I claim the copyright to this tutorial.  You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial was created for some friends of mine who wanted to begin learning more about PSP.  It is intended for intermediates to learn how to save transparent images.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Paint Shop Pro.  I used Paint Shop Pro 8, but the steps used may also be done in Version 7.04.  You may download a free trial at Jasc.

Remember to save as a psp file often!

Before we begin, you might want to study the PSP tool bars.  I have labeled the tools on another page.  Click on the link and it will open a new page.  You may want to keep this page open while you work on the tutorial, to refer to the names now and then.  PSP Tools

Now that you have studied the tools, let's begin!

When you want to save an image that is not rectangular or has some transparent/clear areas, you need to save it as a GIF.

1.  Open up any tube that has some transparent area.  If you do not have one, then just open a new image and type your name.  Deselect.  (Selections > None).

2.  Saving something that is transparent requires you to save as a GIF.

3.  In top menu, click on File > Export  > GIF Optimizer

3.  A settings box will appear.  The first tab should be chosen--Transparency.  Check Existing image or layer transparency.

4.  Now click on Partial Transparency tab.  Select  "Use full transparency to pixels below 10% opacity"  Watch the image on the right.  Sometimes you will have to change the percentage to a higher number.  ALSO select No, use the existing image color at 100% opacity.

5.  Now click on the Colors Tab.  How many colors should be set to 256.  How much dithering should be set to 100%.  And select Optimized Median Cut.

6.  Now click on Format tab.  This one is whichever preference you like, but I usually set mine to Non-Interlaced.

7.  Now click the OK button at the bottom.  A Save Copy As box will come up.  Name your file. :)

And that's it!   Once you have saved once with these settings, the GIF optimizer will remember these settings the next time.

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.