Hello,
I just bought 3dPainter, and, I am having a blast with it. Its making texturing a lot easier for me.
I just have a question, when I bring in a bitmap using the bitmap tool, the image I am using is a .png with a transparent background.
When it is displayed in the bitmap tool window, the transparent areas are black, and when I stamp it on the model, same thing.
I've tried in projection mode and 3d mode.
Am I missing a setting somewhere, or, does 3dpainter not support the transparency in the .png?
Thanks for any help.
Full Version: Transparency in decals?
Hash, Inc. Forums > The A:M Exchange / Resources / User Groups > 3rd Party Programs, Utilities and Products > A:M Paint
pngs handle transparency in an odd way.
Use a targa with an proper alpha channel instead.
Use a targa with an proper alpha channel instead.
well, I don't get that. I can stamp the same image in AM, and it is proper, but when I load it into 3dpainter, the decal is black where transparency should be.
edit:
and I mean, I can add a decal to the model in AM, then launch 3dpainter with said decal, and transparent areas are black. so AM handles .png just fine, seems to be a problem, or a setting or something I'm missing, in 3dpainter.
edit:
and I mean, I can add a decal to the model in AM, then launch 3dpainter with said decal, and transparent areas are black. so AM handles .png just fine, seems to be a problem, or a setting or something I'm missing, in 3dpainter.
QUOTE(mshihrer @ Mar 16 2010, 12:02 AM) 
well, I don't get that. I can stamp the same image in AM, and it is proper, but when I load it into 3dpainter, the decal is black where transparency should be.
edit:
and I mean, I can add a decal to the model in AM, then launch 3dpainter with said decal, and transparent areas are black. so AM handles .png just fine, seems to be a problem, or a setting or something I'm missing, in 3dpainter.
edit:
and I mean, I can add a decal to the model in AM, then launch 3dpainter with said decal, and transparent areas are black. so AM handles .png just fine, seems to be a problem, or a setting or something I'm missing, in 3dpainter.
3dPainter can handle the Transparency of PNGs but it cant save them out properly.
You can get around that by using TGAs with Alpha-Channels till Filip fixes this.
See you
*Fuchur*
okee dokee.
I have to say 3DPainter is a great app. I'm very, very pleased with my purchase. Having alot of fun with it. It makes the whole workflow so much easier.
I have to say 3DPainter is a great app. I'm very, very pleased with my purchase. Having alot of fun with it. It makes the whole workflow so much easier.
Well, Just to let you all know, I got .png's to work. I had some correspondence with Filip, and he told me that .png's and transparency were supported.
from Filip:
I tried everything Filip suggested, but no luck.
What I ended up doing was downloading the super png plugin and installed into Photoshop. (I'm using vers 6). I deleted the original PS .png plugin. I created a new image with transparent background and then saved the image making sure to set the "Save Metadata" option.
Now when I place a decal in AM it is proper in AM and 3dpainter, and I can load the same image in 3dpainter using the bitmap tool and it is also proper, so needless to say I'm very happy.
Also just want to add Filip is very fast in his responses. I just reinstalled Windows and he got a new key back to me pronto.
from Filip:
QUOTE
Hi Mike,
Transparency is definitely supported (both for PNG as for TGA), so I'm wondering if the problem is related to the drivers for your graphics card. Especially Windows Vista and Windows 7 are by default shipped with graphics drivers that have bad support for OpenGL (A:M supports both OpenGL and Direct3D, so it can be that A:M works fine already when it is set to Direct3D). But by installing a new driver from the NVidia or ATI site, the problem should be solved.
Did you also try letting 3DPainter create the transparent PNG or TGA texture (set background to 'transparent' in decal mapper)? If there's an incompatibility between Photoshop 6 and 3DPainter, that would show it.
Best regards,
Filip
Transparency is definitely supported (both for PNG as for TGA), so I'm wondering if the problem is related to the drivers for your graphics card. Especially Windows Vista and Windows 7 are by default shipped with graphics drivers that have bad support for OpenGL (A:M supports both OpenGL and Direct3D, so it can be that A:M works fine already when it is set to Direct3D). But by installing a new driver from the NVidia or ATI site, the problem should be solved.
Did you also try letting 3DPainter create the transparent PNG or TGA texture (set background to 'transparent' in decal mapper)? If there's an incompatibility between Photoshop 6 and 3DPainter, that would show it.
Best regards,
Filip
I tried everything Filip suggested, but no luck.
What I ended up doing was downloading the super png plugin and installed into Photoshop. (I'm using vers 6). I deleted the original PS .png plugin. I created a new image with transparent background and then saved the image making sure to set the "Save Metadata" option.
Now when I place a decal in AM it is proper in AM and 3dpainter, and I can load the same image in 3dpainter using the bitmap tool and it is also proper, so needless to say I'm very happy.
Also just want to add Filip is very fast in his responses. I just reinstalled Windows and he got a new key back to me pronto.
QUOTE(mshihrer @ Mar 16 2010, 12:56 PM)
I have to say 3DPainter is a great app. I'm very, very pleased with my purchase.
Me tooo!
QUOTE
Also just want to add Filip is very fast in his responses
Definitely! - and I've only needed to contact him for a new key - a long time ago
I very much like the way 3dpainter handles transparency, alpha with tgas.
I will also go get the super png plug-in - thanks for finding that.
just one weird issue to warn you about. If your "base" map is a .png, and then you apply a transparent decal over the base map, it sometimes loses the transparency. So, what I've been doing is making the base map a .jpg and using .png's for the decals, which is working good.
Also, in A:M, I found when making the stamps (or the UV's), I prefer an all black image so I can see the patches better. I suppose there is a setting somewhere to change the uv line colors, but, I haven't found it yet.
So, I've learned alot about decaling lately thanks to some great tips by Nancy and Caroline and Will Sutton.
And if you are reading this, and you haven't got 3dpainter yet, GET IT! It is worth every penny!
Also, in A:M, I found when making the stamps (or the UV's), I prefer an all black image so I can see the patches better. I suppose there is a setting somewhere to change the uv line colors, but, I haven't found it yet.
So, I've learned alot about decaling lately thanks to some great tips by Nancy and Caroline and Will Sutton.
And if you are reading this, and you haven't got 3dpainter yet, GET IT! It is worth every penny!
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