On Sat, 2019-09-14 at 15:54 +0000, sandpiper2196664--- via gimp-user- list wrote:

. It will not let me click on Save Comment or Save color values from transparent pixels. When I Export As to Print Shop I get a blank oval and no picture. Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Took me hours to get to this point and now I’m stuck! Thanks for your help, Marge

Save comment is greyed ou if there is no comment in the image. You can add one if you like in image->Image Properties.

Save colour values from transpaernt pixels is greyed out if the image does not have any transparency. If you want transparency, go to the Layers dialogue (control-l, or layers->layers) and right-click on the background layer, and "add alpha channel" to make the image ready for transparency.
Then, use the eraser tool, or select areas of the background layer and delete them, and you should see a grey checked background of alternating light and dark squares start to appear, showing where the image is transparent. Now, export the image and, if you like, you can save colour in transparent pixels,which tells GIMP to add information to teh saved file to say what colour the pixels would have been if you had not erased them. It's unlikey you want this, but for some advanced uses it's important.

I don't know why you get a blank oval, though.

slave ankh

Liam Quin, https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/
Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/
XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting.
Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations:  http://www.fromoldbooks.org

Liam, thank you so much for your response.  I've got a single square picture, which I've tried to crop to an oval with feathered edges.  In GIMP the square part is red, the oval picture has a dotted moving line.  When I "export as" to use the picture in Print Shop 4, I do get a PNG file but the square is black with a white oval where the picture should be.  I don't understand what exactly transparency is used for, but it wouldn't seem like I need it.  The section in the online manual showed those specific boxes to be checked when using "export as", so that's what puzzled me.  I'm going to try to make the red square transparent as you suggested.  This is a much more sophisticated program than I need for the things I do in Print Shop 4.  There are certain things not available in PS 4 that I could do in PS 24; I thought maybe GIMP could fill that gap.  Any other suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong would be very appreciated.  Thank you, Marge

-----Original Message----- From: Liam R E Quin
To: sandpiper2196664@outlook.com ; gimp-user-list@gnome.org Sent: Sat, Sep 14, 2019 7:25 pm
Subject: Re: [Gimp-user] Export picture

On Sat, 2019-09-14 at 15:54 +0000, sandpiper2196664--- via gimp-user- list wrote:

.  It will not let me click on Save Comment or Save color values from transparent pixels.  When I Export As to Print Shop I get a blank oval and no picture.  Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.  Took me hours to get to this point and now I’m stuck!  Thanks for your help, Marge

Save comment is greyed ou if there is no comment in the image. You can add one if you like in image->Image Properties.

Save colour values from transpaernt pixels is greyed out if the image does not have any transparency.  If you want transparency, go to the Layers dialogue (control-l, or layers->layers) and right-click on the background layer, and "add alpha channel" to make the image ready for transparency.
Then, use the eraser tool, or select areas of the background layer and delete them, and you should see a grey checked background of alternating light and dark squares start to appear, showing where the image is transparent. Now, export the image and, if you like, you can save colour in transparent pixels,which tells GIMP to add information to teh saved file to say what colour the pixels would have been if you had not erased them. It's unlikey you want this, but for some advanced uses it's important.

I don't know why you get a blank oval, though.

slave ankh

Liam Quin, https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/
Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/
XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting.
Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations:  http://www.fromoldbooks.org

On Sun, 2019-09-15 at 00:51 +0000, efornwalt@aol.com wrote:

Liam, thank you so much for your response. I've got a single square picture, which I've tried to crop to an oval with feathered edges.

You can't actually crop an image to anything other than a rectangle - all the common bitmp image formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc) only support rectangular images.

The way you make an oval image is to add transparency and make the "corners" transparent.

In GIMP the square part is red, the oval picture has a dotted moving line.

The dotted moving line is probably an active selection - it's not part of the image.

When I "export as" to use the picture in Print Shop 4, I do get a PNG file but the square is black with a white oval where the picture should be. I don't understand what exactly transparency is used for, but it wouldn't seem like I need it.

If you want to get an oval picture you need transparency.

So, the steps are, (1) open the square image
(2) open the Layers dialogue (control-l, that is,lower-case L) (3) right-click on the backgroudn layer and Add Alpha Channel (4) use the oval/ellipse tool (you can press "e" to get it) to select the oval shape.
(5) use select->feather to feather the edges of the oval selection (6) invert the eslection (select->invert) now you have the "corners" of the square selected. (7) cut (control-x)
Now yo ushould see a checker-board in the corners (8) file->export as PNG
DO NOT USE JPEG as it does not support transparent pixels

Hope this helps.

slave ankh (liam)

Liam Quin - web slave for https://www.fromoldbooks.org/
with fabulous vintage art and fascinating texts to read.
Click here to have the slave beaten.

