How can I use transparent images in tkinter without png?

Question

I am making a tkinter project for school. In the project, I need to use transparent images. In my school, the tkinter only supports GIFs so I cannot use a PNG. Moreover, only the modules that come with python 3 when installing are supported. We cannot download more. Is there a way to solve my problem?

Answer 1

tkinter can show the png transparence.

Example with a basic image.

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()

img = tk.PhotoImage(file='test.png')

can = tk.Canvas(root, width=300, height=300, bg='lightGrey')
can.grid()

can.create_rectangle(0, 0, 200, 200, fill='darkGreen')
can.create_rectangle(100, 100, 300, 300, fill='navy')
can.create_text(150, 150, text='TKINTER', font=('', 32), fill='orange')
can.create_image(150, 150, image=img)

root.mainloop()

You just need to save your image with the alpha parametre, with Gimp or a good image editor.

Answer 2

You can do this with GIFsicle, using the following options:

gifsicle -U --disposal=previous --transparent="#ffffff" -O2 pic.gif > pic_trans.gif

where pic.gif and pic_trans.gif are the source and destination file names, and #ffffff is the hex code of the color you want to make transparent (here, pure white).