I am attempting to turn the black portions of the cheetah to "transparent". I want the black portions of the cheetah to take on the colour of the piece of clothing I'm printing this image on, if that makes sense.
I would need the white portions to stay white, so the transfer sheets will ink on just the white portions to the clothing.
The SVG that I'm working on is attached.
Let me know if this is at all unclear. I've tried a bunch of inverting things, I've tried "selecting same" for the colour black, and changing it to transparent, but I haven't been able to get it to work!
Your image comprises 2003 foreground black-filled paths and 1 background white rectangle. Select one of the black shapes then [right-click > Select Same > Fill Colour] to select all similar shapes. [Path > Combine] these to create a single shape. [Object > Clip > Release Clip] removes the clipping rectangle. [File > Clean Up Document] deletes the other 2002 leftover clipping rectangles. Finally, select the the cheetah and the background rectangle then [Path > Difference] to cut out holes. Holes in a white shape can't be seen with a white background so change the fill colour to see your excellent work.
I only have one other issue. Is there any way to remove the white background around the cheetah's head, in a clean way? Maybe this is now getting complicated. I tried in the attached version (bottom right) by breaking apart the image once it was done and removing the white background rectangle, but that didn't quite work. There were 2 cheetah shapes left, and one was rather bold and odd.
Paddy, I have a question. I am trying to do something similar if not the same and I tried what you suggested above and it's not working. I hope it is ok to attach my image. So basically I am trying to create transparencies for screen printing. So I need one transparency that is the black one and one that is what you see as white in the image. I hope that makes sense.
@law0923 Your logo is a raster image, not a vector, so the method won't work. Look here if you need an explanation.
Inkscape can generate a vector from this using [Path > Trace Bitmap...] but the output won't be sharp. Perhaps the originator can provide a vector version for you. You could use Gimp or some other raster image editors like Gimp to separate colours into separate layers and images.
@upliftfitness I'm not sure I understand your query. The black spots are actually holes in a white rectangle. If you remove the white area around the holes, you get one big hole. A shape that's all hole is no longer a shape.
What kind if background do you want? Maybe you can upload a similar image.
My aim is to only remove the white area of the rectangle surrounding the cheetah's head. My goal is to be able to screen print the white areas only (of the cheetah) on to a tee shirt, and have it look good. I've put red in the spaces of the current "white rectangle" that I want removed to try to make it more evident what I'm after.
The bottom image was just an attempt at what I'm trying to do (unsuccessfully). I'm using the black rectangle to represent the tee shirt it will be printed on.
Duplicate [ctrl+d] the cheetah you made above, i.e. the white rectangle with the holes. Go to the Fill and Stroke dialog [shift+ctrl+d], open the [Fill] tab and change the colour from white, just to distinguish it from the original shape. Now for some trickery. Switch to the Node tool [n]. Select the four corner nodes of the new rectangle and delete them! By removing the outermost path you magically changed all the holes to filled subpaths.
Now go to the [Stroke paint] tab, change from transparent to opaque [A: 100] and select a soothing color. Go to the [Stroke style] tab and set [Width: 2.0 mm], [Join: Round join], [Cap: Round cap]. You should see thick outlines around the cheetah's paths.
Time for more voodoo. In the [Fill] tab select [No paint] (the x icon) to remove the fill. [Path > Stroke to Path] changes the outline to a filled path, but it's full of unwanted subpaths (holes). To remove these use [Path > Break Apart] then deselect the outermost path with [s] [shift+click] and delete the rest. then [Path > Union]. [Fill] tab [A: 50] reduces the fill opacity to see the original cheetah beneath. Lastly, Select the outline and the original then [Path > Intersection].
If you want a wider or narrower halo, start again and change the stroke width. You might want to use the node tool to clean up the outline before that last intersection.
I feel like I'm so close but I'm stuck at "deselect the outermost path" in the attached. I try to deselect Path 1 (which I believe is the outermost path), and delete the rest, but end up with something not quite what you got. Do you mind taking a look at where I've gotten to? I want to eventually change the stroke colour to white, so the outline will be white. For some reason I'm only getting a partial cheetah when I finish the steps.
Thank you, again! And do you have a place where you accept tips for your help? Appreciate it.
Thanks again. I'm still getting a very broken up cheetah when I make the stroke width small (I want it to be thin to emulate the whiskers appropriately).
Is it just that I won't be able to get it much smaller? Or should I be able to get it as thin as I want? Using the width I chose (0.05pt), it breaks in to 5800 paths or so, and when I union them and intersect, it doesn't turn out so well!
I suggest you go bigger. At 0.05pt your stroke is so small it becomes invisible and unprintable. The smaller you make that stroke, the more detail it preserves, which means more paths and nodes, which means Inkscape struggles with the calculations. With thousands of tiny overlapping shapes, the union operation can leave residual junk due to rounding errors.
Beginners' Questions Making a specific color transparent
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Hi!
I am attempting to turn the black portions of the cheetah to "transparent". I want the black portions of the cheetah to take on the colour of the piece of clothing I'm printing this image on, if that makes sense.
I would need the white portions to stay white, so the transfer sheets will ink on just the white portions to the clothing.
The SVG that I'm working on is attached.
Let me know if this is at all unclear. I've tried a bunch of inverting things, I've tried "selecting same" for the colour black, and changing it to transparent, but I haven't been able to get it to work!
