3 Replies Latest reply: Aug 17, 2009 8:34 AM by Buko. RSS

    Need background transparent to fit an InDesign project

    pennipeter Community Member

      I have a tan background color on a biz card which is an InDesign project. I want to place a jpg of a purple crayon line on it, but it was photographed with a white background. How do I get the white out, to the tan background without changing the color of the purple crayon. How do I blend this?    Thanks, Penni     penni@pennigladstone.com

        • 1. Re: Need background transparent to fit an InDesign project
          Ozzwoman9 Community Member

          Please see the reply given to you when you posted in the Scripting forum:

           

           

           

          Jongware said:

          Did you intend to do this with a script? (I'm assuming you didn't -- but this is the Scripting forum, not intended for general questions.)

           

          JPEGs don't support transparency. Open the image in Photoshop and remove the background, leaving it as 'transparent'. Then save the image in a format that doessupport transparency. Alternatively, create a Photoshop path that selects just the stuff you want to see, and save the image as PSD. When importing into InDesign, you can select this path as 'clipping path'.

           

          If the edge between color and white background is fairly sharp, you can always try InDesign's Detect Edges option: select the image, from the Object menu, select Clipping Path. In the dialog box, select "Detect Edges". Enable Preview and tinker with the settings for the best result.

           

           

           

           

           

           

          You will have to remove the background by selecting it and deleting it (must be sure to convert the background layer to a regular layer in the layers pallet), once the background is removed you will need to save as a file that will support the transparency: .png, .gif, .psd, etc.

          • 2. Re: Need background transparent to fit an InDesign project
            Kathlene Sage Community Member

            Hi Penni, I think you are just asking for a silhouette of the crayon. In that case, just make a clipping path around the crayon and you should be able to place it in ID with no problems.

            • 3. Re: Need background transparent to fit an InDesign project
              Community Member

              Clipping paths are so last century and un-necessary