After years of using Ulead's Photo Impact 11 as my primary graphics program, I have now switched over and am attempting to master Xara's Photo and Graphic Designer 6 from scratch. It's like becoming blind overnight and having to re-orient oneself to a brand new world. A definite challenge. I've run across a few design roadblocks I'm trying to work thru, but the first pressing issue is the following.

For example: Say I create three different colored objects such as a star, a circle, and a rectangle. I then decide to overlay the objects, then select each, then choose to group as one by clicking the Group button. I then hit the JPEG button to save/export. My image has been created. If I wish to paste this new image onto a colored background of some sort, the saved image always has a white background. How do I save an object so it can be "cleanly" pasted into a background of a different color.

Obviously, I can save my image as a bitmap and choose white as the transparent color, but I have found that doesn't always work either. Even this method leaves my image surrounded by scattered traces of white.

In Xara what is the secret to saving objects so that only the object itself will appear cleanly when it's superimposed over a colored background?. I know I am missing a step somewhere, just can't figure out what I am doing wrong.