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White BG in PNG Scanned Line Art needs to become transparent!

New Here ,
Oct 22, 2017 Oct 22, 2017

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I'm trying to make the white background transparent before digitally coloring my PNG comic art! How do I remove the white background from PNG scanned artwork that's line art so I can keep the black outlines in a transparent background after making the white BG transparent!

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Oct 22, 2017 Oct 22, 2017

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You scanner scans what on its bed.  If the object on its bed is not a rectangle the scan will scan its white or any other color bed it has.  Even if the scanner software save png file there will be no transparency in the image the scanner give you. The software does not know the shape of the object you scanned.  You must select the white background and delete those white pixels you do not want.  You need to extract your line art.  There are programs the will try to trace your art.  Adobe AI has such a feature.  Photoshop tools can also be used to select your line art create a new layer and fill the selection with a color like black which may have some less then opaque area because of feathering partly selected areas in the selection.

Photoshop Script Black and White Raster to Vector

JJMack

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Mentor ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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Although not Photoshop, these pages will help you understand how to process your scanned line art. To achieve a flawless transparent bg & lineart, Krita's Color to Alpha command is quite helpful. Photoshop doesn't have a command like that, and the quick round-trip in Krita makes life as a comic artist easier.

From blue sketch to digital in Krita - David Revoy

Krita also has an extremely helpful feature to assist in colouring your comic art:

Auto-Flatting Comic with Krita (+Gmic plugin) - David Revoy

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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Here's how to do "white to transparency" in Photoshop. I've tested it and it works perfectly. Nevermind the subsequent posts, just use the recipe in the OP, and record it as an action for future use:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1395311

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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That recipe is hard to remember and even do. That is why I created an Action to do it and posted it in that thread. The recipe also only work well it you first clean up the scan http://www.mouseprints.net/old/dpr/KillWhiteActions.zip

JJMack

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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Yes, the whole point is to record it into an action. I'm not going to keep that on a piece of paper in my pocket

It works, that's the main thing. So many people have complained that Photoshop can't do this, but it turns out it's not as complicated as it might seem. It's just an action.

transparency.png

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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Even recording the process into an action is difficult for actions have dependencies. All document are not the same.  An action that works on a single background layer may not work on a layers document or on a document the has a single smart object layer.  That is why I included several actions in the kill white action set. To be able to handle document with different layer structures.

JJMack

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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It works on flat RGB files. So then you just add "flatten Image" as a first step in the action, along with convert to your favorite RGB (doesn't matter which, this works purely by numbers).

Of course, you still have to save out the result (which is now open under the original name).

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that the white-to-transparency function is available in Photoshop. People say Photoshop can't do this and you need Krita or whatever. Of course every function in Photoshop has certain dependencies.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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There is much bad information on the web everyone should know this and research what they find is valid or not.  You found a thread that show it is posible in Photoshop and you tried it process and varify that that information is correct.  It is not a function in photoshop its a series of Photoshop steps.  These steps can be automated.

JJMack

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Mentor ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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Well, to be exact: the competition (Krita, PhotoLine, Gimp) offers a "Color to Alpha" function. Not the same as "white to alpha", since any colour can be converted with a simple click in those other applications. And in the case of PhotoLine it is also a non-destructive adjustment layer which can be stacked and combined.

Besides the colour option, additional options such as threshold in Krita, and a bunch of others in PhotoLine are quite helpful too.

So, not quite the same - either in functionality or in ease-of-use.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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rayek.elfin  wrote

offers a "Color to Alpha" function. Not the same as "white to alpha"

I'm sorry I didn't use the accepted terminology for this function. If you can show me how it's different I'm all ears and eyes.

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Mentor ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

rayek.elfin   wrote

offers a "Color to Alpha" function. Not the same as "white to alpha"

I'm sorry I didn't use the accepted terminology for this function. If you can show me how it's different I'm all ears and eyes.

Well, for one: how would the user easily modify your steps to remove any coloured background? And adjust the effect according to brightness/saturation? For example, this image:

tea set.png

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Mentor ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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PS this is the dialog for PhotoLine's Color to Transparency adjustment layer, for comparison:

PL_color_to_transparency.png

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Community Expert ,
Oct 23, 2017 Oct 23, 2017

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The original question is answered. There is a way to do this.

EDIT: I edited my reply because I'm not interested in, or have time for, a discussion about the relative merits of Photoshop vs. Krita or Photoline. Someone else will have to pick up on that.

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