Inkscape

How to change the background of a picture/logo to transparent if it was not saved as an SVG

Asked by Amy Mikhail

Hi,

My colleagues and I are developing a website for our organisation. The logo for our organisation is two colours: blue on a white background and was developed by an untraceable someone three years ago. The only copy of our logo that I have is as an image in a MS word document.

We are currently working on our website as a series of linked powerpoint slides, each representing a page and with the logo appearing at the top. The background to these pages is a greenish blue colour. The logo looks clunky and unprofesssional because we cannot separate it from its square white background.

We would like to make the background transparent (or remove it altogether if that was possible). We might also want to change the blue colour of our logo to something else that provides more contrast against the greenish blue background of the web pages.

I have used inkscape before to separate out components and re-colour them: problem is it was quite some time ago and I can't remember how I did it. Furthermore, when I open the logo in inkscape as a .tif or .png file, inkscape does not seem to differentiate between the white background and the blue logo. There does not seem to be any layering and if I try to ungroup it does nothing. If I try to change the colours via the relevant toolbar, again it does nothing. For example if I click on greyscale there is a brief flash of activity but the image does not change (or the revised image is hiding somewhere and I can't see it).

What would be the best way for me to separate out these two components (background and logo)? Is there a particular format that I could "save picture as" from the MS word document that would allow inkscape to recognise the two components as separate?

Or, if that is not possible because the image is locked in its composite form - is there any way I could use inkscape to re-colour the background as transparent, and re-colour the logo as well?

Many thanks for your help,
Best,
Amy

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Inkscape Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
jazzynico (jazzynico) said : 		#1

Hello Amy,

I'm not sure Inkscape is the best tool to work on bitmap files. I'd rather use Gimp, which will allow you to replace a color with transparency (I don't remember exactly how, but I used it some time ago).

If you really want to use Inkscape, you must first trace your bitmap into vectors with Path>Trace Bitmap (see http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Trace.html) and then color the different parts with the Paint bucket (or directly with the Fill and Stroke dialog if the shape is not too complex).

Regards.

Revision history for this message
Anna McCullough (amccullg) said : 		#2

JazzyNico is correct. Inkscape is a VECTOR drawing application and you are describing the behavior of a bitmap image - GIMP is the tool you want here, unless you're capable of using Inkscape to completely redraw your company's logo line by line as a vector.

Revision history for this message
MASTER GRANT (grafixmstr) said : 		#3

I USED INK SCAPE AND CREATED A SEPARATE LAYER FOR EACH OF THE FONTS USED OVER THE IMAGE. i ALSO USED PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE A TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND AND SAVED IT AS A JPEG FILE.

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Amy Mikhail for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.