Quote: I'm trying to create a new title template. I can do the text and all that but when I import a background that has an oval but with a transparent background saved as a .png, the oval shows just fine but the background is white.

I'm following instructions on how to create a transparent background with Photosuite.

I just want to create a title with the oval and some text over it and have a transparent background.

Hi, GoodGuy309!

The oval shape you wish to superimpose on your video, behind your title, will appear with the white background blocking out the "scene" whether it's PNG, JPG or BMP. In order to make the white area "transparent", before you add your titles, with your oval shape highlighted, click on "modify", you should then get the "chroma-key" option, which is enabled by clicking in the little square above it. when activated, click on the pippet(eye-dropper) and hold it over the white area of your image, click there and the white area then becomes transparent. I've tried using a PNG image I created myself, after being advised to do so in another post some time ago, I was led to believe that, in the PNG image, the white area would be "automatically" transparent. This turned out not to be the case. I found myself still having to use the chroma-key to make the white area in my overlay transparent. After that exercise, I went back to creating my overlays in bitmap(BMP). I found BMP to work much better for sharp detail than PNG or JPG. Thus I now use BMP exclusively for that purpose. I produce my own titling for some of my videos using the WordArt feature in Microsoft Publisher, copying it and pasting it to Microsoft's Paint programme. Should I want to create a background shape(of any description) I can do that in Publisher, or more directly in Paint, then import the image into Power Director, drop it onto a PiP track and set the chroma-key to knock out the white background(make it transparent), and hey presto, I have an arrow, oval or any other shape I want, in any colour I want.

Your blue "oval" I take it, was your own creation, made for the purpose of a backdrop to your title. Again, with "home-made" PNG image files, the white background does not "automatically" become transparent and still requires chroma-key to make it so. That's been my experience and is the reason why I no longer use or trust the PNG image file type.

Cheers!

Neil.

Quote: I've tried using a PNG image I created myself, after being advised to do so in another post some time ago, I was led to believe that, in the PNG image, the white area would be "automatically" transparent. This turned out not to be the case.

Neil -

The advice to which you refer may have been:

1. unclear or incomplete, or


2. misread or misunderstood by the reader

If a .png image has no transparent area applied, it will behave as you've suggested, and chroma-key will need to be used. See goodguy309's attachment or attached image Oval1.png

If a .png image has a transparent area applied, it will retain its transparency in Title Designer and throughout PDR. See attached image Oval2.png

Also - goodguy309 - it's not a good idea to use such a low resolution image if you want it to look crisp and clean in your title template.

Cheers - Tony
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I want to thank the both of you gentlemen for telling me the white will show not matter what!



Yes, I need to increase the resolution and I did use MS Paint to do it.



I will try both of your suggestions later today and let all know of the results. I never thought of using PiP. I'm quite familiar with Chromakey as I do green screen.

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Quote:

Neil -

The advice to which you refer may have been:

1. unclear or incomplete, or


2. misread or misunderstood by the reader

If a .png image has no transparent area applied, it will behave as you've suggested, and chroma-key will need to be used. See goodguy309's attachment or attached image Oval1.png

If a .png image has a transparent area applied, it will retain its transparency in Title Designer and throughout PDR. See attached image Oval2.png

Also - goodguy309 - it's not a good idea to use such a low resolution image if you want it to look crisp and clean in your title template.

Cheers - Tony

Tony,

As always, I've based my comments on my experiences. I did indeed try using PNG type image files once, having been led(wrongly, as it turned out) to believe that the white area in them would be automatically transparent when imported to and applied to a PD video edit I was working on. I was very disappointed when it turned out not to be the case and that I did have to use the Chroma-Key after all to attain the transparency. I was not given any tip on how to make a PNG file image that would have automatic transparency of any white area therein. And for that reason, I reverted to using my faithful old bitmap image types which, in PD14, came up better than they did in "that other" PD that I still have on my computer. A JPEG image may appear "low resolution" but there's nothing wrong with a good ol' bitmap!

Cheers!

Neil

Quote:

Okay, Tony!

Your YT clip was the first time I'd seen that tip on how to create a PNG file with transparent background I was not given this tip beforehand, and I'd just now watched your clip. Some questions remain, did you create that PNG in Microsoft Paint? If not, what other programme did you use? And is it possible at all to create one in Microsoft Paint?

Cheers!

Neil.

Neil -

I was fairly confident that you'd repeat your previous assertion. I've don't recall EVER seeing that advice offered in these forum pages - i.e. that white areas are automatically made transpoarent in Title Designer. It's actually a pretty stupid idea! What if you had an all white logo???

If you're able to track down that post, I'd appreciate it.

