpha channel applied successfully then the layer will be shifted from bold to normal.
- As the alpha channels are presented, you can select the favorite background color from the Color or Fuzzy tool that is located in the left sidebar.
- After deciding the toolbar, click on the background color you are wishing to change.
- Go to Edit > Clear or choose the shortcut key to delete.
- If you don’t want to continue with the selection then Go to the Top Menu Select > None.
- Now the image you are seeing with no background must be saved as the type of standard PNG format or .gif. The most frequently used format is png so you should use the same.
- Go to the top menu File option > Export a dialog box will pop up on the screen, here you can type the name of the image with .png extension. and click on the Save button.
This method is applicable to those images that are in only single color.
Change the background color of the image that is using more than one color
If there is an image on your device, in which more than one color is used and you are wishing to make changes in the background color and to make background transparent gimp, then it is also possible by following these simple steps.
Method 1 Mask
As we have mentioned in the single-color background image, the same will be done for the Multicoloured background. Firstly, load the appropriate image and apply the alpha channel.
- Select the open option from the File Menu to launch it into GIMP.
- Use the right-click of the mouse on the layer, located in the right sidebar.
- Select the Add Alpha Channel.
- Notice the alpha channel applicability as the title layer changed bold to normal.
- Avoid making the changes on the original layer.
- Now use the right-click button of the mouse to create a duplicate layer over the original one and apply the changes on the copied layer.
- Select the duplicate layer to work on by just clicking on the layer.
- If the layer is not selected correctly then go to Color > Desaturate. Proceed to Luminosityand confirm this action by clicking on Ok.
- To adjust the brightness, locate the color, and then choose brightness-contrast from the menu. You can set the value and level of the brightness in the dialog box so it will be settled in black and white color format. Then choose OK.
- Locate the Brushes tool, Set the hardness strength on 100, and by selecting the pencil from the toolbox, color the appropriate areas that you are wishing to paint in black color, and the remaining image should be removed with the while pencil. You can use a pencil in your comfortable size.
- Select Colors Option > Invert
- Then after, Go on Edit option > select the option of copy, or else you can choose the way of shortcut key(Ctrl + C) for the duplicate layer.
Remember no act should be performed on the original layer.
As the duplicate layer is successfully copied, so remove it from the screen, you will see the original layer.
- Go Options > Mask > Add Layer Mask > Select white from the dialog box > Confirm with the Add button.
- The layer you have copied using the Copy command will be posted here via Ctrl +V or select the Edit Menu option > Paste for this action.
- Here you’ll see the floating Selection layer is created in place of the original background.
- Go to the right-sidebar, locate the anchor layer button from the bottom, the main work of the anchor option is to merge the floating and main layer.
- To create the final image, Select this duplicate layer> right click on the layer > Select New From Visible option from the appeared menu.
As you have your final image, there is no need to keep the other two old layers so just select both old layer and Ctrl+D or delete option.
If the image is matching up with your expectations then jump to the next step or if not then do this:
Use the eraser to give the finishing and cleaning look to the image layer and erase all the unnecessary areas of background and sides of the image.
- Save your proper shaped image to use it for future reference. For this, you have to go to File option > Export As, when the dialog box appears to give a proper name to your creation and save it with the .png extension.
Here the mask method for gimp make background transparent is finished.
Method 2: Path tool
Try another one method to make the background transparent. This is done by using the Path tool.
Perform the beginning step of transparency which belongs to the opening image and applying the alpha channel.
- Let the image download inside the GIMP and begin the process by applying the alpha channel.
- Select the layer > use right click of the mouse > select alpha channel option from the appeared menu.
- Select the LeftSidebar > Manually create an outline of the image to keep it.
- You can make a path little inside the boundary or if you don’t find great then back to the previous ideal selection, complete the path by adjoining at the endpoint, confirm the “object selection” by the Enter button.
- As we want an image, not the background so we have to perform the invert by doing this:
Go to Select > Invert
As the background is marked, use the delete key to remove the background, you will find that there is no background visible, and what you will see on the screen of GIMP is an image with a transparent background.
- Go to Select > None this step is performed to unselect all the active extra selections.
- Finally, it’s time to save your image with .png extension. And finally, you have the knowledge how to make background transparent in gimp.
John Gilmore was a reporter for Techno Secrets, before becoming the lead editor. He has over fifty bylines and has reported on countless incidents around Anchorage. John studies chemistry and history at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he currently is in his senior year.
