Eliminating the white background from imported bitmap images

[DonkeysBazooka]

I've been trying to figure this out in illustrator and photoshop for well over a year. When I scan images I draw into my computer, they are turned into bitmap images. I bring them into MS paint where I convert them to monochromatic bitmap images so they are solid black and white. I copy and paste that image into a new MS paint window and color them in.

This is where my problem begins. I want to copy and paste this image into photoshop or illustrator, where I would lay it over a layer below it.

But when i paste the image in, it leaves the white background around the image that was visible in the paint program.

I thoroughly understand WHY it does this. I understand that the whole image is a Bitmap image. What I need to know is how make that white square around my image invisible.

In MS paint, of the two colors in the pallet you can choose from, the second one, sets that color as the color of the pseudo-background. This way the rest of the image can be manipulated as I please without disturbing any part of the image that is that color. A similar feature in photoshop or illustrator is exactly what I'm looking for. I'd like to know if such a thing exists, and if so, where it is.

If this is a newbie question, I'm really sorry about it, but I'm pretty tired of not knowing how to do it. Thanks

 

[jconingham]

MS Paint? Why use it if you have Photoshop?

In both programs you can make the white area invisible by changing the transparency mode to Multiply, although I strongly suggest that you start using Photoshop for the entire process and you'll also be able to actually remove the area you don't want and save it like that.

 

[DonkeysBazooka]

Nah, that doesnt work. Yes, it removes the white box, but it also makes the image I want visible, faded and transparent, so that you can see the background image through the image I pasted on top of it.

I use MS paint because it is the only program that I know how to eliminate the white box in, without also making the rest of the image transparent.

 

[jconingham]

Is there a specific use you want to give these images? It might make it easier to find a solution for either program.

Photoshop has a nice help file (so does Illustrator) and lots of tutorials online (free), just in case you're ever interested in learning more of it.

 

[DonkeysBazooka]

well, I work with graphics like this all the time. For example, if I were to take an image off the internet, of... I dunno, let's say Snoopy. And I want said picture of Snoopy to be on like, a beach or something. If I have the background layer in Photoshop a picture of a beach, and I paste in the picture of Snoopy, as a new layer, Snoopy is then entombed in a solid white square.

That's just one example, but it's my main problem. I want to put images into new backgrounds, kinda thing. But i can't.

 

[DonkeysBazooka]

wow... okay, well i just figured it out. i can't believe it was that simple after a year of tearing my hair out trying to get this to work. in photoshop:

Select > Color Range... > drop the fuzziness to 0 and have the sample colors be white.

the end.

i hate me for being so stupid.

thanks for your suggestions, though.