Transparent images in Keynote

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Level 1

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Transparent images in Keynote

Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I've searched and haven't found any answers. I am trying to save out images for my portfolio from Photoshop to my iPad so I can put them into Keynote. I want my images to have transparent backgrounds and can't seem to get it to work. I have tried save as gif, png, PSD, with and without alpha channels. I've also tried save for web with similar combinations but nothing seems to work. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!!

Posted on Feb 12, 2011 6:06 AM

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Answer 1

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,713 points

Feb 12, 2011 6:18 AM in response to jb8348

I don't have Keynote for my iPad but I do have an old version on my Mac and png works just fine. I've been successful using png with just about everything and I've never had an issue. I never even thought about getting fancy with channels or anything else. You might wish to go back to PS and make certain that there's no cockpit error.

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Answer 2

Feb 12, 2011 8:12 AM in response to jb8348

Copy from the photo app and paste the png (with the transparent background) into Keynote. Don't use the import function into Keynote.

Open photo app, copy image...
Open Keynote, paste.

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Answer 3

jb8348 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 12, 2011 1:11 PM in response to David M Brewer

Yes, I should have mentioned, I tried copy/pasting from the photo app also. When I reopen my png in PS, it definitely has a transparent bkgrd. I've also made sure that it is RGB, 8-bit. Like I said, I have tried both the save for web function and the save as function.

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Answer 4

Feb 12, 2011 2:12 PM in response to jb8348

Make sure the image is on layer 2 and layer 1 (background layer) is turned off. An alpha mask won't work. The part that you want to be transparent must be cut and deleted from the image.

You still need to copy and paste from the photo app. For some reason if you import a transparent png into Keynote, Keynote flatten the image and the transparent part becomes white.

If you are doing the above and it still doesn't work. Are you using iPhoto on your computer to bring the image into iTunes? Is so don't use iPhoto and import the image directly into iTunes.

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Answer 5

jb8348 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2011 9:08 AM in response to David M Brewer

I know I'm probably looking stupid here, but I've played with this on and off for the last few weeks and it still doesn't work. I've uninstalled/reinstalled Keynote. I've saved this png out of photoshop every which way, I've copy/pasted from the iPad's photo app, I've added the photo via iTunes, I even tried your last suggestion of making a bkgrd layer and layer 2, I mean I've tried EVERYTHING!
I noticed in an old post that someone had linked to some sample image that was on the web. I copy/pasted that image and was able to get it to come in correctly, so I know it's not keynote. It has something to do with the way I'm saving in Photoshop or something to do with the photo app on the iPad. Could this have something to do with what version Photoshop I'm running? I only have CS. My next try is to save some files from CS5 at work and see if that has any effect.

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Answer 6

Feb 27, 2011 10:40 AM in response to jb8348

Here's your answer.

1. Gotta work on a Mac, not an iPad.
2. Create a psd from photoshop with your transparency.
3. Join layers and have a single layer (could work with multiple layers but don't risk it).
4. Save the psd and close it.
5. Open that psd file in Preview.
6. Select All.
7. Copy.
8. Paste into Keynote.

Took a little trial and error and don't really know why it works but it does. I have my theories about the native copy paste from Apple product to Apple product.

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Answer 7

jb8348 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 28, 2011 12:44 PM in response to artdudejoe

I appreciate your response. I have read that transferring keynote files from the mac to the iPad can be problematic. Between font issues, screen ratios, no support of master slides and general corruption issues, it's not a smooth transition. BUT, these are things that I read from the middle of 2010. Have these issues been resolved? If so, I'd be willing to try it, but I figured it would be easier to start on the platform that it was meant to be on, plus why spend $80 if I should be able to do it all here?
Also as a note, I tried CS5, no dice.

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Answer 8

jb8348 Author

Level 1

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Feb 28, 2011 1:00 PM in response to jb8348

OK, I FINALLY got it to work. I had to EMAIL the image to myself. My guess is it has something to do with the transfer through iTunes but now I'm saving my images into my Photo app from my email, and it's now working. Thank you everyone for your responses, your help is much appreciated!!

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Answer 9

LoreenL

Level 1

10 points

May 4, 2011 10:54 AM in response to jb8348

Thanks to all for saving me a zillion years in solving this problem. Just to be clear, you save image in Photoshop as a PNG, then email it to yourself. In the iPad Mail app, open email and Save Image. It will show up in the Photo app Camera roll. Choose Copy Photo, then in iPad Keynote, paste it into a slide. Transparency is preserved!

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Answer 10

max71

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2011 8:20 PM in response to jb8348

I was totally stuck and couldn't get any of these to work... even though they were all in PNG's.

This is how I solved it:

Import the PNG into MS word (on a PC).
Right-click on the image to change the "Wrap Text" property to "In front of text"
Right-click on the image and select "Save as Picture"
Emailed it to myself on my iPad
Copy it from the email and paste into Keynote.

Hope that helps!

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Answer 11

Sep 11, 2011 9:58 PM in response to jb8348

This is unbelievable. Fix this bug. It's immensly irritating

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Answer 12

Ken Evans

Level 2

294 points

Oct 3, 2011 4:13 AM in response to jb8348

The way I get around this is to take the picture into photoshop, make a layer from background, then use the magic wand to select the bits you don't want (normally the white 'paper' area) then delete that selection. You should have the chequered background to indicate that nothing is there.

Next just drag the resulting image from the PS window into your Keynote slide and that's it!

Quick and Easy.

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Answer 13

Dec 15, 2011 6:57 PM in response to jb8348

I solved this problem after hours of experimenting. I created my transparent GIF in GIMP (using an Alpha layer). I uploaded it to my Dropbox and saved it to the camera roll from the Dropbox iPhone app. From the photos app, I copied it to the clipboard then pasted it into Pages. Voila! I (finally) had a transparent GIF in Pages.

Seriously Apple? That is not cute. I really shouldn't have to spend hours trying to work around your programme like that. The fact that it's overall so good and then has annoying problems like this one is not cool. If you're going to make a feature in your app that you can have fancy text wrapping around transparent images, why make our lives so hard when we try to do so?

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Answer 14

juliene

Level 1

0 points

Dec 20, 2011 11:31 AM in response to jb8348

Thanks everyone for your posts. It was from these posts I was able to learn the trial and error scenerios and discover some new information pretty quickly. PNG's with transparent backgrounds will work in the Keynote App for the ipad. Atleast I can verify it can with the ipad 2. BTW I'm running the latest ios 5.01.

To do this you must copy all of your PNG's with transparent backgrounds to your dropbox folder.

Open your dropbox app once the files are synced up.

Save the PNG's to the camera roll and voila. PNG's with transparent backgrounds can be imported into the keynote app once those steps are followed.

You can either copy the image from iphoto and paste into a keynote slide, or import the phote through the media library feature within the keynote app. Very annoying I agree but straightforward once you know what the workflow is.

Hope this helps everyone.

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