I have a cpt image that has a single object with transparency applied as a gradient from 100 to 0 via the interactive transparency tool. I would like to export this as a transparent png for web use. However, photopaint x4 doesn't seem to allow me to do this - I get a message that object(s) will be merged, and then no option to maintain the transparency.
My workaround is to save it as a psd from photopaint, open in photoshop, and then use photoshop's export for the web. But there must be a direct way to do it in x4, right?
From my experience, merging with background is not necessary, but either way, the quality of the export is poor. If I feather the edges of a square, create mask from layer, then export to transparent png, it works, but there's an ugly white haze in the feathered area which makes this unusable in Photopaint. The result is the same flattened or left as layer before export.
Take this same transparent image (test.png) into either Photopaint or Photoshop and put a black background behind it on a separate layer and you'll see that it has the same haze which is typical of all Photopaint transparent gifs.
You mean Gifs or Tiffs? I suspect Tif, since GIF's are only 1 bit transp. :-)
Alfred's test file won't work, since it's already tainted from the first export.
Tiff's are OK. I was worried this problem might be for all exports of this nature, but this isn't the case.
Try the attached "fresh" CPT test file above:
export direct from PP to both tiff and PNG. Ignore "objects with be merged with background" dialogs.
A. Don't mask anything. pick "none" for transp. in PNG export dialog, since it's already floating over nothing.
Note: if you;
flatten and use mask with export to PNG
don't flatten and use mask with export to PNG
same result as sentence A above. So, whether the object is masked or not - merged or not - over CPT without a background, same poor result.
import the tiff and PNG into Draw, you'll see Tiff's are good.
KuttyJoe said: ...it has the same haze which is typical of all Photopaint transparent gifs.
...it has the same haze which is typical of all Photopaint transparent gifs.
here's the diff with the fresh test file. Generated fresh inside PP, exported to both formats and imported into Draw.
Hi Jeff,
this transparency business is a little confusing. I believe that PS, PP and Draw all show transparency incorrectly when placing transparent objects over dark backgrounds, especially over black. If you open your Test.cpt file in PP, or save it as a PSD and open it in PS they look identical. The transparency starts VERY early on the left hand side of the image and increases as you move across the image. The original fill is already very transparent by the time you get half way across the image. It is quite transparent only 25% into the image.
When you add a light background to the image, say yellow, the transparency exhibtis the same behaviour as what we saw without a background. However, adding a dark background you will notice the transparency does not remain the same. Transparency seems to commence too far into the image and not near the left as per the original. To put it another way...the image is almost fully opaque still at a point where the black should really strongly be showing through.
This is the interesting part: the PP generated PNG exhibits the annoying white haze, BUT it actually conforms far more accurately in terms of transparency to the orginal ! The transparency increases close to the left of the image as it should do.
To make matters worse, a PSD and CPT file exhibit the incorrect behaviour with transparency over a dark background. What are your thoughts on this?
Brian said:this transparency business is a little confusing. I believe that PS, PP and Draw all show transparency incorrectly when placing transparent objects over dark backgrounds, especially over black. If you open your Test.cpt file in PP, or save it as a PSD and open it in PS they look identical. The transparency starts VERY early on the left hand side of the image and increases as you move across the image. The original fill is already very transparent by the time you get half way across the image. It is quite transparent only 25% into the image.
That first test file early in this thread, not too scientific for the area it spans - was a quick test, I just dragged across the face of rectangle.
For more accuracy, one can make a 1000px wide image and then fade perfectly from edge to edge. Then each 10 pixels should be 1 percent difference. that's what I did here, but you can see I downsampled it all for this forum after tests.
In the test below, we can see the resulting exports from X4 and compare what PS 7 did when converting the PSD from X4 to a PNG. Something is still wrong with PNG export IMO for these types of fades.