Graphics Zone - Transparent Gifs

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How to make Transparent Gifs in Photoshop 6

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

Making transparent Gifs in Photoshop 6 is quick and easy using Photoshop's 'Save for Web' function (located on the main File menu). We'll start by looking at our example Adult NetSurprise logo below.

When you design your image make sure that you have the background layer transparent. The simplest way to do this is to start with a transparent backround when you create a new image (File >> New), selecting Transparent in the options for the new image (the information box will automatically pop up).

There are two easy ways of making a transparent gif suitable for all backgrounds.

The first is to design your image with a 'hard' edge. This will make the image edge appear jagged and stepped like in our logo example above. Just 'Save for Web', select GIF and tick the 'Transparency' Box... Click OK and you're done!

Or alternatively you can let Photoshop's 'Save for Web' function do this for you! Which is especially useful if you're converting a previously designed image. Go to 'Save for Web', select GIF and tick the 'Transparency' Box, as above, then set 'Matte' to 'None'. This will make all edge pixels where they are more than 50% transparent, fully transparent and all pixels less than 50% transparent, fully opaque.

Thats all there is to it! Have fun and start creating awesome transparent Gifs for your site!