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myrrh
Joined: 29 Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Location: Ohio
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 Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:04 am Post subject: Question about image with transparent background |
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A logo designer provided a transparent background version and as you can see, when I layered it on the colored background, the results are not good.
It looks like he just created the transparent versions by selecting the text and image from a file that had a white background and deleted the white as opposed to creating a new file starting with a transparent background.
Did I do something wrong or did the designer provide me with poor output?
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thehermit
Joined: 05 Mar 2003
Posts: 3987
Location: Cheltenham, UK
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:29 am Post subject: |
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Poor output I would venture. He should have tested the extraction on a variety of mattes or backgrounds before releasing. As you say, it looks like he extracted rather than designing on a blank layer.
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Matt
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3515
Location: Haverhill, UK
PS Version: Lightroom 5, CS4 & Elements 11
OS: Windows 8.1
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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I'll bet he supplier the file to you in either PNG-8 or GIF formats. Both support transparency but the the pixel either needs the transparency turned on or off - there's no middle ground. Hence why the bad, blocky edges.
Hope that helps
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myrrh
Joined: 29 Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the replies. Matt, I'm not clear on what you mean "...the pixel either needs the transparency turned on or off."
Could you please explain?
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Matt
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3515
Location: Haverhill, UK
PS Version: Lightroom 5, CS4 & Elements 11
OS: Windows 8.1
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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No problem. Let's see...
When your designed decided to send it to you he/she probably thought it would be a nice touch to send you the graphic without a background, so you could place it in front of any background you please.
The most obvious (and popular) way of saving a graphic minus the background is to save it out as a GIF or PNG-8. Doing so will reveal the transparency grid. Just what you both (I assume) wanted.
However, these formats do not allow for the soft drop off of colour around the text itself. And if you want the text to look smooth, you need the soft, aliased edges.
This can be illustrated by zooming into the text inside Photoshop. If you look around the edge of the text you'll see lots of pixels that have varying degrees of transparency, or varying degrees of shading, in order to make the text look smooth.
When you save as a GIF or PNG-8, these varying degrees of shading (which equate to varying degrees of transparency) are not supported. A pixel that is less than 50% opaque is ignored, whilst a pixel that is more than 50% opaque is made 100% opaque because the formats do not support anything in-between.
If you're familiar with anti-aliasing then be aware that it's almost impossible to achieve under these circumstances.
A simple test you could do to see what I'm referring to is to craw a circle onto a transparent background. Fill it with a colour and then rasterize it. Now blur it to the point that it looks awful. Now go ahead and save it out as a GIF with transparency. Hopefully you'll see what I mean. Instead of a smooth blurred edge you'll see a hard edge at approximately 50% of the blur.
Looking again at the text above, I wouldn't be surprised if the designed had used a tool such as the Magic Wand to select the text before removing it from its old background.
Hope that clears things up, just a little :o)
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3photoshop.com
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myrrh
Joined: 29 Jan 2011
Posts: 13
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:00 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | craw a circle onto a transparent background. Fill it with a colour and then rasterize it |
How do I rasterize it? I thought all Photoshop files were rasterized. I'm using PSE8.
The designer redid the image for me (below). It's better but still is jagged. Is there any way to correct this or do I need a vector program?
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Matt
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry, I didn't realise you were using Elements.
In Elements, you need to Simplify the layer.
Rasterisation within Photoshop is an interesting issue. As you say, Photoshop is truly a pixel editor, but it does allow the drawing of paths that Photoshop sees as vector shapes. What I was saying was to ensure you 'Simplify' the shapes in the example above before you blur it.
What kind of file has the designer sent you? If it's a PSD you may be able to fix it. However, I'm guessing you have someone doing the work for you so you don't need to be involved. If that's the case (especially if you've paid good money) I'd go back to the designer and tell him/her you need a better quality version.
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