GIMP Version: 2.8.22
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: 10
GIMP Experience: New User

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Hi. I'm trying to remove the white background around this logo to leave a transparent background, but leave the white inner, so I'm just left with the wavy lined "badge" which is green and white - if that makes sense.

I've tried things like Tools > Selection Tools > By Color Select, and Colors > Color to Alpha... (and then deleting the white), but I can't see how to "deselect" the inner white parts that I want to keep. Is there a way to do this without manually tracing around the shape?

Thanks!

Firstly ensure that the target layer has an Alpha Chanel; if not right click on the layer and select Add Alpha Chanel. Then I would just use the Fuzzy Select Tool and click on the white background you want to delete. Then grow that selection by 1 pixel and either clear it by pressing the Delete key or uses Colors>Colors To Alpha with the default white parameter. In either case you should end up with the green and white badge on a transparent background.

OMG has got it! Don't use the colour by select Use this tool

If the green is solid on the edges, an easy way to do it is select> by color on the green, then select>invert selection, then use the erase tool to erase outside the green, leaving the white on the inside.

Another way, removing the need to shrink a selection, which removes the anti-aliased border pixels and leaves 'jaggies'.



Remove all the white then paint it back in

Use color-to-alpha (c2A) to remove all the white.
Paint the white center back in (carefully) using the brush tool in 'behind' mode.

Comparison of fuzzy-select + grow selection and C2A 1 minute animation (Gimp 2.8) https://i.imgur.com/GHA8fS1.mp4

Edit: If you have lots of these to process and the 'hands-on' approach is time-consuming then there is a plugin that can help ofn-erase-background.py
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-to ... s/scripts/ down the list ofn-erase-background.zip dated 2018-03-31.

That will keep that anti-aliasing.

Rich2005 - thanks for pointing out the 'jaggy' remnant issue with using the fuzzy select/clear approach, especially compared with 'Color to Alpha' solution. Thanks also for pointing out the use of a brush in 'Behind' mode ... never knew of that or its 'Mode' companion 'Color erase'. These are obviously both very useful tools.