Rendering problem with png alpha, can anyone help?

[darkdestiny]

Hi, I guess I'm pretty new to Anime Studio. I'm more of a traditional artist, so I usually import png alpha artworks from Painter or Photoshop into anime studio to anime. Everything works fine until I render the scene. I notice that there's a white line or a break where the image is cut off. I'm thinking is because of the alpha of the png image, but is there anyway to get rid of this?



Here's the zip file of the anime file.

http://herbros.com/render%20png%20test.zip

I'm not sure if this has been ask before but, it would really help if someone can direct me to a solution. Thank you.

[heyvern]

This is a problem that I believe could be a result of the antialiasing in AS. It might also have to do with how PNG images are composited as well. A PNG with transparency would default to a white "background" which I believe is being picked up on the very edge of the transparency.

Or it could be the anitaliasing problem that occurs as well with vector layer shapes that are connected (thin white line where they join).

Solution
For your specific issue, masking in AS would be the best workaround. You could use a drawn shape in AS to mask an image or use an image layer to mask another image layer. This will leave no white line since there is no "white" to bleed through with antialiasing.

For instance in your example file you would create another PNG image the shape of the area you want to mask out of the "whole.png" image layer. Instead of two shaded sphere images you would only need 1. The top one would be masked by another image under it. This would create the exact same visual result but would eliminate the white line completely.

You could also draw a mask vector layer in AS rather than use a PNG. If the masked area is fairly simple this would be best since you can also animate the mask shape.

If you aren't familiar with masking in AS read the help files... if that doesn't help check back here.

Sounds confusing... sorry about that.

-vern

[heyvern]

http://www.lowrestv.com/moho_stuff/mask_png_no_line.zip



-vern

[darkdestiny]

Thanks heyvern, I understand that masking it does help with the situation. However, that was only a basic of what I really want to achieve. I never meant for the crop image to be acted as a mask. I think you will understand it better with this new file.



http://herbros.com/mouth%20test.zip

When doing the movement of the mouth, I usually draw it move with the chin, but instead drawing the whole head, I cropped just the bottom half of the head to save a little time drawing. However, when rendered, there's the break of while area that bothers me. Is there a solution to removing this line, without having to draw the whole head with the movement of the chin, and without using vector? Or better yet, is there any way to render it so that the alpha would be perfect? I'm sorry if this is kinda confusing. Note that in compressed JPEG format, the break (or line) is not as visible but it is fairly visible when output to a TV screen. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

[funksmaname]

The crack looks to be the join around your mouth shapes... even though they arent visible in AS preview, the crack moves around to where your slices are joined...

PNG24 allowes for a gradient alpha - if you feather the join edges they will be invisible:



this is very rough obviously but you get the idea...

Also it could be because you are scaling up the slices bigger than their actual created resolution? i didnt have to test this but could be an issue...

By biggest reccomendation is to trace over your character in AS and learn its drawing tools - the render quality would be better, and you would have more shot choice over zooming in more than originally intended... also, you could create the mouth shapes with point animation so you have smooth mouth interpolation...

[darkdestiny]

Thank you funksmaname, I'll try that. I think I should really get into drawing in AS, it's just that I find it to be too much time tracing it in AS. But thanks!

[heyvern]

Great idea funk!

You could easily put in a gradient mask for the PNGs that would fade the transition and hide the edge. Have the whole head as a background for each mouth shape to know where to put the gradient.

I have to agree that drawing in AS would entirely eliminate this problem and also make your characters resolution independent (scale or zoom to any size).

If you feel the time spent "tracing" is wasted, how much time is spent creating the character in the image application? Is it less time? The same time?

The wasted time is relative. It "feels" wasted because the character is "finished" as a raster image.

You could spend less time making the image "perfect" in say, Photoshop. Just use simple line drawings or scans and then spend the time you would have spent in Photoshop in AS instead.

I don't even use photoshop to create tracing images any more for new characters. I draw directly in AS either from my head or from scans of drawings. Maximize your effort.

-vern

[Mikdog]

Tried rendering with EXTRA SMOOTH IMAGES checked?

I had a similar problem. Try rendering at a higher resolution then scaling it down afterwards.

There was something in another thread about how to get rid of that white line around a PNG image. Maybe something to do with saving the PNG image as 32-bit instead of 24-bit or something...or sorting it out in Photoshop before importing into AS

[darkdestiny]

heyvern - thanks. I guess I haven't really gotten use to the vector world as of yet.

Mikdog - setting on extra smooth helped it a little bit.

I'll just trying using the vector tools from now on, =D. Thanks anyways.

[funksmaname]

well, like i said before - feathering the edge of your join in photoshop will fix your problem... but sticking to vector is a good way forward.