I am ready to give up on this - the more I read and experiment, the worse it is!

So far I have had black images with a white background. I wanted to make the white background transparent. So I used:
-the PNG Optimizer in PSP7.
-Set it to 24 bit, alpha channel transparency, -What areas of the image would you like to be transparent? Answer: White
Tolerance - 1 (That was how it was set - I don't know what else to set it to).

There is no reference to anti-alias and feathering in the PNG Optimizer. So what am I supposed to do about that? The reason being that the CP tutorial for transparency using PSP7 refers to this.

Now I also have some images in that I only want to make the white background to become transparent, since there is white within the image. I read the CP tutorial for PSP7 and tried experimenting with their instructions. Which version of PSP were they written for? They reference the Tool Preset Bar. Huh? I only have a Tool Options Palette. They reference setting the Magic Wand Tool Preset Bar to Tolerance =12, feathering =1, select AntiAlias and select Outside. Well I don't have "AntiAlias" or "Outside" option in my Tool Options Palette. I set the Tolerance to 12, and put the image against another layer of color - the image looked awful - it seemed to create the "halo effect". So what do I do now?

What is an appropriate Tolerance level to set?

I'm wondering if it would work better to just use the Magic Wand to select the background color and change it from white to another color, then run the PNG Optimizer and make that new color transparent.

Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know what versions the tutorials are written for, but I think they're quite useless for v.7. Am I to understand that the images you are trying to use are single layer ones with a white background, and not multi-layer images where the background layer is white? If so, I would suggest creating a new image of the very same size dimensions as the one you're using, and make it either transparent or the color you ultimately want to view it against. Then copy the image you have, and paste it to the new one as a new layer. Now you can use your magic wand to get rid of the white background. If there is anti aliasing or feathering on the original image, simply selecting the white area with the wand will probably not get rid of enough of it, so you can go to the Selections menu, choose Modify and then Expand, and choose 1 or 2 pixels or whatever you need to make that edge look the best when you delete it.

If it doesn't look right, you can always go back and undo and experiment with different values. When you get it the way it looks good to you, If you've put a black or other color as your first layer, remember to delete it before saving as a .png. The background should look transparent at that point (checkerboard pattern). If it does, then you're good to go - simply "save as" and choose .png as the file type, and the transparency should remain. I use PSP7 almost exclusively, and never bother with the optimizers at all, I find they are a waste of time and it is better to just learn to think like the program and find the easiest (fewest steps) to achieve the goal I'm after.

Hope this helps!

One easy way to do it. Open a new image the same size as the one you are working on. Be sure to check transparent. You should have a checkered box image. Click on your picture, and do Edit, Copy. Now click on your checkered image, and do Edit, Paste as New Layer. Your picture should now be a layer on top of the transparency. Open your layers pallet so you can see which layer you are working on. Clicking on the top layer, your picture, you can choose the Eraser or Background Eraser, and just erase anything you need to in your image. You can zoom way in to get close up to see what you are doing.
After you have erased, you can test, and fill the transparent layer with black and then white, to see if you have missed anything. You can always undo, undo.
When you are totally satisfied, you can Merge Visible, and save as PNG. Or just select that layer, and Copy, Paste as New Image. Or you can right click on transparent layer on the layer pallet and just delete that layer.

Work of of copies, and always save your original. Hope this helps some.

To answer your question GearGems, the images are one layer- they are clip art that has been scanned, not something created from scratch in PSP.

Thanks for the ideas, I will try experimenting a little more and see what I can do.

Stephanie,

1) Open up the clipart and in the Layer Palette, right click on the Background layer and click on Promote to layer.

2) Use the "Magic Wand" and click on the white(Match Mode RGB Value, Tolerance 0, Feather 0)

3) Hit the delete button on your keyboard 3 times to get rid of all the white. (you may need to expand the image by 1 or 2 to get all of the white before using the delete button)

4) Next, after the background has been removed, you now have a transparent image.

5) Resize and edit as you wish.

6) IMPORTANT! Save your working copy as a .psp image before saving as a PNG.

7)When finished, save as PNG:

- Go to File ---> Export---> PNG Optimizer

- Colors: 16 million (24 Bit)
- Transparency: Alpha channel

- What areas of the image would you like to be transparant? Existing image or layer transparancy

- Format:Non-interlaced

- Click OK and save your file.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Sonia

I hope the above worked for you.

I started out using PSP7 and couldn't get transparency working for the lofe of me. I switched to PSP8 and all has worked great ever since.

Mark