Removing Entire Background

[dharmadave]

Sometimes I download images from the internet or create files where there is NO background of any kind.

This seems to be represented by a gray and white checkerboard grid, conveying that no background of 

any kind exists. But .... I cannot figure out how to make this happen at will when I want no baseline white

background of any kind behind my art work. Help? 

[R C-R]

The checkerboard pattern indicates image transparency, which can range from completely opaque to completely transparent. Not all image formats support transparency -- most notably the jpeg format does not, so any jpeg file you download will have a background matte color, regardless of how transparent the image content might be. The png format supports a transparent matte 'color,' but it also can be set to any matte color.

 

For Affinity file format documents, you can set the background matte to transparent. You did not say which Affinity app you are using (Affinity Photo or Affinity Designer). The procedure is slightly different for each of them:

• For AD, on the File menu select Document Setup > Color tab & tick the "Transparent background" box.

• For AP, the "Transparent background" option is on the Document menu.