fuzzy transparent GIF

[dtracy]

I created a sharp .xar image and exported it as a transparent GIF. However, when I place the transparent GIF on a dark background, the GIF is generally transparent, but the edges of the GIF are all 'fuzzy' - looks like the edges of the GIF all have a thin surrounding of white pixels. Any idea what is happening here and how I might correct it (to get a 'clean' edge)? Thanks for any help!

[dtracy]

I created a sharp .xar image and exported it as a transparent GIF. However, when I place the transparent GIF on a dark background, the GIF is generally transparent, but the edges of the GIF are all 'fuzzy' - looks like the edges of the GIF all have a thin surrounding of white pixels. Any idea what is happening here and how I might correct it (to get a 'clean' edge)? Thanks for any help!

[Oystein]

Hi
You must create the image on the same background as you intend to use it on. Export from a black background will help in your case.

Øystein


http://www.heimesider.com

[Oystein]

Hi again. Perhaps this explain it better?

http://www.hesbynett.no/oystange/test.gif

Øystein


http://www.heimesider.com

[gwpriester]

Hello dtracy

Welcome to the Xara X Conference.

To add a word of explanation to what Oystein has correctly suggested, Xara anti-aliases (smoothes) the edges of the image and blends them into the background color. So, if you export your GIF over a white page, Xara anti-aliases to white and when you place your image over a dark background, the blended to white pixels are very apparent and distracting.

Place a rectangle behind your objects that you want to export and give it the same color, or a similar color, to the background on your web page. Make the rectangle larger than your objects.

Select your objects, but do not select the rectangle, and then export your objects using the Transparent Background option.

Xara will anti-alias your image using the color of the rectangle and the image will look like a million dollars on your site.

This help?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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www.gwpriester.com </a>

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[mgeduld]

Though they were once popular, I think transparant GIFs are next-to-useless for professional design. (I say NEXT-to-useless, because I occasionally do find an odd use for them).

Most of us want anti-aliasing, because most graphics look pretty crappy without the soft edges.

But if you use anti-aliasing, you'll get the fringe if you place the graphic over a different background color from its original background color.

So what's the point? If you have to create the transparant graphic over the background color of your page, why not just create an opaque graphic with a background color that's the same as your page?

How do you guys feel about transparant GIFS? Do you have any use for them?

When I make a graphic, whether in Xara, PhotoShop or wherever, I always put the background on a separate layer. That way I can easily change that layer to differt colors without touching the other layers. It's then a cinch to export multiple copies with different background colors.

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }

[ajreed]

I still find a use for transparent background gifs when making an image that will sit on a textured background.

I used to make the image on a piece of textured background for the same reasons as the advice above, but always found aligning the patch with the actual background tiresome and seldom successful, so the transparent gif solves this. The problem was that you can usually see the join if the two textures are not perfectly registered.

But as above, it pays to save it in front of a similar coloured background.

Another related snippet: some time ago ISTR there was criticism of Xara's ability to save gifs with anything other than 2,16,256 colours, well I have convinced myself Xara can after all.

In the export options set the colour depth to 16 or 256 whichever exceeds your anticipated max colour requirement. Then set the Max colors to whatever you want to experiment with. Clicking Preview may be necessary to see the effect on the image rendition and file size. But you can play to your hearts content until you find a satisfactory balance between file size and image quality.

Alan

[gwpriester]

Marcus

I use transparent GIFs all the time. I know I should probably be using Flash images instead, but it's just easier for me to create a simple GIF or 8-bit PNG image.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>

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[williama]

Transparent GIFs are mostly useful when you're going to put them over a background which has some detail to it. If your background is a solid colour, then you may as well use a non-transparent file (they're a bit smaller too).

If you load your background image into a paint package, you can use the magic wand tool (or a variant of it) to get an average colour of all the pixels in the image. Set the background in Xara to that average and then do your export. Generally, the blend is seamless and you'll see little or no fuzzy edges.

[IKraus]

Really can't add to what's been said. The folks here pointed this out to me not too long ago!

What I wanted to ask was what's happened to the date/time stamps on these messages. Several of these I'm looking at today clearly were written in the past few days, yet the dates can range back as far as 2000 something! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Is everyone here talking through a time vortex?

Push yourself to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Irene M. Kraus
www.design-comp.com