gradient transparency

They have: 447 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

is it possible to make a gif image that becomes gradually transparent? I have done it in photoshop but it does not retain the transparency when saved as a gif.

perhaps gif doesnt support multiple levels of transparency?

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

Joined: Feb 2000

When a gif is saved transparent, what the saving process does is to make all the colours you want to be transparent a unique colour not in the image (grey or bright blue or bright yellow) and set THAT colour to transparent. So it is all or nothing.

What you see as gradual transparency in your graphics program is really a complex mathematical formula that calculates the new colours. So if you create an image on the same colour background (average it if your background is a texture) and make it appear to fade into the background, the image when made into a transparent gif will appear to fade into the background as well.

But it won't.

hth,

Suzanne

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Brian Farkas's picture

They have: 1,015 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

I think he might be talking about changing the opacity... Anyway, you'd need to download some animated gif creator software, then save several frames of your graphic, one at 100% opacity, then more at 80%, 60%, 40%, etc. until you get to the level of transparency you require.

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They have: 447 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

well, no i wasnt talking about animation.

what i was trying to do was make a graphic that would fade into the background around the edges, basically become more and more semi transparent until it is completely transparent. It is possible for psd images but after reading suzannes response i guess its not possible in gif format, which is probably good for the internet considering the size of some of my psds is 200-300k while their gif counterparts are 20-30k.

Brian Farkas's picture

They have: 1,015 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

I think I see what you mean... Either:
1. You want some color around the images to blend into the background
In which case you would: Convert the image to indexed color, then use FILE > EXPORT > GIF89A Export and use the dropper to click on the color you'd like to make transparent.

2. You want the actual sides of the images to blend into the background. This IS possible, but it it is easiest if you have a solid color background. For example, if your page is on a white background, you would want to make the background of the image white. Select the entire image and use SELECT>MODIFY>BORDER and enter in an amount (probably around 20 or so). Then, simply press the delete key.

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