[Scribus] Q: Adding image with transparency

[william f. maddock]

On Mar 5, 2007, at 6:31 PM, D. R. Evans wrote:

> I am slowly (very slowly :-) ) making some progress at understanding  
> Scribus.
>
> Here is the issue that currently has me stumped.
>
> 1. My lowest layer is coloured a uniform grey colour.
> 2. In GIMP, I have created an image with opacity 15%, and exported it  
> to PNG.
> 3. Back in Scribus, I created a new layer (call it gimpimage)
> 4. On the gimpimage layer, I created an image frame of the right size,
> and imported the image.
>
> But the result doesn't seem to show any of the background layer
> through the gimpimage layer (the background seems to be white rather
> than the grey colour of the lowest layer).

If I understand what you are attempting, your problem is a  
misunderstanding of the functionality of opacity. The opacity attribute  
only applies WITHIN THE IMAGE in GIMP, being used to set the blending  
characteristics of the layer having the semi-transparent opacity  
setting with the layers that are beneath it within the GIMP image. Once  
the image is saved to be used in another application, the opacity  
attribute is no longer there. When the image was flattened, the layers  
blended, upon saving to the PNG format, the opacity did its job at that  
point in order to accomplish the proper blending of the layers to  
achieve the final image that gets saved out of GIMP.

If you must blend the intended background with the image that you wish  
to be 15% opaque, you will have to do so in GIMP, then import the  
result of that into scribus.

> I've looked to see if I can find a setting to tell an entire layer not
> to be completely opaque, but there doesn't seem to be any such
> setting.

As I recall, scribus has no opacity function. Personally, I don't think  
it should have one. That should be accomplished in an image processor  
or a drawing program, not in a page layout program, such as scribus.  
Page layout is for laying out the elements of the page. Other than  
typing, those elements should have already been created in another  
application. Depending on the background you intend to use, one thing  
you can do is to take the appropriate portion of the background into  
GIMP for combining with the foreground image, then place the result in  
scribus on top of the background at the appropriate place on the page.

> So I am very confused about the right way to layer a semi-transparent
> image on top of a background. Any advice/help (especially if couched
> in simple terms) would be most helpful.
>
> Oh, and this may be a completely different issue, but if I Cut the
> GIMP image and tried to Paste it directly into Scribus, nothing seemed
> to happen. It seems like I had to actually save the GIMP image as a
> PNG image and then do a Get Picture in Scribus. Is that expected
> behaviour? I don't really mind (it's safer anyway to have a backup
> file of the image), but it just surprised me that I couldn't simply
> cut-and-paste the image from GIMP to Scribus.
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>
>
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