Mysterious Transparency in fpx files

[limey]

Hi folks,
I must admit that although I have been working in the world of digital imaging since 1999 and professionally for 12 years now, I haven't used PSP very much.
Please don't hate me cos I use the "other" program.

Disclaimer: I have paint Shop Pro X but for the files I am working on I have to use PSP 9 on XP (SP1). Trust me, after weeks writing back and forth to Corel and them testing our files it is the only way to open them. Our images are converted to .fpx using TrueSpectra which is now a relic from the past. PSP never had a problem with the .fpx files until XP service pack 2 was released and it then stopped opening them. We have many hundreds of computers within our building but only one running SP1 and it is well guarded from the IT guys!

So here is my dilemma... We have over 200,000 web images that are currently saved as fpx files (archaic I know and many of you won't have even heard of them let alone used them) that we are converting to a more adaptable and flexible pTIFF format (Pyramid TIFF). The pTIFF will allow us to include a path that can be used by Scene7 for various web functionality (movable transparent images).

Ok, the real problem... What I am finding is that when I open some of the fpx files in Paint Shop Pro the products that are normally shown on white backgrounds are showing on black. It turns out that someone has managed to include transparency in the fpx file. I am unable to find a path, a channel mask or layers in the fpx file when opened in Paint Shop Pro. So how is what I always thought to be a flat image creating the selection that is filling with black?. Obviously, when the conversion to TIFF takes place it's rendering the image on a black background which is a problem.

I have tried un-checking "Render Transparency" under File format preferences (PostScript tab) but it made no difference.

If nothing else, is there was a way to make the black background fill in white instead. That would be fine.

If you have any suggestions on how to show the images with a white background please enlighten me!

Many thanks,

Limey

[LeviFiction]

Well, so long as there is no other black in the image you can use the Bucket Fill, or Magic Wand to select and fill it in. You get the same thing when copying PNGs from a web browser into PSP. For some reason the transparency is read as empty (0,0,0) and no actual transparency(alpha) is included.

Otherwise there are other converters for FPX still out there to help. Ifranview for example should be able to do it.

Could use PSP scripts with the PIL library but that's way too hard.

Sorry I can't offer anything better.

[photodrawken]

Can you open the FPX files OK in Photoshop? If so, you can save it as a PNG or PSD, which PSP will handle.

[limey]

It's taken me several days to recreate the issue because I assumed that there had to be something creating a selection like a path, channel or mask.
None of those caused the transparency issue I see in some of our fpx files.

It turns out that the guy that processed the troublesome files was not following our protocol of flattening the layers with transparency before converting to fpx format. Normally we run all PSDs through a droplet (action) that flattens, trims and sizes them. Files handled this way are ok after conversion.

It turns out that the fpx file does retain information about the transparency that is then rendered as black in PSP. I have also got another program that can open and convert fpx files but it renders the transparency as random areas of black and white blocks.

Is it possible to change the default black to white when PSP renders transparency?

Cheers,
Limey

[limey]

Sorry Ken, No, Photoshop can not open an fpx file. Life would be easy if it could!

[limey]

It turns out that the person that saved the problematic fpx files did so from a PSD that was not flattened. This is against our protocol for saving the files.
It's taken me a while to figure out why the fpx has transparency saved within it. It's not a path, or alpha channel or mask that was in the original PSD.

Some how the transparency is being saved in the fpx and is seen by PSP and Image Converter Plus. Photoshop can't open fpx files.

I just have to figure out how I can change the default black fill for transparency to white.

I posted another reply earlier but it didn't show on the board for some reason. I think it was clearer than this but the office is closing and I don't want to spend the long weekend at my desk!

Regards,
Limey

[LeviFiction]

I see your initial reply.

The question here, is PSP simply rendering a black background or is it actually reading a black background? Depending on the level of support for the file format PSP may not even realize there is transparency and simply be reading in black. But as far as I know this behavior is hardcoded in. There isn't any setting that I know of to deal with this. Again, I see the same thing when copying a PNG from a web browser and have never been able to change this behavior.

You said you managed to recreate the issue. Can you create a test image that we can look at?

[photodrawken]

I am unable to find a path, a channel mask or layers in the fpx file when opened in Paint Shop Pro. So how is what I always thought to be a flat image creating the selection that is filling with black?.

According to what I've read about the FPX image format, its pixels can have any number of channels, including an alpha channel. Therefore, the image might be "flat" in the sense of not having layers when opened in PSP, but it will still have that alpha channel (transparency) info in it.

Corel's PhotoPaint (part of the CorelDrawGraphicsSuite) is listed as being able to open and edit FPX files. You might give that a try....

[limey]

Hi Levi,
Unfortunately even if I was to send you a sample you wouldn't be able to open it unless you were running PSP 9 on XP (SP1). Even Corel wasn't able to do so when they had one of our files.

Ken,
If I were able to see the alpha channel I might be able to disable it and place a white background behind the image, then save it as a TIFF. I just need to be able to see what's there. None of the fpx files are showing the Alpha channel even though I am sure you are right about it being there.

[LeviFiction]

You underestimate me.

But I do have access to such a computer. If you don't want to, that's fine. But beyond the basic selecting of the black background using the standard tools I cannot offer any other suggestions. I'm far too hands-on to think it through properly.