Have you ever wondered how they make those fancy avatars with the transparency in them? Can't afford PhotoShop? Well, this tutorial will show you how, using a *FREE* program! ~I will be using a program called PhotoFiltre. Download it here: http://www.photofiltre.com/ ~First, Open the image you like. Then, select what you want in the avatar. Right click and click "Crop". ~Then go to menu: Image >> Fit Image... ~Decide what size you want your avatar to be. I would suggest 100x100 or for a button 88x31. Make sure that Optimize AND Accept Deformation is checked. ~Minimize it and open up a template. NOTE: The template should be the size of the image you cropped. ~Make sure that the foreground colour (See Extreme right) is black. ~Select the entire template (CRTL+A) and close it. ~Open your avatar again, and menu:Edit >> Paste Special >> Mask. ~Now zoom in. Select the paintbrush tool. Color in the parts that you want transparent with a color that is NOT in the avatar. (Example: I have a picture of an orange cat and I colored that parts I want transparent with GREEN.) ~If you want text in the avatar, add it before you make the transparency, because PhotoFiltre dosen't work with transparency. ~ Finally, Select the Magic Wand tool (See right) and, making sure that "Color" is checked, select ONLY the green or whatever other color part. ~Then you're done! Hope you found this useful! It's really very easy, once you get used to it.
