Trancparency to Alpha?

[Mpaige]

I just downloaded a trial of Xtreme and it looks like just the thing I need to bring me out of my AI hell.

I have some pitcures and shapes that I want to fade out and place onto a webpage.

I have used the transparency tool for a linear transparency, so my picture fades to transparent/nothing on the right side. (Its pretty self explanatory). But when I export the image and place it onto the work surface of my authoring program it fades to white. The background of the page I want to place the photo on is black.

As for the shapes, I need them to be transparent since they will be laid over a video.

Can anyone help me with this? I'm sure its simple and my inexperience is the only challenge

THANKS in advance

[jens g.r. benthien]

Only the *.gif and *.png format are capable of transparencies. Use *.gif if quality is not important, and select the wine glass at the bottom of the export dialog. Use *.png and select 'True Color + Alpha' in the export dialog options.

Or, if you prefer *.jpg: draw a rectangle with the same dimensions as your image (the snap function really helps to clone the dimensions), set fill to black, no outline, send the black rectangle to back and - the black rectangle behind your faded artwork - export it as a *.jpg, adjusting the quality with the slider on the options page in the export dialog.

Selecting the black rectangle exports everything on top of the rectangle as well, but selecting the artwork won't include anything that's behind the artwork.

[Mpaige]

Thanks! I'll give this a try today!

[amoore]

When you export any bitmap image that involves transparency or doesn't fill a complete rectangle, you need to take into account the background where the image is going to be used.

Jens' instructions are to the point for these particular images and shapes where you're using a fade out and you know they're going to be shown on a black background. In some web situations, you need to ensure that your exported image does not include transparency even if you used transparency when creating it.

But suppose you have an image of an apple where you want to retain the transparency around the shape. Duplicate the target background, place the apple in front of it, and export the apple as a transparent gif or png. Xara will antialias the shape to the background so it will look sharp in the destination.