Deleting background

**fraid** · 24 October 2005, 11:11 PM

In Xara Xtreme how does one delete the background in a jpg or other common photographic file?

**amoore** · 25 October 2005, 02:56 PM

Generally speaking, one doesn't.

While Xara has some excellent photo editing tools, it's not a full-fledged bitmap editor. To remove a background, you need a paint program such as Paint Shop Pro. (There are a number of products available. I find Paint Shop Pro faster and easier to use than Adobe Elements, for example, and generally more effective.)

That said, depending on the background you want to eliminate, there may be things you can do in Xara. Take a look at this recent thread for some leads:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=18719

You may also be able to cut your objects out of the photo. How successful that is will depend both on the photo and on the end result you're after.

What are you trying to accomplish?

**molucca** · 25 October 2005, 03:40 PM

A Xara Extraction. A very accurate clean separation.

When you save to PNG, you can load a selection from the alpha channel in other applications.

Rich

**gwpriester** · 25 October 2005, 03:40 PM

Actually, one of the Medhi filters included in Xtreme can remove a background color or range of colors. It is the Erraser Classic and works quite well.

Then you could export the image as a PNG with the True Color + Alpha color depth setting.

Or you could export as an 8-bit (256 colors) PNG or GIF with transparency for use on the web.

Gary

**RAMWolff44** · 25 October 2005, 03:42 PM

I know this doesn't apply to your question but another tip for the main background color in the work space:

If you can't seem to get the background on the main work area white again then hold down the Ctrl key and drag & drop the 100% white color swatch onto it. Done deal!!

**amoore** · 25 October 2005, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by gwpriester

Actually, one of the Medhi filters included in Xtreme can remove a background color or range of colors. It is the Erraser Classic and works quite well.

Excellent! I haven't tried that one yet.

**molucca** · 26 October 2005, 03:22 AM

An Medhi erase. Not absolutely clean, but the pixels are below a threshold. Xara doesn't see all the sub pixels. Knockout extractions are similar. Rich