PNG import problem

[Vok]

Hi,

I noticed that, when I try to import a transparent PNG from the internet, X3 turns all transparent sections black. If I save the same PNG to hard disk and open it in X3, the full transparency appears. How can I simply copy a transparent PNG file from the web and paste it straight into X3 as a new image without losing the transparency? Is there maybe an option that I overlooked?

[LeviFiction]

I don't believe Paint Shop Pro knows to look for transparency when its pasting into the program. So, no, there is no setting that you missed.

I don't know why it doesn't look for transparency of images when pasting them in, in fact of the three programs I have currently installed (PSP, GIMP, Paint.NET) only Paint.NET supports pasting with the transparency.

I would like to claim that Paint Shop Pro only supports transparency when copying layers but that doesn't always seem to be the case. So I don't know why, it just does.

[Vok]

But could I somehow change a setting so that it would at least turn the transparent sections white instead of black? That would make those images at least in some instances useable...

[LeviFiction]

I cannot find a reference to this in the help files.

I cannot determine one in my testing either.

Aside from not recognizing the transparency I don't think the adding of Black is Paint Shop Pro's idea. At least not directly.

Allow me to explain why I think this. When I copy the same PNG from either of the three browsers on my system (IE, Firefox, Chrome) they all import Black. And they import black in all but Paint.NET. But when I copy from Paint.NET to Paint Shop Pro the transparent areas, again, are not transparent but this time it imports white.

The only thing I changed is where I'm copying from.

My question, though, is is it really that bad that you have to save the file first?

[Vok]

Is it that bad? I guess in the grand scheme of things it's not. I guess if I'm looking for transparent PNG's, saving them to disc first is not that much of a workaround. But I use quite a lot of imagry from the web for my job, and don't usually pay attention to the file format. I usually copy straight from the browser, so I only notice the fact that it is a transparant PNG when the image turns up all distorted in X3. Since I'm juggling quite a lot of images and files all the time, it happens quite often I have to go back on the web to look that image up again, since I already closed the browser window - and that's when it get's rather annoying.

So yes: I'll live. But if it CAN be fixed, I'd love to know how - and if it can't, it would be nice to know that Corel is at least looking into this to see if it can be fixed. Make a ticket; put it on a bug-list or something.

[Simone Corel UK]

@ Vok

Please try this test:

Open PSPPX3 and create an transparent image and save it as PNG.

Close the image and re-open the PNG.

It should be fine.

That your image downloaded from the internet doesn't work is because the person who created this image made it non-editable with special filter/plugin. Well-known procedure to save your own images.

[LeviFiction]

Simone, I don't mean to sound rude here but please read the problem more carefully before replying.

Vok was asking about doing a Copy & Paste function from a browser to Paint Shop Pro and Paint Shop Pro maintaining the transparency off the clipboard. A feat that is not impossible as Paint.NET manages it just fine. Of course I just tried Photoshop and it seems to have this same problem.

This was never a question about doing the same things with saved images. In fact they said, right in their complaint, that the only way it worked was to download the images.

[Vok]

Thanks Levi - and I'm glad this thread at least got your attention Simone.

Levi is right - your answer is not really related to the problem. But it would still be nice to hear from an insider if this issue could be fixable?

[df]

There is a less than perfect option. Once the image is pasted into PSP, click Image > Palette > Set Palette Transparency. Click the option for "Set the transparency value for palette entry:" and leave the value to 0. Click proof just to see if it's going to work, you should see the black background go transparent. Click OK, now to see the transparency press Shift+V. The less than perfect part of this is if any of the image is also absolute black as the background that will also go transparent. Also some of the pixels touching your nontransparent image may not go transparent as it's not the absolute black color but rather a bit of shading.

I'm under the impression that this is more of an operating system problem, or rather the function of copy and paste. The clipboard basically converts just about everything to a bitmap with additional data as to what type of image type it will finally be. Windows bitmaps do not contain transparency data, so any non-value (such as 0) will become black, it needs some value. Why it would work in Paint.NET differently I don't know, possibly because Paint.NET was developed at the University of Washington (no not really, I'm just from the Seattle area).

[LeviFiction]

I just make a new image the same size as the PNG and then Paste as New Transparent Selection. It will make whatever color you have set as the background color in the materials palette as the transparent color. You get to keep the palette above 256 colors that way.

You could also just use the magic wand with contiguous turned off. And a tolerance of zero and click on the black background and hit Erase. Or leave Contiguous on and select the areas you want removed specifically which maintains portions of the black color.

As for the clipboard, you're right that it pastes a bitmap with extra settings. One of the settings available is RGB vs ARGB. You can include an alpha channel with the bitmap. The program pasting it in needs to recognize that that alpha channel is there to read it. The most likely reason that Paint.NET can see the transparency is because it looks to see if the format is ARGB or just RGB. The black or white color is usually because the program copying it to the clipboard can determine if they want the transparent areas to be white or black. Black is the default it seems. It's then up to the program grabbing this information if it can paste it in. It really should be an uncommon color like magic pink though (255,0,255) so that we are less likely to remove a color that might already exist in the image.

Now this is all assumption, I admit to that. I am working off my limited understanding and work with the clipboard.

[Simone Corel UK]

@ LeviFiction and Vok

Sorry, for missunderstanding the workflow. I had made the same erxperience years ago and since then, I save images before I open them. Especially, I can see the profile, program etc. in Notepad