removing coloured background

[handrawn]

which program is CD

[colin]

Sorry - Coreldraw

[handrawn]

cutting and pasting into xara with transparency is not supported AFAIK - it doesn't work from photoshop either

once you have browsed down to program files you need to look for the corel draw progam folder and find the program file

coreldraw is not a bitmap editor, so I don't even know if it will work this way, never tried it [and I don't have it so I can't give you a precise location for the program file] - some programs work some don't

[colin]

Sorry again - I was using CD as generic shorthand. The actual editing was done in Corel PhotoPaint, whch is the bitmap editing program in the Corel Graphic Suite. I've burrowed down through the program files to PhotoPaint and its folders but found nothing; "No items to match your search" Do you know what folder I'm looking for in a suitable program? I guess Corel won.t work
All the best, Colin

[handrawn]

no apparently corel does thing differently - you need to look in Corel > CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 > Programs [or whichever version you have, if not X6] - the program file will be called CorelPP and should have a red icon - do not select CorelPP.exe [which is a visual basic file] CorelPP.dll or CorelPP.tib or any other variant displayed there

[handrawn]

it works I am reliably informed [with X6 anyhow]

[colin]

Yes, it does. I was in the wrong folder - got it set up now.
Odd anomalies. When I edit in PhotoPaint everything comes back changed correctly - brightness, contrast etc etc except for transparent setting. Same goes for Serif PhotoPlus editing. Yet if I cut into Serif, apply transparency, and cut back into XPX, the transparency is maintained. Then I can edit to my heart's content in PhotoPaint or Seif including further transparency.
Anyhow it works and thanks for your patience and help
All the best, Colin

[handrawn]

I am told it will only work [edit: with transparency] if the bitmap in xara is a true colour + alpha bitmap [this is borne out by your experience] - a true colour only won't do it

to test this, make a bitmap copy in xara as true colour + alpha, and then edit that through photopaint - remember when you make the bitmap copy to adjust the dpi if the original is not at the default of 96dpi

[edit: that rings bells actually and probably applies to photoshop too thinking about it]

[colin]

That's great! Worked perfectly.
That's one very big piece of the jigsaw in place, as I move most of my workflow over to XPX from Corel. As I said in a previous thread, I'm very impressed by the enormous jumps forward by Xara. No program has everything and others will always excel in certain areas, but Designer is now one hell of a package.
Many thanks, Colin

[handrawn]

now if you'd only been using photoshop and not corel I could have tested it myself and the penny would probably have dropped sooner

always a pleasure to help