How can I create transparent images in MS Paint?

I want to know how to draw transparent images in Microsoft Paint for Windows 7.

I searched on Google but couldn't find anything for Microsoft Paint in Windows 7.

E.g. I want to draw a star for my application. But I want that when I display it on black background then there should be no rectangular image with a white background and a star on it. It must be a proper star.

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8 Answers

Try Paint.NET for size. I tried GimpShop before, but did not like it. Paint.NET is to MS Paint what Notepad++ is to Notepad :)

To change an image to have a transparent background:

1. Install Paint.NET
2. Download AlphaMask plugin
3. Extract AlphaMask.dll to \Paint.NET\Effects (note you will likely need to unblock the file)
4. Open Paint.NET
5. Open your file
6. Copy the content you want to make have a transparent background (ctrl+a, ctrl+c to select all and copy)
7. Effects Menu > Alpha Mask...
8. check Invert Mask, check Mix Alpha, leave checked Paste from Clipboard
9. Click OK
10. File Menu > Save as, save as type PNG (*.png)
11. Defaults are fine, OK one last time

source

3

Rather than deal with Paint, you should try GIMP.

It allows you to set any color you want to transparent so you can just fill the background of the image with some radical green or pink or something that doesnt show up anywhere in your star and then set that color to transparent.

Since youre dealing with image manipulation for applications I would also recommend it because it just generally has more functions and better support than Paint, and its free.

This documentation shows you the menu, and what you'll want to do is click 'color to alpha' where you can enter the color code (get it with the eyedrop tool) that you want to send to alpha (transparent)

4

This is what I do when I want to set the background colour of a picture to be transparent:

1. Open Ms.Word and paste the picture
2. Format / Color / Set Transparent Colour and select the background colour
3. Right click on the image and pick "Save as Picture" and save as PNG

4

The Windows XP version of MS Paint supports transparency. And users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate can use the XP Mode feature of Windows 7 to run Windows XP in a window, run the old Paint there, and set the transparency of an image file:

You can also run individual XP Mode applications directly from your Windows 7 Start menu, i.e., without explicitly launching XP Mode first.

If you haven't enabled XP Mode on your Windows 7 machine and wish to do so, you can get it free using the Microsoft instructions here. Do note the security advice on that page, remembering XP is now no longer supported.

1

Say hello to Microsoft Paint 3D!

Although this does not directly address the specific question of how to do this in the version of Paint found in Windows 7, it does address the question of how to do this in Paint in general, which is exactly how the question was posed.

They have heard your plead all the way to Washington. As part of the creator's update to Windows 10, Microsoft has introduced Paint 3D, which is a modern Windows app. As opposed to the old classic Paint "program". The classic Paint is now deprecated and may be removed in future updates of Windows 10.

So here is how you draw a star on a transparent background in Paint 3D.

Start Paint 3D and click on New if you are presented with the welcome screen, or just click outside of the modal window to continue.

Click on the Canvas tab. Flip the Transparent canvas switch to On.

Click on the Stickers tab. Select the five point star shape.

Draw your star.

Set the fill color to yellow, and set its type to solid. Set the line type to none.

Click outside of the selection area to deselect the star. A proud new star is born!

Now click on the left most tap, the "expand menu" tab.

Click on "export file", then "2d - png". The reason that "2d" is in the file type name is because Paint 3D, as the name suggests, supports 3D objects. Since you want a flat image, and PNG format gives you that, Microsoft has decided to prefix the name with "2d". This is just regular old PNG that you know and love, and it does support transparency which is what you want.

Note that there is also an option to "save" or to "save as". You can save the file this way too. The only difference being that it also offers the option to save your work as a project so you can come back to it later, which is something that the classic Paint does not support. In the old Paint, once you have saved the file and closed the program, you can no longer step back and undo your changes. Paint 3D supports layers, so you can use that to easily make adjustments later.

Now close the program. Unless you want to work on it later, click on "don't save".

As you can see here, the background is transparent.

1

Solved this by copying mspaint.exe to xppaint.exe on an xp computer. Then copied xppaint to a Windows 7 computer. When transparency is required, use xppaint. Many features in Win 7's Paint are better, but not this one.

2

In Windows8 I just found a Home->Select->TransparentSelection which's tooltip says "Make the background colour in the selection transparent or opaque".

I have yet to find out if it does what it believe it says though. (my first attempt failed but possibly because pebkac)

4

Create image in Paint, then save as image type that supports transparency eg. PNG.

Create a batch or VB Script (or some simple executable) that changes one of the colors in the image (binary) to be treated as transparent eg. the PNG format specifies transparency techniques.