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ksmetamaid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
4
0
I'm using OSX. In Preview, I can select the image just fine using Instant Alpha, but it won't let me copy. What's wrong?
 
Preview, Instant Alpha

Altemose, I *thought* was was performing the Instant Alpha function. I use it to select. So far so good. Then: 1. If I click "cut" to remove it from the background, I get a response that says I need to duplicate the image as a png so that it's in a formate that "supports transparency." But when I click on the duplicate as PNG prompt, it won't let me. OR 2. I click copy and I just hear the hollow "bonk" telling me Preview didn't like it.
 
Altemose, I *thought* was was performing the Instant Alpha function. I use it to select. So far so good. Then: 1. If I click "cut" to remove it from the background, I get a response that says I need to duplicate the image as a png so that it's in a formate that "supports transparency." But when I click on the duplicate as PNG prompt, it won't let me. OR 2. I click copy and I just hear the hollow "bonk" telling me Preview didn't like it.

To my knowledge only TIFF and PNG support the transparency needed for Instant Alpha. Try hitting either the Enter key or Backspace (delete) key once it is selected. Then simply save or copy the image to the necessary location.
 
Saving in other format

It doesn't give me a "save as" option. Only "save a version" which I select, but then it doesn't let me choose another format or tell me where it's being saved. I've tried exporting. It will let me select jpeg there, but that doesn't help.
 
It doesn't give me a "save as" option. Only "save a version" which I select, but then it doesn't let me choose another format or tell me where it's being saved. I've tried exporting. It will let me select jpeg there, but that doesn't help.

A JPEG will simply reinsert the white around the image as it does not support transparency.
 
giving up

Thanks, everyone. Last night I tried the same process I'd been trying on other images, and it worked just fine. There must be something weird about this image. It was a jpg. I've saved it as a .tiff and .jpeg. Neither one of those formats supported transparency. I haven't been able to figure out how to save it as a .png. So I'm giving up on it.
 
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