Setting A Transparent Color In PowerPoint

You can set a given color to be rendered as transparent within PowerPoint using the Set Transparent Color button on the Picture toolbar (a magic wand icon). To set a transparent color for any image, click on the button and your cursor will become a wand which can be used to click on an area that contains the color you would like to render as transparent. This setting can be changed by clicking the button again and selecting a different color in the image. This method does not produce the best-quality transparency but is preferable when time is short, and works fine for some images, depending on the sharpness of the edge's definition against the color being rendered transparent. It's certainly worth a try, because it can save you a lot of time.

Photoshop/GIMPShop

Vector-format images (PNG files are the most commonly used) can be created with transparent backgrounds so that an image's "canvas" is not visible behind the image object. This method produces the highest-quality transparency against any slide background.

First, select the layer from the Layers window that contains the object you wish to isolate from its background. Click on Layer > Duplicate Layer to make a copy of the layer. Then use the magic wand tool to select the "background" area of the new layer, and hit the Delete key to delete this portion of the graphic. When other layers are hidden or deleted, transparency is designated by a gray-on-gray checkerboard pattern.

Delete all other layers in the file by selecting the layers and dragging them to the Trash icon in the bottom righthand corner of the window.

Click File > Save As and save the file as a .PNG file. Insert the image into PowerPoint.

Images can also be saved into GIF format with transparency as well.

Alternatives

If the image-editing program you have access to cannot save files in .PNG or .GIF format, you can still mimic a transparent background by setting the RGB color value of the image to match a solid-colored background in PowerPoint.

To do this, you need to create a background in your image-editing program and determine the RGB value of it.

The easiest way to determine the color of a single-color background is to use the freeware program Eyedropper, which can be downloaded from the location listed in the Resources section of this document. With Eyedropper you can click on any pixel on your screen and identify its RGB color value.

If you do not have access to this program or use an operating system that is incompatible with it, there should be some way in the image-editing program to directly access This step will vary by program, but should result in a screen that fulfills the function of the one at left from Microsoft's Paint program: a series of boxes that specify the Red, Green, and Blue values of a given color. (This is just an example – note that Paint can save in the PNG format.) Write these values down and save your image in JPEG format at a high level of quality. (Saving your image in the GIF format can result in your background color being substituted for a different color, which will not match the one you use in PowerPoint.)

Next, go to PowerPoint and right-click anywhere on the background. Select Background, then select More Colors from the dropdown select box. Click on the Custom tab. Enter the RGB color values used in your image background and click OK. Your slide background should now match the background color used in your image file.

Variations

These steps can easily be reversed to match a given image background to an established PowerPoint slide background. If you are drawing in a simple program like Paint, it is best to fill the entire canvas with the desired background color before you create your line art.

If you are interested in using a gradient, patterned or image background for your PowerPoint slides, there is one more way you can display an image with a "transparent" background: Create the graphic on a copy of the background and fill the PowerPoint slide with that image. To do this, open the background image file at the correct pixel dimensions in your drawing program. (If you are using a PowerPoint-generated gradient or pattern for your background, run a slide show with a blank slide that uses the background, hit Alt+Print Screen to do a screen capture, and paste directly into a Paint file.) You can then draw your artwork using it as a background, save the finished version, and use it as a background for that specific slide. Placing your image in the right location can be challenging, given that Paint does not allow you to "zoom out" further than the image's pixel dimensions.

Resources

GIMPShop Program Download (Free) http://plasticbugs.com

Photoshop RoadMap (Tutorials) http://tinyurl.com/essz2

Eyedropper Program (Free) http://tinyurl.com/rfkl7