Any help is HUGELY appreciated!!!
I'm happy to say this is actually easy.
Your image comprises 2003 foreground black-filled paths and 1 background white rectangle. Select one of the black shapes then [right-click > Select Same > Fill Colour] to select all similar shapes. [Path > Combine] these to create a single shape. [Object > Clip > Release Clip] removes the clipping rectangle. [File > Clean Up Document] deletes the other 2002 leftover clipping rectangles. Finally, select the the cheetah and the background rectangle then [Path > Difference] to cut out holes. Holes in a white shape can't be seen with a white background so change the fill colour to see your excellent work.
@Paddy_CAD
Paddy! That worked! You're a genius!
I only have one other issue. Is there any way to remove the white background around the cheetah's head, in a clean way? Maybe this is now getting complicated. I tried in the attached version (bottom right) by breaking apart the image once it was done and removing the white background rectangle, but that didn't quite work. There were 2 cheetah shapes left, and one was rather bold and odd.
Thanks, again!
Paddy, I have a question. I am trying to do something similar if not the same and I tried what you suggested above and it's not working. I hope it is ok to attach my image. So basically I am trying to create transparencies for screen printing. So I need one transparency that is the black one and one that is what you see as white in the image. I hope that makes sense.
@law0923 Your logo is a raster image, not a vector, so the method won't work. Look here if you need an explanation.
Inkscape can generate a vector from this using [Path > Trace Bitmap...] but the output won't be sharp. Perhaps the originator can provide a vector version for you. You could use Gimp or some other raster image editors like Gimp to separate colours into separate layers and images.
@upliftfitness I'm not sure I understand your query. The black spots are actually holes in a white rectangle. If you remove the white area around the holes, you get one big hole. A shape that's all hole is no longer a shape.
What kind if background do you want? Maybe you can upload a similar image.
@Paddy_CAD thanks for getting back! You're right.
My aim is to only remove the white area of the rectangle surrounding the cheetah's head. My goal is to be able to screen print the white areas only (of the cheetah) on to a tee shirt, and have it look good. I've put red in the spaces of the current "white rectangle" that I want removed to try to make it more evident what I'm after.
The bottom image was just an attempt at what I'm trying to do (unsuccessfully). I'm using the black rectangle to represent the tee shirt it will be printed on.
Thank you SO MUCH for your help.
I understand, I think. You want a white halo around the cheetah instead of a rectangular block.
Something like this?
@Paddy_CAD Yes!!! Maybe a little slimmer than that, but ultimately, yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do.
Could I bug you to explain how you did it, if it's not too difficult?
Thanks so much.
Buckle up! This could get bumpy.
Duplicate [ctrl+d] the cheetah you made above, i.e. the white rectangle with the holes. Go to the Fill and Stroke dialog [shift+ctrl+d], open the [Fill] tab and change the colour from white, just to distinguish it from the original shape. Now for some trickery. Switch to the Node tool [n]. Select the four corner nodes of the new rectangle and delete them! By removing the outermost path you magically changed all the holes to filled subpaths.
Now go to the [Stroke paint] tab, change from transparent to opaque [A: 100] and select a soothing color. Go to the [Stroke style] tab and set [Width: 2.0 mm], [Join: Round join], [Cap: Round cap]. You should see thick outlines around the cheetah's paths.
Time for more voodoo. In the [Fill] tab select [No paint] (the x icon) to remove the fill. [Path > Stroke to Path] changes the outline to a filled path, but it's full of unwanted subpaths (holes). To remove these use [Path > Break Apart]
then deselect the outermost path with [s] [shift+click] and delete the rest.then [Path > Union]. [Fill] tab [A: 50] reduces the fill opacity to see the original cheetah beneath. Lastly, Select the outline and the original then [Path > Intersection].If you want a wider or narrower halo, start again and change the stroke width. You might want to use the node tool to clean up the outline before that last intersection.
@Paddy_CAD
You are the best.
I feel like I'm so close but I'm stuck at "deselect the outermost path" in the attached. I try to deselect Path 1 (which I believe is the outermost path), and delete the rest, but end up with something not quite what you got. Do you mind taking a look at where I've gotten to? I want to eventually change the stroke colour to white, so the outline will be white. For some reason I'm only getting a partial cheetah when I finish the steps.
Thank you, again! And do you have a place where you accept tips for your help? Appreciate it.
I think I see what happened. I used a thicker stroke than you so there was more overlapping and no "islands" when I broke the shape apart.
I edited comment #10 above with a slightly improved workflow.
@Paddy_CAD
Thanks again. I'm still getting a very broken up cheetah when I make the stroke width small (I want it to be thin to emulate the whiskers appropriately).
Is it just that I won't be able to get it much smaller? Or should I be able to get it as thin as I want? Using the width I chose (0.05pt), it breaks in to 5800 paths or so, and when I union them and intersect, it doesn't turn out so well!
Any ideas? Thanks!
I suggest you go bigger. At 0.05pt your stroke is so small it becomes invisible and unprintable. The smaller you make that stroke, the more detail it preserves, which means more paths and nodes, which means Inkscape struggles with the calculations. With thousands of tiny overlapping shapes, the union operation can leave residual junk due to rounding errors.