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Question

How can i subtract a background from a picture i made with black outline of a state. Simple drawing on paper?
my deceased friend created a logo for me using corel draw and it has the outline of a state imposed on a simple white background...How can i use just the outline to insert on to documents that i use in MS Word? other programs?

Answer 1

You ought to use the MS Word drawing feature to create the outline as a Microsoft drawing object. You can do this within MS Word - nothing to install or download. That way you can paste it into any document you like, and since it will be a vector it will look very nicely even if you print it at poster size (Any jaggies you see on the screen will be smoothed out in the printout).



Here's how to create it in MS Word (note that these directions might be slightly off depending on your version of MS Word, but is doable regardless of your version):



1) Paste the state image into your document.

2) Make sure the drawing toolbar is visible. If it's not go to View --> toolbars and tick the Drawing checkbox. You should then see a toolbar at the bottom of the window.

3) Trace the map using a free-form shape. This menu item is found by clicking the icon that just looks like a diagonal line in the drawing toolbar, and then selecting the irregularly-shaped polygon.

4) After tracing, delete the original image of your state thereby leaving your outline. Right click on the outline and tweak the properties until you're happy.

5) Save this word document for use later as "state outline".

6) Anytime you want to use this image in a new document, open this document, then copy and paste it into the new document you want to create.



Note: Play with the toolbar elements, and play with the properties (right-click menu) of stuff you draw to see what else you can do and add. When completed select all the pieces of the drawing (hold shift key down while selecting them) then right-click and select "group". This groups all the items as a single unit which makes it easier to paste into other documents.

Answer 2

Well it depends on how you are wanting to use this on word. Are you wanting to put it as the background and type text over the top of it?



I am assuming that is what you are trying to do. Basically you need to just click insert > picture > from file > find the picture and insert it. Next right click on the picture then click format picture. (Now it is different for all types of word. The only 2 I have available are 97 and 2007 to test but it should be similar.) Go to the Wrapping/Layout tab and select None/Behind Text as the option.



In Word 97 I had to go to the position tab and click the checkmark box for float over text before changing the wrapping to none. If you are wanting to do something else with the picture please specify and we'll try to help some more.



Good Luck HTH.

Answer 3

If you have photoshop, gimp or a similar photo editor... You could create a new file with a transparent background... Then using a select tool that will (select by color) then use copy to copy that selection to the new transparent document.

Answer 4

You can use the "Magic Wand" function in Paint.Net or Adobe Photoshop to select only the line. Then you cut and paste it into a new image file, save it as .gif, .jpeg, or whatever your want. You should then be able to use that file to add to the Word documents.

Answer 5

I think Pedalt may have suggested a good way to do this.



If you're looking into getting Paint.Net, it's a free program that can be downloaded at http://GetPaint.net.



Good luck and I hope I helped!