Commons:Graphics village pump/August 2010

Creating transparent sections in images using GIMP

I have been trying to make the upper (white) portions of this file transparent so the background colour will show through, using GIMP 2.6. Unfortunately, I can't understand the GIMP instructions on how to do this. Any chance someone could give me a step-by-step account of how to do it? Gatoclass (talk) 13:03, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

From the Layer menu, select Transparency→Add Alpha Channel. Then use the Fuzzy Select Tool (click on the magic wand in the toolbox or press U on your keyboard) and click somewhere in the white area. At this point, you may wish to play with the Grow and Feather options in the Select menu to get a smoother border. Then, select Clear from the edit menu (or press the Delete key). You should see a checker pattern in the selected area. Save in a format that supports transparency, such as PNG. —LX (talk, contribs) 14:21, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm, it seemed to work, but when it loads into the Wikipedia page itself, it still seems to show white as a background instead of light blue (I am still using the older version of the Wiki skin). Gatoclass (talk) 15:18, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

It does work, as far as the image itself is concerned. Whether Wikipedia chooses to impose a white background is a separate matter. AnonMoos (talk) 15:51, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Ah, I see, it must be a wiki software issue then. Thank you both for your assistance. Gatoclass (talk) 16:44, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

It correctly shows the transparent top when I look at the File:PS Commonwealth (1854) domed upper saloon.png page. I always see checkerboards on file pages when there is transparency; I don't know if I enabled something in Preferences long ago or everyone sees it. --Closeapple (talk) 17:38, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

hello there!

If I put it into a thumb, at right, the background is the correct colour here, however, it's white at my en.wiki page.[1] But I notice for both images there's a border around the upper corners of the image that looks untidy and which I haven't noticed in other images. Anyone know why the border is appearing, and if there's a method of turning it off? Gatoclass (talk) 04:09, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Image requests

Hello,

I'm working on a free software project for quickly publishing simple webpages, and I require several images to use as backgrounds.

In general terms, I need abstract digital art that fades into the background. The main image will appear partially under text, so it must be quite transparent in that area at least (the left; the right is not under text, so could be more vibrant). It'll be about the size of computer wallpaper, though file size is a concern. The second is mostly filler, and must be red. It is vertically as tall as computer wallpaper, but only about 1/3 as wide. The third will appear on a black-and-white page, so should be light grey or maybe brown. I haven't decided on dimensions there, but I suspect it'll be the same size as the second image. File size is a concern for all images. PNG is required, but if you work from vector source, the SVG would be required as well. You'll get credit in the commit log, and the CREDITS file.

If you are interested in working on a project like this, or if you know someone else who may be, please let me know.

 — Mike.lifeguard | ^@meta 16:23, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Why is Category:Manually coded SVG hidden?

Hi. What's the rationale behind that Category:Manually coded SVG is a hidden cat? There are really good SVGs in it, and I don't see a reason why hand crafted SVGs shouls step behind SVGs created with, say, inkscape. I think these SVGs should be clearly recognizable as hand made because touching such files with inkscape et al. adds much of unneeded information and most probably destroys much of the original semantics. --Georg-Johann (talk) 17:21, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Why is Category:Manually coded SVG hidden?

Hi. What's the rationale behind that Category:Manually coded SVG is a hidden cat? There are really good SVGs in it, and I don't see a reason why hand crafted SVGs shouls step behind SVGs created with, say, inkscape. I think these SVGs should be clearly recognizable as hand made because touching such files with inkscape et al. adds much of unneeded information and most probably destroys much of the original semantics. --Georg-Johann (talk) 17:31, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Because it's supposedly a "maintenance category" (i.e. more about the image file itself than about the content of what's depicted in the image). The files still display at Category:Manually coded SVG... AnonMoos (talk) 22:45, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

That's clear. But it is not clear that a file actually is manually coded. If you look, e.g. at File:1.3.1_Russian_road_sign.svg it's immediately clear it was created with inkscape. But if you look at File:Hornblower's double-beat valve.svg it is by no means apparent that it was very carefully hand crafted (expact you start editing the file and see that it's in "Category:Manually coded SVG" or browse all of "Category:Manually coded SVG". So I think this category should not be hidden because nothing on the file site mentions that fact. --Georg-Johann (talk) 09:11, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

It's not really important if it's hand-made or Inkscape-made or whatever. Almost every category that has nothing to do with the subject depicted is hidden. People that care can look at the source code. Maybe make a new SVG marker template? Rocket000 (talk) 19:40, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I think there is at least some importance, especially if a file is to be changed/corrected/updated. Otherwise there wouldn't be things like Template:Inkscape or Template:Gnuplot. In the first case inkscape is probably the best way to do changes, in the second case it's to fix the source and to regenerate the image. So is the case with hand-made SVG: best way is - cum grano salis - to use a text editor to inspect what has to be done. Suppose a file like File:Multiply-with-Compass-and-Straightedge.svg and open it in inkskape and save it again without having done any changes. First you observe that image size will grow from 9k to 14k. Second you see that inkscape replaced circles with cubic béziers (note that circles cannot be represented by c-béziers exactly). Inkscape is especially weak in manipulating "pattern", clones and retaining higher level semantics. Touching very carefully crafted files like File:Zeta0.5 100.svg would be disastrous. So each editor has its advantages and drawbacks. Marker template sounds good. --Georg-Johann (talk) 18:15, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I agree it's important meta-data (presented in the form of a marker template, for example), I was just talking about the usefulness of the category as a way to browse media. I think most editors have it set to show hidden categories anyway, but some indication in the {{information}} box would be useful too. Rocket000 (talk)

Anglo-French Motor Carriage Co

The first UK pedestrian to be killed was Bridget Driscoll, the subject of a BBC article on her aniversary, 17th August. The vehicle which struck her was an Anglo-French automobile. I'd like to include a good photo since one of the major improvements since 1896 has been to make vehicles less dangerous to pedestrians at very low speed.

The only photo I can find is from [ http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Anglo-French_Motor_Carriage_Co Graces Guide] which credits Wikipedia. I've tried to find the photo on commons Category:Veteran vehicles and Category:1897 automobiles but can't see any sign of it. At this stage, do I have anything better than to reupload it -and lable it very well? Many thanks in advance JRPG (talk) 12:47, 18 August 2010 (UTC).

I doubt the images were ever here (I don't really see evidence of them at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anglo-French_(automobile)&action=history ). In any case, http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Image:Im970317AJ-AFMCCBombay.jpg and http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Image:Im970317AJ-Anglo.jpg don't seem to have a separate image license (only general GFDL textual license). AnonMoos (talk) 04:32, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. At least I won't waste any more time looking for it. JRPG (talk) 17:37, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Thumbnail error for JPG picture!

I recently noticed that Baablek featured picture is no longer generating a thumbnail!

A direct access to the thumbnail returns the following error message:

Error generating thumbnail

Error creating thumbnail:

This is rather urgent matter, since this featured picture is going to be displayed on the main page as picture of the day August 27. --Banzoo (talk) 17:33, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There seem to have been a number of thumbnail problems recently, as currently discussed on Commons:Village pump... AnonMoos (talk) 09:30, 18 August 2010 (UTC)