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How to make .ico files from .bmp files?

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:38 pm
by Garfunkel
I have .bmp files where transparent color is defined by 255,0,255 (fuchsia) color. When I convert them to .ico files I want to make that color transparent. Please, tell me how can that be done? I tried Image >> Edit colormap... but even after selecting enable transparency and choosing that fuchsia color from the palette I can't make true transparency.

Re: How to make .ico files from .bmp files?

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:14 pm
by helmut
Garfunkel wrote:I have .bmp files where transparent color is defined by 255,0,255 (fuchsia) color. When I convert them to .ico files I want to make that color transparent. Please, tell me how can that be done? I tried Image >> Edit colormap... but even after selecting enable transparency and choosing that fuchsia color from the palette I can't make true transparency.
I've just tried and it worked for me. I think you are on the right track, just make sure that you:

1.) Choose the transparent colour (fuchsia in your case)
2.) Set the checkbox "Use transparent colour"

If you perform these two steps the otherway round, the transparent colour will be set to index 0, since this colour is selected whenever opening the dialog.

One background info and one tipp regarding transparent colour:
- Images with colour maps can have up to 256 colours. Sure enough, colour maps are not available if the image is in RGB mode (which applies for all images taken with digital cameras). You have to first reduce the number of colours (Image->Convert to Colours).

- The colour info can be used to determine the index of the background colour. It can be activated and deactivated using "View->Display colour information". In the colour info the RGB value in decimal and hex and the index of the colour is listed (in case the image has a colour map).