I don't want that BACKGROUND!

[Anthony Welch]

Please, don't respond to this if you don't use photo-paint. I've spent alot of money on Corel Suite and want to make it work for me. I've read all the threads on the infamous "White Background". They still don't answer my problem or either it's not explained in terms to where I can understand it.

I take a photo and cut it out either using cut-out lab or the masking tools(this being my favorite and best method.) I then go to "Object"-"Create"-"Copy Selection", and delete the background/original image. I'm left with what I masked.

Every thing is kosher so far. Then I go to save image as "Windows BMP", so I can take it to Photograv. It forces me to save with white background. I get this specific message "Objects will be merged with background in exported file". .....Why!!!!!! I've done a lot of work masking these objects and it forces me to have a background.

If there is no simple answer then tell me I'm ....SOL! I'll then go the multi-methods way of eliminating the "White background".

Thanks and Happy New Year!!!

[Frank Corker]

Anthony, I'm going to respond anyway, because you are quite obviously frustrated. We are here to help if we can. First option, have you tried sending it as a tiff file. Photograv 3 accepts tiff files.

Secondly the resultant white background sounds to me like you have a white transparent background. In certain programs the transparent background colour setting can be defind in your options of the program that you use.

[Steven Smith]

Anthony,
I don't use photograve but you might try this. After doing your process in Photo-paint, select the image and copy it to the clipboard. Open Draw and copy the image to a new drawing. Then save that drawing as your bmp. file. I just tried it here and didn't get the error message. Beyond that I don't know it'll work in photograve. If this doesn't work I'm sure someone will have the solution for your problem.

[Frank Corker]

I've just had a brief look. There are settings for transparency and there are options there. On backgrounds in the help search I found this reference
__________________________________________________ __________
Transparent image backgrounds also let you change the color or pattern of a Web page background without having to change the backgrounds of the images to match.
The background color must be a single, solid color that is not used elsewhere in the image. You can also make an editable area or a protected area transparent. For information about defining these areas, see "Masking."
__________________________________________________ ____________

Under options change the settings as shown in the picture below under 'transparency grid' from white to black and see if that works

[Tom Bull]

If we knew why you don't want a white background perhaps a solution to the situation could be given. For example I sometimes make the background black so that when the image is inverted to engrave on black it works out the way I want.

[Garry McKinney]

Anthony ,

I use Photograv and Corel. I have the same issues, but I always paint the background. I guess you could do the transparent thing Frank suggested, I have never tried it. The the bit map always fills in to page size.

If I am doing Marble I fill the background to black, so the laser will not fire once it is converted. Wood white for the same reason. So the background doesn't fire.

I never use corel draws page background for the simple reason it isn't a true black. It is a grey scale level and when taken through photograve it will texture the background. Use the paint fills at absoulte 100 percent black and absoulte white to control the background burn.

You can get the bitmaps as cutouts from corel paint to corel draw, just mask or cut in edit bitmap mode from draw, edit bitmap will take you to paint , do your mask and then close let it save changes and the background will be removed until you save bitmap in draw and then you will again be placed upon a page or if you export it will page again but retain the background you gave it or it received from draw.

Hope this help you.
Garry

[Anthony Welch]

Sometimes I have 2 photos and want them to be adjacent to each other. the white background overlaps and "blocks" the other image.

What I'm doing now is set a guide line to the top of one image. Engrave, delete, then bring the other image to the opposite side of the guide line and engrave it.

The "white background" blocks one or the other image and I can't do both at the same time.

This is only one scenario I've come across. There are others.

Why can't I just save without a background? Seems simple to me.....all I want is the image I just cut out... nothing else.

I hate to be a PITA, but this is a PITA.

I did a lot of images in 1/8" birch this X-Mas. Yea, the white did not engrave, but more than a couple of jobs wanted adjacent/combined photos. I felt it took up a lot of my time unneccessarily. At the time I didn't have the time to post the question.

I plan to upgrade to Photograv 3 sometime in the near future. But the "Laser Tile" doesn't need photograv and I need to add clip art to the job and the white background again is in the way. (Scenario #2)

No matter the substrate. If I only want the cut-out, I should only have the cut out. I thought I was not doing something right. And apparently there is no simple answer.

Thanks anyway!

Thanks anyway.

[Niklas Bjornestal]

Then I go to save image as "Windows BMP"
Thats the problem... BMP images cant have transparent pixels.

[Wil Lambert]

Niklas is correct. The only file types that support transparency are png, gif, and tiff. I only own the older version of Photograv so I know it does not support any other format than bmp.

What about starting a new file that will hole both of the images and Photograv the together in one file? This would eliminate the overlap issue.

Wil

[Frank Corker]

Thats the problem... BMP images cant have transparent pixels.

That's why I suggested he tried tiff. Tiff works for me

[Keith Bragg]

Anthony I use this metod all of the time for removing the white background attached is a link to the steps I use hope it is what you are looking for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBtpo5TfrZo:rolleyes:.

[Larry Bratton]

Anthony I use this metod all of the time for removing the white background attached is a link to the steps I use hope it is what you are looking for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBtpo5TfrZo:rolleyes:.
As the man said in the video...THERE YOU HAVE IT! Very good post Keith.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Not too long ago I was frustrated by the same problems in Paint Shop Pro. I went to the forum run by the parent company, Corel, and found that some graphics processes are patented and are NOT licenced to other software companies - that's why we have so damned many file formats! Work-arounds get the same results - but - short answer... some file formats WILL NOT allow a 'clear' background. .Jpg, for example will make a background that is looks clear to another .jpg, but must be a color when exported or copied to the outside world.

