Help me create an electronic signature

Bob_E · 01-24-2011, 04:28 AM

What I would like to do is take a picture of my hand written signature and make the background transparent keeping only the writing so that in the future I could just drop this signature on any label. I'm pretty sure it's possible, it seems like I've seen it done before. I just don't have any idea how to do it. Does anybody know how to go about accomplishing this?
I've already got gimp on my computer but man this program seems pretty counter intuitive to me and I've never been very proficient with it...
I'm willing to download any other freeware program to accomplish this.
Thanks

Suthrncomfrt1884 · 01-24-2011, 04:52 AM

The easiest way to do it would be to use the magic wand tool. I think Gimp has one. You should be able to select the pixels you want to erase and cut them out. Make sure you scan the signature written with very dark ink...preferable a marker. It won't show up very well when it's pixelized otherwise.

**Edcculus** · 01-26-2011, 12:56 AM

Here is what I'd do:

-Write signature on nice unlined paper with a thicker felt pen.
-scan picture into computer (I'd scan rather than take a picture)
-load the scan into a program like GIMP or Photoshop. (I use Photoshop, so I'm describing how I know to do it).
-use a combination of the magic wand tool and lasso tool to delete out all of the white. You will have to zoom in etc to make sure you are making good selections.
-If you are successful, you should have a black signature on top of a grey and white checkerboard pattern. That pattern indicates transparency.
-save the image as a .png. That is important, because .png supports transparency. I'd also save a copy in the native format (.psd for Photoshop) for a backup. You will have to do some experimenting, because I don't know the exact settings for .png to keep the background transparent.

jsb · 01-26-2011, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edcculus

Here is what I'd do:

-Write signature on nice unlined paper with a thicker felt pen.
-scan picture into computer (I'd scan rather than take a picture)
-load the scan into a program like GIMP or Photoshop. (I use Photoshop, so I'm describing how I know to do it).
-use a combination of the magic wand tool and lasso tool to delete out all of the white. You will have to zoom in etc to make sure you are making good selections.
-If you are successful, you should have a black signature on top of a grey and white checkerboard pattern. That pattern indicates transparency.
-save the image as a .png. That is important, because .png supports transparency. I'd also save a copy in the native format (.psd for Photoshop) for a backup. You will have to do some experimenting, because I don't know the exact settings for .png to keep the background transparent.

You can take it one step further like I did, and create a brush with it in either photoshop or gimp (search online for tutorials on how to. I know there is one on DeviantArt.com). When I want to drop my sig in, I just select the brush tool and stamp it wherever I want.

jsb · 01-26-2011, 02:11 AM

Here is a how to for creating a brush in gimp: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=creating+brushes+tutorial+gimp#/dlj8gb

Bob_E · 01-26-2011, 08:02 AM

Layer, Transparency, Color to Alpha...
Holy **** it took me forever to figure that out.
But in the mean time I stumbled across scaling images, adding layers, merging layers, flattening and removing transparency, and inverting colors.
I drew my logo/signature with a pencil on a piece of paper and took the picture with my digital camera. I know it would look better if I would have taken more careful cropping but I just wanted figure out how to make it work first.

Thanks.
I'll have to make a brush later, it looks like that would make things a lot easier.

**Edcculus** · 01-26-2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb

You can take it one step further like I did, and create a brush with it in either photoshop or gimp (search online for tutorials on how to. I know there is one on DeviantArt.com). When I want to drop my sig in, I just select the brush tool and stamp it wherever I want.

ah great idea

Bob_E · 01-26-2011, 04:00 PM

I read mention of paint.NET in this forum. So, I decided to download it and give it a try. I'm not going to fumble around with that back asswards gimp anymore. It just took me minutes to figure out how to do what took me hours last night. I just had to cut away what I didn't want to make it transparent, none of that crazy alpha color nonsense and everything seems to be right where you would expect it to be. Much more user friendly.