Total Newbie - Removing Checkered Background

[Connolly Music Creations]

I'm trying to remove the checkered background and replace it with a white background.  I looked at several vids on youtube but none really explained it.  It's probably easy but I'm opening this up for the first time.  Thanks

[PixLab]

(07-16-2024, 11:35 PM)Connolly Music Creations Wrote: I'm trying to remove the checkered background and replace it with a white background.  I looked at several vids on youtube but none really explained it.  It's probably easy but I'm opening this up for the first time.  Thanks

For such a tiny image like this, detail won't really matter, thus I'll duplicate the image,
on the new layer, I'll do a vertical curve by going to Colors > Curves..., this will remove the grays by making them white

   

Then put that top layer in HSV Value

   

[denzjos]

I see the file you posted is a .png file. If you load it to gimp (as new picture) and the background is tranparent then you see a checkerboard in the background. Al you have to do is make a new (white) layer and put this layer below the Bolt.png picture.
   

[Connolly Music Creations]

Appreciate the responses.  I'll look into these.  

The other issue is that I'm trying to fit the lighting bolt into a 98 x 98 pixel space for a youtube channel, but the 98 x 98 space is a circle so both ends of the bolt are getting slightly chopped.  The original is 720 x 686 and I tried scaling that to 50% but it was still too big.  So to get that 720 original into a 98 space, how would I resize that?  Both are attached to see the chop.

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Not seeing the original for some reason.  Here it is as a comparison.

[rich2005]

(07-17-2024, 05:13 PM)Connolly Music Creations Wrote: The other issue is that I'm trying to fit the lighting bolt into a 98 x 98 pixel space for a youtube channel, but the 98 x 98 space is a circle so both ends of the bolt are getting slightly chopped.  The original is 720 x 686 and I tried scaling that to 50% but it was still too big.  So to get that 720 original into a 98 space, how would I resize that?  Both are attached to see the chop.

A bit of free time before I settle down to a game of computer-scrabble

First the background removal (fake transparency) The other methods are fine but the bolt is all straight lines. Easy enough to trace with a path then path to selection, invert and cut. The drop shadow has bits of checker showing through. Using the old-fashioned method. Duplicate the bolt and colour the bottom layer. Move the bottom layer to give the shadow. (1)

This then has to fit in a circle. Add center line guides and use the elliptical select tool to determine the required size. That 720x686 canvas should be 840 x 840 (2) . Use Image -> Canvas Size (3)

   

All that is fine from the image supplied, but the final requirement is a 98 x 98 icon  Much-much too small for a decent scale-down from 840x840.

The obvious is a conversion in Inkscape to a vector (svg) image. This ends up quite large, 1.2 MB because of the gradient colours.

However I can import the svg into GIMP sized for 98x98 pix and that is attached. Delete the bottom layer and export as a png.


  bolt-98x98.xcf (Size: 10.97 KB / Downloads: 40)

Nothing difficult but plenty to learn for a new Gimp user.  Hope it helps.

[Connolly Music Creations]

Thanks for the details.  How much time would that take for a skilled user?  Is that in the 10 min range or more like 30 to an hour?

[rich2005]

Ahh beat the computer at scrabble (just)

Yeah, it is a ten minute job, although knowing the required workflow might cut a minute or two off. Going in and out of Inkscape is a pain. It is the 98x98 pix requirement to blame. Not having to remove the fake (checker) transparency would speed it up a bit.

Edit: OK, final job for the day. If I grit my teeth at having to scale down so much, I can get a workflow of 2 minutes.

This the video https://filedn.com/lkb9dw6mEfXSsOu9uKLaM...t-demo.mp4

Someone probably come up with other ways.

[Connolly Music Creations]

Thank you for the vid.  Plenty to chew on when undertaking something entirely new.  Small steps.  Thank you again.