7 Replies Latest reply: Mar 30, 2011 10:31 AM by Noel Carboni RSS

    Photoshop Trim

    lyndastuff Community Member

      I need to understand using the Trim feature in Photoshop. More detail.. because when I try to use it, the option is grayed out. I'm in PSD format and want to use the trim feature for using files on the web. Am I supposed to trim it in another format? Is there another preference or something that I should have checked?

      Thanks, Linda

        • 1. Re: Photoshop Trim
          Noel Carboni Community Member

          The Trim feature seeks out pixels of exactly the same color (or transparency) in your image and crops the image as small as possible so that only pixels of that color are removed.

           

          Can't say I can recall seeing Trim... grayed-out, though...  The file format is inconsequential.  The document attributes may be very pertinent, however.

           

           

          Perhaps it would be easiest to move forward with an explanation or solution if you would capture your screen, showing your image, the layers panel, et. al. when you are trying to do the Image - Trim... operation.  You can post a screen capture here using the little "camera" icon just above where you type.

           

          -Noel

          • 2. Re: Photoshop Trim
            lyndastuff Community Member

            transparent pixels copy.jpg

            I have finally gotten the radial to appear and put a red dot there to show you where I was talking about.. the
            "transparent pixel radial" was what was grayed out all this time, until now. But I don't know "how" I got it there.. As u can see though, it still has not gotten rid of the white background. Now.. I could use the erase, etc.. but still.. when I send just that one graphic to the web, it'll overlap another.

            I'm so thankful you have gotten back to me, maybe you or someone can shead some light on this Trim feature for me.

            There's got to be a reason why I couldn't get it before.. and why it doesn't take even the transparency out for me.. unless I am not understanding it right.

            Thank you, Linda

            • 3. Re: Photoshop Trim
              Chris Cox Adobe Employee

              What is a "radial" in this context?  That is not a normal UI term, and only used in Photoshop for RadialBlur.

               

              Your image is trimmed correctly - there is no more white to remove without cropping the blue triangle.

              And you have no transparent pixels there, so you can't trim based on transparent pixels.

               

              I think you might be confusing the trim command with trying to make the white areas transparent -- and those are unrelated concepts.

              You might want to spend some time with the Photoshop help reading up on what the trim command does and how the options work.

               

              If you just want to save the blue triangle for the web with a transparent background:  delete the white background layer in your document, trim transparent pixels, then Save For Web and save as PNG with transparency.

              • 4. Re: Photoshop Trim
                lyndastuff Community Member

                I thought a radial button was what the little circle was called before the option picked.

                Ok, I will try again, but it doesn't sound like it does what I had hoped it would do.

                I thought it was different from cropping because it took away the transparency part also.

                I had wanted to use it on a website, next to each other, named, etc.. but the transparncy part always overlaps.

                So sorry to have bothered you. Thank you for setting me straight.

                • 5. Re: Photoshop Trim
                  Chris Cox Adobe Employee

                  RADIO button.

                  • 6. Re: Photoshop Trim
                    Noel Carboni Community Member

                    That's a "Radio Button". 

                     

                    The implication is that only one of multiple choices can be active, much like tuning a radio with a preset button on the front panel leaves you on one and only one station.

                     

                    -Noel

                    • 7. Re: Photoshop Trim
                      Noel Carboni Community Member

                      Seems like what you want to do is make the image partially transparent.

                       

                      In your case just removing the visibility of Layer 1 should accomplish what you want.  Then save it as a .PNG for use on the web.

                       

                      -Noel