PNG transparency missing on Mac OS X Leopard version

TudoR · Post by **TudoR** » Fri May 02, 2008 9:27 pm

Hey, I am TudoR. I have been using Moho and now Anime Studio for over four years on a PC machine. Now I am using an iMac running OS X Leopard. There is one thing I could do on a PC that I can't do on the Mac version of AS. When I render a shape, even a simple one like a circle or a square and I save it as PNG, the image resulted does not have transperency around the shape. It is just filled with the background color set in Project Settings. There is only one layer and only one shape on that layer. On the PC version this was never a problem. Could anyone tell me if this is a Mac problem or I just need to set something up in Anime Studio?
Thanks.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:15 pm

OH MY GOD!!! AS 5.6 has lost the ability to save the alpha channel of a render PNG!! And I'm on a PC. I checked, and 5.5 could do this. WTF? The only solution is to export one frame, if you want to save the transparency.

This is definitely a BUG.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:43 pm

I don't remember to have the ability of render and save to png with transparency. I'm using linux version and never have seen that before in AS 5.5.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 03, 2008 12:01 am

In 5.5, saving a render as PNG automatically preserved the transparency.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Sat May 03, 2008 1:46 am

Uh.... don't know what you guys are smoking but alphas and PNGs work fine for me with 5.6 on mac.

-vern

TudoR · Post by **TudoR** » Sat May 03, 2008 6:35 am

Thanks for the quick replys. What I was talking about is the ability to have transperency when you render just one frame and save it as PNG. On a PC I could preserve the transparency, on a Mac I can't. BUT having slept on it I figured out anothr way to get a PNG image out of Anime Studio with transperency. I render it as if I would render a movie and when promted to choose the output format I choose PNG and I check "Do not premultiply alpha channel". I just choose one frame to render and it does the job with transperency. So all is not lost!!!Hehe!
If you would like to see some work I did in Anime Studio you can check these out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Y5g3la8wg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jA_PTUOuvk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bPyZJOYoU

It's in romanian (since I am from Romania) but they are videos for some romanian bands, so words won't bother you that much. The animation and characters are 100% Anime Studio.

TudoR[/img]

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:16 am

If I go to File->Export animation and select only one frame to render then it export with transparency. But If I go to File->Render (current frame) it renders the background with the current background color, independently of what kind of file type you choose to Save as (png, ppm, jpeg, tiff). And I don't remember that it were different since Moho

BTW you left me without words with your awesome animations!!

TudoR · Post by **TudoR** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:47 am

Well up 'till now I was using File/Render (or Ctrl+R) and save the current frame as PNG. It always preserved the transparency on a PC machine. At least for me and my fellow animators. We've been doing this (animating in Moho) since december 2005. Now I'm just happy that I can render a frame as PNG with transapency on a Mac even if it takes a few more cliks than before. It would have killed me not to be able to do this on a Mac.

Thanks Genete. The videos were made in my spare time. The other ocupation I have is an animation series also done in Moho. Sorry,Anime Studio.. Maybe I should post some links in the apropriate place on this forum.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Sat May 03, 2008 10:20 am

Cool animations! I liked Collatural best, as I imagined I knew what the storyline was!

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 03, 2008 12:32 pm

TudoR, that is some of the best animation I've seen! Ever think of doing subtitles?

Vern, the problem is if you save from the render window. 5.5 would automatically preserve the transparency if you saved to PNG. 5.6 no longer does.

Granted you can still export one frame with transparency, but the render grab is much faster.

I'd imagine wanting the speed of the render grab if I ever need to do any frame-by-frame animation in a switch layer. It'd be a shame to have to resort to some other animation software just because Anime Studio has lost the ability to quickly save frames.

Genete, the render shows one default background color (5.5 & 5.6). If you use a custon background color, it will be different than the render background.

P.s. Vern, did you install the Mac bug update? Perhaps LM fixed that as well.

Post by **Víctor Paredes** » Sat May 03, 2008 5:16 pm

it´s the same in windows. no alpha when render one frame.
I noticed some time ago, but then I thought it was always this way.

TudoR · Post by **TudoR** » Sat May 03, 2008 7:58 pm

Hey guys, thanks for the imput. I'm just happy that I can rander a PNG frame with transparency using File/Export Animation even if takes more mouse cliks than just saving the File/Render window. It was a rather important thing for my animations especialy the animated series I am working on. Here is a showreel of the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCeIHzGP2rs

I'll also post a link in the apropriate section of this forum (the Share Your Work section) so you can give me your opinions if you like.
Thanks

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:36 pm

Even if you don't think this is a 'serious' bug, an update shouldn't lose functionality like this. If we traded things like this for the animated layer order, so be it, but I'm not so sure what all I'd trade for the image texture.

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:37 pm

BTW Only a few decades ago, this showreel could have you thrown into jail. Luckily everything has changed for the better in Romania.

Alas, the render frame is still not perfect in AS. Actually, it has been improved, because before version 5.6 the single frame rendering just looked downright ugly on the Mac.

DK · Post by DK » Wed May 14, 2008 3:00 am

Yes....I must agree with sythsin75. Going backwards is not good. This was a function I used on a regular basis, ctrl r/ save as PNG. Please fix this as soon as possible.

D.K