Practising in Photoshop 5

There are several ways to create transparent graphics in Photoshop 5.0. This software handles the transparency through the Export plug-in from the File menu.

1. Select File > Export > Gif89a Export.
   
   
2. Using the Eyedropper tool, apply the transparency by clicking on the colours you want to delete.
   
   
If you hold the Shift key down, you can remove several colours at once.



Figure 7: Select the colours you want to delete

In Photoshop, you can also use an alpha channel for transparency, which allows you to permanently save a masking area.

1. Select a layer that uses transparency (with a checkerboard background).
   
   
2. In the dialog box, click on Select >Load, then Channel, Layer x Transparency.
   
   
3. Select Load Selection and click on OK.
   
   
You should see a selection mark around the loaded selection.



Figure 8:Selection loading


4. Click on Select > Load.
   
   
You can store this selection in an alpha channel that will be saved in the last position in the channel list.

You can base your transparency on the alpha channel instead of using the Eyedropper tool. So if you have a background with complex colours, your alpha mask could delete them.