Original Question:  "I'm having a problem and don't know how to fix it.  I'm
bringing in images to place in a layout, like a company logo.  When I bring in
the image I am getting a white box around the image.  This looks awful when the
logo is a circle and the background isn't white.  I've tried to change the
format of the image (tif, bmp, gif, jpg).  I've also tried to clip the image by
it's boundaries and still haven't had any luck in correcting this problem.  If
anyone has a solution - or even suggests I would GREATLY appreciate hearing
from you.  Thanks in advance!"

Well, I got many, many responses!  Thanks to David Bennett, Jerry Holden, Al
Hill, Greg Cocks, Eric Wilson, David Van Riel, Tania Speelmeyer, Ryan Belyea,
Gareth Finney, Jimaima LeGrand, Mike Fitzgerald, Lora Gerard, Chris Dinesen,
Linda Talarico, and Beck Strauch.

Most of the responses were similar.  Many people had created their images using
formats that support transparencies, like a gif file.  This does make the
background transparent, however, my image has a great deal of white in it so
this didn't completely solve the issue because part of my logo was now
transparent.  Another way to do this is once the image is in ArcView, select it
and then select the symbol palette and change the background color to white,
this makes it transparent!  (Strange, but true!)  But again, if you need the
white in the logo this doesn't really help.  So, in conclusion, what I have
done is created the image as a transparent gif file and then I've had to draw a
solid white circle behind it and then I have to lay them on top of each other
and group them.  Not the best solution, but it works for now.  If anyone finds
out another way I'd be happy to learn about it.  I've also attached some
portions of the emails I was sent that may help others.  Good Luck!

"I was having similar troubles.  The solution was for me to add a new palette
to my Esri> ArcView> "Symbols" file, called Logo.avp.  I also had to add a new
true type font to the computer that consisted of nothing but the logo as a text
character. This solved the box problem. Sorry I can't tell you how to do this;
someone else did all the work, and I just loaded the things were they needed to
go. But maybe this will point you in the right direction! And it can be done!"


"What I normally do is create a new view with only our logo in it.  Then I can
adjust the color map so the background is either clear (X) or the same color of
the background of the layout. Of course whether you get the option to change a
color map is depended on the format of you graphic.  Hope this works for you."




Christy Dove
Senior GIS Analyst
URS Corporation
Department of Transportation, Turnpike District
Turnpike Milepost 263, Building 5315
Ocoee, Florida 34761
(407) 532-3999, ext. 3815
christy.dove@dot.state.fl.us