In the old days the analogy (real paper and scissors, cut and paste days) would be to mount your image on Saran Wrap (acetate) and then move it around as an overlay.

MS Publisher works this way... you need to tell it to 'overlay' deeper images. The background goes away, but never turns 'clear'.

[Ed Lang]

Thanks Keith for the YouTube link.

I will try that out later today!!

[Bill Cunningham]

I know this works with Ver. 8 & 12, so I assume it's still in X3 If it's one bitmap interfering with another, you can use the node tool to to add nodes to the wiremode image, then pull them in close to the main image.. The node tool can reshape the bitmap any way you want it, you can even add enough nodes to trim it in close enough to remove the entire background..this screen shot was from Ver.8.. You 'may' have to hit 'convert to bit map' when done, so the new shape still gets recognised as a bitmap,

[Shaddy Dedmore]

If you are going to use pictures later, leave them in the native format that uses transparencies and layers, that way you can merge with other files and whatever later.

If you must use the bmp format, then have that be a final step, you're using it as an intermediate step and running in to issues.

And sometimes you need to make the pic be the lower most object in corel and your other items on top (z order).

Also, sometimes you can create a mask after you cut it out in Paint, and then fill it black, then import it into Draw and trace it to create a more accurate outline object (you may have more luck creating a Path from mask, then create a mask from that path, cleans up some things if there's feathering).

If you have an outline and a bmp, you can use the Powerclip feature to make the outline what you need.

I know I was unclear, but hopefully it gives you some things to play with and figure out what works.

Shaddy

[Barbara Buhse]

I don't know if this will help... before I put anny photos into Corel, I edit them using Microsoft Picture It. Its a simple photo editor, and pretty inexpensive. I cut out whatever part of the photos I want (no backgrounds here!) and if I need to combine photos, you can do more than one at a time. I also adjust brightness and contrast first, then put the photos onto one "canvas" (there are no white backgrounds to get in the way) and then I change to black and white. All this before saving as a bitmap, which will "flatten" my project into one already combined image, ready for import into Corel. Once imported into corel, it does have a white background, but I've already done my photo editing work, so it doesn't matter. All I have to do is resize and Photograv.
The Picture It Software, although much simpler than Corel Paint or Draw, is inexpensive and easy to use (It only takes a few minutes) and will save photos in any format you want. I'm sure there is other easy photo editing software out there, but I have always done it with Picture It rather than the complicated process in a heftier program.

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

Sometimes I have 2 photos and want them to be adjacent to each other. the white background overlaps and "blocks" the other image.

Thanks anyway.

Today I needed to work with bitmaps for an art job, had to combine 4 bitmaps with centers cut out and merging and all. found something new to me.
First imported bitmap into CorelX3. Used "edit bitmap" within corel and it sends me to Corel PhotoPaint with bitmap. Cut out the outside and holes where needed with lab cutout. Exit CorelPaint, whan asked to save I said yes. This sends me back to Corel with modified file. Once back in CorelDraw the centers were stiil gone and transparent. I could even cut and paste to other files. I closed CoelDraw and re-opened the file. Still transparent. I exported the bitmap and re-imported it and now the transparency was gone, but combined in the order I had them in CorelDraw. BUT as long as I worked in Corel with the file things were good. Many times in the past I wanted to do this, but could not ever get it to work either. For me this works.

[Tony Severenuk (Corel)]

I just jumped to the end, so if someone else has already offered this sorry for being late.

The BMP format itself does't support and tranparent background, so images must be flattened.

For a transparent background you need to use either TIFF or PNG..I don't know if photograv supports those formats or not (sorry, I don't have the plugin)...when saving to TIFF or PNG be sure to check [ ] Transparent background when you're saving and *VERY IMPORTANT* in the next dialog will be 3 selections as to what it's going to use for the Transparent area..you're looking for the golden one...[ ]Masked area...after you click this the file will be saved without a background..hopefully photograv can read that.

[Anthony Welch]

Thank you sir. I'll give a try and see if Photograv can use them.

[Tom Cole]

You can also use 256 color gifs and save them with any one color transparent.

[Chad Voller]

If you are afraid of the issues, use PNG, not TIFF or GIF. TIFF's saved out of one software may not look the same as it will in another package due to the various formats you can save a TIFF as, and which package supports those formats of TIFFs.

What you save out in PNG in one application will look exactly the same in another. Plus PNG is a true loss-less compression. You can keep saving over the same file and not lose any quality (unless you lower the bit size), unlike other files types that keep compressing, and converting, and compressing. JPEG's are nortorious for this, and is why I rarely use them anymore. TIFF's can be lossless if you choose none, or LZW as the compression format, but not all applications support it. TIFF has advantages if you work with print CMYK, but it pretty much ends there. And if your image has solid colors, like a GIF would, using PNG makes the file sizes smaller than JPEG's, but still being able to keep your alpha, and a larger palette of color than GIF's. It's only real disadvantage to GIF's is you can't save multiple images in one file, but you're working with lasers, not the web.

PNG is the next generation and I suggest all to use it over the other formats when you can.