Can I create a transparent background to place images on? I am trying to move the images into FCPro maintaining the transparent background and then use motion to create a build video. Thanks for any help. I know I can do a similar thing in FC but the shapes are as interesting.
Keynote 09-OTHER, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)
Try copying what you're trying to take over to FCP, opening "Preview" doing a "Command - N", saving THAT as a .pdf (should have a transparent background) then using that in FCP. Does that work?
Try copying what you're trying to take over to FCP, opening "Preview" doing a "Command - N", saving THAT as a .pdf (should have a transparent background) then using that in FCP. Does that work?
Kyn,
I followed your directions and the only thing I was able to see was that the white background (I chose in Keynote) was reduced in size. I had selected the oval shape, inserted a picture, saved it as an image (png) and then opened it in the Preview, did a cmd-N and saved it as a pdf. The picture was fine but there was a rectangluar white box around the oval. I really appreciated the help. If I've not followed your directions properly or you have another idea, I would really appreciate it.
No, when you "Copy" you'll want to do that right out of Keynote. The steps will be:
1) select the oval shape
2) insert your picture
3) select the oval shape (that has your picture in it)
4) copy it
5) bring up preview
6) do command-n
7) save that as a PDF
Then, see if FCP can use that PDF directly.
Kyn,
Thanks so much for the quick reply. I have followed these directions and the problem is still with me. When I make the selection of the oval, then there is a rectangle of "handles" around the oval. It is this rectangular area that has a transparent background and not the oval itself. I can accomplish what I like by using Photoshop CS6 but that's a longer process and does not have the interesting shapes of Keynote. If I'm bugging you I apologize.
Oh! I thought you were:
Putting an image INSIDE an oval
Then wanted everything outside the oval to be transparent,
but that's not what you're trying to do, is it?
Is there an image somewhere on the Internet you can point me to as an example of what you're trying to do?
Oh, this is exactly what I want. Everything outside the oval should be transparent. I have a picture inside the oval, using Keynote, and would like to save it so only the oval and the included picture show on a transparent background. Most of these are of local sports participants. The final objective is to move multiple individuals one at a time into a single backgrand frame of Final Cut Pro by stacking them.
Jeanette,
Just tried this and it worked. It appears that FCPX doesn't like the transparency in the PDF, so you have to convert it from .pdf to .png. Once you have the PDF created, drop it into Image Tricks lite
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/image-tricks-lite/id403735824?mt=12
And choose "Save" at the bottom. For me, it defaulted to PNG, so just save that and it should go into FCPX with no background. 🙂
Kyn,
I have tried your directions and used the Image Tricks Lite (maybe the full version reacts differently) but could not get it to work, so I was left with my oval containing my picture residing on a Keynote white or colored background. Even tried several other combinations. None of them subtracted any of the background of the slide from Keynote. I can get what I want by using Keynote then Photoshop then into Final Cut. I had hoped to be able to created what I was looking for in Keynote and skip the middle step. Thank you so much for your efforts. Image Tricks is a fun program.
Let me see if I can get Keynote to export a transparent graphic directly. I think I was able to at one time, just need to figure out if it still works.
Could you post here (while posting, click on the little camera icon to upload an image) what your image looks like when it comes out of Image Tricks?
I created this in Keynote with a white theme, saved it as a pdf file and dragged it into Tricks. I them did a file save and selected the png format.
Thanks Kyn for not giving up on me.
To remove a background in Keynote, use the instant alpha tool located on the tool bar.
Click and drag downwards over a solid area of colour in an image (white as shown in your screen grab), the tool will select what is white using a red overlay colour.
Save this as a TIFF and ensure the alpha select box is ticked, then import into FCPro or Motion for compositing as seen below.
Gary,
It looks like you were able to do what I want but my problem was when I tried using the alpha tool I got a color change (light blue in my case) but as soon as I released the click it converted back to white. To get the picture I posted I used Keynote and then Tricks. What I want to do is to use only Keynote to place an image inside a shape and then turn the keynote theme background to transparent and save the result as an image. I'm obviously not doing some correctly.
Ok, the first thing I figured out, this workflow won't work.
1) create shape
2) drop image on slide
3) select image and shape
4) Mask using that shape
5) select masked object
6) copy
7) open Image Tricks lite
8) "New From clipboard"
That won't work BECAUSE it appears that IT lite ignores the masking. When I do that, the ENTIRE image appears as if it wasn't masked at all. So will need to take another look at that. Also, I can see by your image that you are Exporting from Keynote, which I don't think will work from what I've been able to find. What SHOULD work is
1) create shape
2) drop image on slide
3) select image and shape
4) Mask using that shape
5) select masked object
6) copy
7) open preview
8) new from clipboard
9) save as PDF
10) open PDF in Image Tricks lite
11) save as PNG
But, that's THREE applications to go through instead of two. I'll ping the image tricks developers to see if they're aware of the issue.
as soon as I released the click it converted back to white.
Press the enter key after click and drag, the image background will change to a checkered pattern to show the transparency.
Guys,
I give up. At least for me, Keynote will not create a transparent theme background. I'll use the longer method. Thanks for trying.
Can I create a transparent background to place images on?
