need quick help. ez for pro's im sure.

**chris8186** · 07 November 2007, 03:34 PM

i have an image with a white background surrounding it and i want to overlap it on another image. I need the white background to disappear. How to i go about doing this so the white background doesnt show on the overlapped image?

**amoore** · 07 November 2007, 03:59 PM

There are several options.
- Try the Mehdi Eraser that's available in the Live Effects tool.
or
- Apply a Stained Glass transparency to the image with the white background.
or
- Cut the image away from the background by drawing an outline around the image, then selecting the outline and the image and pressing Ctrl 4 (Combine | Slice).

Personally, I usually prefer cutting the image out. It doesn't usually take very long, and I feel I have more control over the elements.

**gwpriester** · 07 November 2007, 05:15 PM

How does Chris cut out the shape Alison? Does he use the Scissors Tool?

Gary

**ss-kalm** · 07 November 2007, 06:28 PM

Assuming its not a vector why don't you just save it as a transparent GIF or PNG with the white set as transparent.

**handrawn** · 07 November 2007, 07:51 PM

thats fine if the palette can be restricted to 256 colors, if not then Alison's methods are good

Gary are you splitting hairs?

scissor tool in xara?

**handrawn** · 07 November 2007, 07:57 PM

if it is a bitmap - you can select it, then go to the bitmap gallery and highlight the same bitmap there and then click the gallery transparency tab

I prefer this to stained glass for removing white, as you can remake bitmaps from it without the color shifts stained glass sometimes produces

EDIT - but it will shift the saturation level so there again........ it all depends

**handrawn** · 07 November 2007, 08:13 PM

PPS

if you want to remove the white without the transparency/hue/saturation problems in one quick and easy way - try mehdi genuine eraser - you can download it free from their site

**iamtheblues** · 07 November 2007, 09:18 PM

There is also the excellent Remove White plugin, the zip file is
available for download on the forum here. It works with Xara Live Effects.
Saludos,
Bob.

**steve.ledger** · 07 November 2007, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by handrawn

Gary are you splitting hairs?

scissor tool in xara?

Nah - he's encouraging respondants to demonstrate their methology rather that just reciting what they do..

**chris8186** · 07 November 2007, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by handrawn

PPS

if you want to remove the white without the transparency/hue/saturation problems in one quick and easy way - try mehdi genuine eraser - you can download it free from their site

ok guys so heres the problem. when i used the mehdi eraser i got an error when i tried to preview my creation(i was making a flash image) the error message said "serious error from Xara Xtreme Pro. Access violation exception at offset 0xFEFFEFFF." any ideas?