Using Image Templates

December 20th, 2004

1. Once you have saved the template you want, you’d have to open a picture that you want to use the template in. Make sure that your image is the same size as the template. If not, resize your image to fit the template or find an appropriate sized template.

using templates

2. When you’ve found the right image, open your desired template. Press CTRL+A then CTRL+C then go back to your image file and press CTRL+V so that we could paste the template in a new layer. The image should look like this: (In some cases you will only see the avatar since you pasted it in a new layer, overlapping the main picture. Don’t panic. That is normal.)

using templates

3. Now, making sure you are in the layer where your template is, select every area that is “outside” the template (signified by the white lines in the figure below). You can use the Magic Wand Select Tool for this purpose.

using templates

4. Press delete. The image should look like this now:

using templates

5. Now, to save the image and to make all the transparent areas transparent in all backgrounds, make sure that you have no background layer. Simply put, you should only have two layers, one for your image and one for the template. Then, go to File > Save for Web. Select a color matte for your new image (I choose bright green) and check the Transparency box. Then click Save. The image will be automatically saved as a GIF file and there you have your new avatar!

using templates