Thank you so much, Liam, for your complete, clear cut explanations.  As you can tell, I do need exact steps to try to accomplish this.  I've printed this page and, hopefully, can follow your directions.  Thank you!  Marge

-----Original Message----- From: Liam R E Quin
To: efornwalt ; sandpiper2196664 ; gimp-user-list Sent: Sun, Sep 15, 2019 4:06 am
Subject: Re: [Gimp-user] Export picture

On Sun, 2019-09-15 at 00:51 +0000, efornwalt@aol.com wrote:

Liam, thank you so much for your response.  I've got a single square picture, which I've tried to crop to an oval with feathered edges. 

You can't actually crop an image to anything other than a rectangle - all the common bitmp image formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc) only support rectangular images.

The way you make an oval image is to add transparency and make the "corners" transparent.

In GIMP the square part is red, the oval picture has a dotted moving line.

The dotted moving line is probably an active selection - it's not part of the image.

  When I "export as" to use the picture in Print Shop 4, I do get a PNG file but the square is black with a white oval where the picture should be.  I don't understand what exactly transparency is used for, but it wouldn't seem like I need it.

If you want to get an oval picture you need transparency.

So, the steps are, (1) open the square image
(2) open the Layers dialogue (control-l, that is,lower-case L) (3) right-click on the backgroudn layer and Add Alpha Channel (4) use the oval/ellipse tool (you can press "e" to get it) to select the oval shape.
(5) use select->feather to feather the edges of the oval selection (6) invert the eslection (select->invert) now you have the "corners" of the square selected. (7) cut (control-x)
Now yo ushould see a checker-board in the corners (8) file->export as PNG
DO NOT USE JPEG as it does not support transparent pixels

Hope this helps.

slave ankh (liam)

Liam Quin - web slave for https://www.fromoldbooks.org/
with fabulous vintage art and fascinating texts to read.
Click here to have the slave beaten.

I did it!  Thank you for the step by step directions.  Frustration on this effort gone!  Thanks, Marge

-----Original Message----- From: Liam R E Quin
To: efornwalt ; sandpiper2196664 ; gimp-user-list Sent: Sun, Sep 15, 2019 4:06 am
Subject: Re: [Gimp-user] Export picture

On Sun, 2019-09-15 at 00:51 +0000, efornwalt@aol.com wrote:

Liam, thank you so much for your response.  I've got a single square picture, which I've tried to crop to an oval with feathered edges. 

You can't actually crop an image to anything other than a rectangle - all the common bitmp image formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc) only support rectangular images.

The way you make an oval image is to add transparency and make the "corners" transparent.

In GIMP the square part is red, the oval picture has a dotted moving line.

The dotted moving line is probably an active selection - it's not part of the image.

  When I "export as" to use the picture in Print Shop 4, I do get a PNG file but the square is black with a white oval where the picture should be.  I don't understand what exactly transparency is used for, but it wouldn't seem like I need it.

If you want to get an oval picture you need transparency.

So, the steps are, (1) open the square image
(2) open the Layers dialogue (control-l, that is,lower-case L) (3) right-click on the backgroudn layer and Add Alpha Channel (4) use the oval/ellipse tool (you can press "e" to get it) to select the oval shape.
(5) use select->feather to feather the edges of the oval selection (6) invert the eslection (select->invert) now you have the "corners" of the square selected. (7) cut (control-x)
Now yo ushould see a checker-board in the corners (8) file->export as PNG
DO NOT USE JPEG as it does not support transparent pixels

Hope this helps.

slave ankh (liam)

Liam Quin - web slave for https://www.fromoldbooks.org/
with fabulous vintage art and fascinating texts to read.
Click here to have the slave beaten.

On Sun, 2019-09-15 at 18:18 +0000, efornwalt@aol.com wrote:

I did it! Thank you for the step by step directions. Frustration on this effort gone! Thanks, Marg

You are very welcome.

slave liam

Liam Quin - web slave for https://www.fromoldbooks.org/
with fabulous vintage art and fascinating texts to read.
Click here to have the slave rewarded with warm gruel.