GIMP Version: 2.8.4
Operating System: Windows
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

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I have been having a problem wih layers and losing original gif color. The project was done in powerpoint and each slide was saved as a gif separately. I will attach a copy of one slide. They are all basically the same, except the arrows on each slide are in a different place as this will be an animated gif. The baclground is or needs to be transparent. I have opened new and set a background layer as transparent. I then paste each slide as a new layer in the order they need to be. The next step is what creates the problem. I highlight a layer, do layer, trans, color to alpha make sure color is correct and apply. When i do this, it fades out the colors of my original image. I have read because i am using "gray" that this can happen, but i have been unable to correct as i seem to be having a problem with the select tool.

If someone could just help me with one layer, i can apply steps to other layers. The smaller outside boxes are to be color d9d9d9 or (217,217,217) and the two bigger inner boxes are to be color bfbfbf (191,191,191).

I believe i can do adjustment from one layer and can copy adjustment and apply to other layers. Again, i have been able to select just the outside boxes and make a mask, but i am unable to change the color to the correct color and then i also am unable to select just the inside boxes at all.

any help would be GREATLY GREATLY appreciated.

well the image after applying layer trans color to alpha is not showing correctly, as on my end everything looks like a background color.

I think it may have something to do with the number of colors that can be used in a .gif file, or that can be successfully saved as a .gif.
This may be where your losing your colors.
Not 100% sure though.

The simplest way is to use the colour select tool to select the white areas and then just go Edit>Clear.



Then save as the required Gif, see below

Well thanks for those that responded, but I did finally get it and looks good.

Again, thanks so much

Glad you got it sorted, Just a bit of forum etiquette but when you have found a solution to your particular issue, most poster then edit the first post and change the title name to "Layer - transparency, loss of image color (Solved)", this just lets people now the issue is sorted and also helps those searching for a particular problem to know that a solution was found.

I think your problem lies in the way color-to-alpha works: by definition, the color and transparency produced by color-to-alpha is such that if placed over a layer filled by the removed color, you get back the original layer. For instance, if you have a violet pixel (128,0,128) and do a color-to-alpha to remove the red (255,0,0) you get a 50% transparent blue (0,0,255), because this partially transparent blue, placed over pure red, produces a violet pixel.

However, this definition isn't complete, because, after all, a completely opaque violet pixel, placed over red, would also produce violet, and some more reddish but less transparent violet would so the same. So, C2A picks the color that comes with the higher transparency.

But this means that C2A can find of a bit of your color almost everywhere, and make all the pixels in your layer slightly transparent. So the right technique to remove a background is to select only the parts on which C2A should apply. This is easy:

• Select the background with the Fuzzy select
• "Select/Grow" by one pixels. The selection now includes the border pixels of what you want to keep. These are the important pixels...
• Apply color-to-alpha. The border pixels become partially transparent and you keep the anti-aliasing effect.

Also, as a side note, don't use GIF, except for short animations. For all other purposes, except photography, PNG is a much better format. All decent software will use it.