Just Erase the Background or Create a Transparency - Is There a Difference?

[Connolly Music Creations]

Here is what I have and what I'm trying to do:

- I have an old band photo and want to remove the background.
- I want to put the 'new and improved' image into a music video (just the band - no background).
- That image/the band will be floating around the screen, maybe on top of a static image of clouds or something.
- I'll be using Open Shot Video Editor if that makes any difference.

So to get just the band, can I just erase the background or do I need to create a transparency?  Is there a critical difference between the two? Or it just depends on what you want to do?  Is there a best way to do it?

[Ofnuts]

If the layer has an alpha channel, erasing is just setting the alpha component to 0, so it's identical to making it transparent (if there is no alpha channel, you get the background color).

If you look around you will see that the recommended method is to use a layer mask, because you can easily unerase
(you paint in black where you want transparency, and just paint over in white where you want to restore opacity). However in recent versions of Gimp the Erase tool has an Anti-erase option activated with that Alt key, so unerasing is just as easy with the eraser .

[Connolly Music Creations]

(8 hours ago)Ofnuts Wrote: If the layer has an alpha channel, erasing is just setting the alpha component to 0, so it's identical to making it transparent (if there is no alpha channel, you get the background color).

If you look around you will see that the recommended method is to use a layer mask, because you can easily unerase
(you paint in black where you want transparency, and just paint over in white where you want to restore opacity). However in recent versions of Gimp the Erase tool has an Anti-erase option activated with that Alt key, so unerasing is just as easy with the eraser .

I'll be uploading a .jpg to work on.  Will that have an alpha channel?  When do things get an alpha channel?

[Ofnuts]

(7 hours ago)Connolly Music Creations Wrote:

(8 hours ago)Ofnuts Wrote: If the layer has an alpha channel, erasing is just setting the alpha component to 0, so it's identical to making it transparent (if there is no alpha channel, you get the background color).

If you look around you will see that the recommended method is to use a layer mask, because you can easily unerase
(you paint in black where you want transparency, and just paint over in white where you want to restore opacity). However in recent versions of Gimp the Erase tool has an Anti-erase option activated with that Alt key, so unerasing is just as easy with the eraser .

I'll be uploading a .jpg to work on.  Will that have an alpha channel?  When do things get an alpha channel?

There is no alpha channel by default when you load a JPG because the JPG format has no support for transparency. You add one with  Layer > Transparency > Add alpha channel (and remember to export to a format that supports transparency, so not JPG!, and usually PNG instead).

[rich2005]

(8 hours ago)Connolly Music Creations Wrote: Here is what I have and what I'm trying to do:

- I have an old band photo and want to remove the background.
- I want to put the 'new and improved' image into a music video (just the band - no background).
- That image/the band will be floating around the screen, maybe on top of a static image of clouds or something.
- I'll be using Open Shot Video Editor if that makes any difference.

So to get just the band, can I just erase the background or do I need to create a transparency?  Is there a critical difference between the two?  Or it just depends on what you want to do?  Is there a best way to do it?

Not jpeg, as Ofnuts that does not support transparency. Use a png. edit: The transparent areas show black in Openshot = checker pattern in Gimp
When it comes to Openshot, long time since I last used it, so do not ask any questions, but just add the png as a track.
You can drag the thumbnail into position according to time and openshot will do the transition.