Apparently MS Paint can create transparency, though I've not tried it myself - http://superuser.com/questions/498481/how-to-create-transparent-image-in-ms-paint

I was using Paint.NET in the screen capture and these tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLKfRILqBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msx6dp0oymk

Cheers - Tony
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Tony,

Thanks for the video because it showed that while i was making the correct steps, the Photosuite program i was using doesnt really produce transparent backgrounds even if i checked of Transparent.

I've downloaded Paint.NET and works perfectly for my needs.



one other question, in Title Designer, how do i group the image and text so that when I move or resize the title template in the main editor, they move together?



My workaround was to produce a file, bring it back in, use Chroma to removenthe black background and then save the video.



im confused why PD doesn't let me group all objects in Title Designer.

Tony,

Thanks for the video because it showed that while i was making the correct steps, the Photosuite program i was using doesnt really produce transparent backgrounds even if i checked of Transparent.

I've downloaded Paint.NET and works perfectly for my needs.



one other question, in Title Designer, how do i group the image and text so that when I move or resize the title template in the main editor, they move together?



My workaround was to produce a file, bring it back in, use Chroma to removenthe black background and then save the video.



im confused why PD doesn't let me group all objects in Title Designer.

Quote: Neil -

I was fairly confident that you'd repeat your previous assertion. I've don't recall EVER seeing that advice offered in these forum pages - i.e. that white areas are automatically made transpoarent in Title Designer. It's actually a pretty stupid idea! What if you had an all white logo???

If you're able to track down that post, I'd appreciate it.

Apparently MS Paint can create transparency, though I've not tried it myself - http://superuser.com/questions/498481/how-to-create-transparent-image-in-ms-paint

I was using Paint.NET in the screen capture and these tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLKfRILqBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msx6dp0oymk

Cheers - Tony

Tony,

Glad I didn't disappoint you by repeating a previous assertion! (ha-ha). The suggestion about transparency was made some time ago(forget exactly when), when it was suggested I try PNG files forimages to be superimposed when using my "earlier" PD version. I tried creating PNG file versions of individual alphabet letters that I was using to create my own animated titles. I had been using them in a manner that took advantage of the multiple PiP tracks(9 in all) in that earlier PD version. The PNG file type wasn't as good(for me, anyway) as it was said to be. All that aside, I tried last night to create a transparency PNG image of a cartoon steam loco, using MS-Paint. I suspect such amenity is available in later service-pack versions(Service Pack 3 for Windows 7 Home Premium). I was given a software package some time back for editing images, which I had not got round to installing. Maybe I will find it and install it to see what it does. In the meantime, I have one other MS-based image editing programme, namely "Office Picture Manager" and I'll see what that link has to say, that you provided.

Cheers!

Neil.

(a quick peek at that link, one of the answers[the first one] mentioned "alpha-masks" which are not referred to anywhere in MS-Paint. Guess I might have to install that software I was given, or try Office Picture Manager to see what it can do).

Tony,

Looking back at your answer to me, I think I might've inadvertantly misled. On thinking of it, it could be I was looking for that function in MS-Paint, that, when an image is saved as a PNG, that "alpha-mask" should've appeared behind it to render a transparent background, though, at that time I may not have known what it was called, though I know now what it is, it's the grey-and-white chequerboard effect. On writing that last sentence, I just had a *"light-bulb moment". In MS-Publisher, I can create such a background myself, paste it into MS-Paint, then superimpose the image I want to have a transparent background over the top of it. I'll fiddle with that and let you know my results(if any).

Cheers!

Neil.

(*Light-bulb moment = in cartoons when a character gets an idea, a light-bulb appears over his/her head).

Had to re-post this - first attempt went "ker-blooey"(took too long to "save" and failed).

Neil -

I can save you some time.

1. The XP version of MS Paint supported transparency. All versions after that don't.


2. Office Picture Manager doesn't either, & hasn't been included since MS Office 2013.


3. Making the background transparent in Publisher or Word, then pasting into MS Paint (Win7) will not retain transparency


4. There are plenty of free alternatives that do support transparency - Paint.NET & GIMP are the best.


5. Setting the transparent colour in Publisher or Word then copying & pasting into Paint.NET will retain transparency if you save it as a .png file (but you may get unwanted artefacts depending on the quality of your image). That's how the attached image was made.

Cheers - Tony

P.S. A search (Google) for the nebulous post with the bad .png/transparency advice yielded zero positive results.
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Hi, Tony!

After your last post, guess there's nothing left for me but to find that software I was given some time ago and install it. Can't recall its name off the top of my head but it was(is) a photo and(supposedly) video processing software. I'll dig it ut and install it, and see what it does. If that fails, I'll try downloading Paint.Net.(I'll get the details of where to find it off you later, if I can).

Cheers!

Neil.

Neil -

To download Paint.NET just click the highlighted words Paint.NET

Cheers - Tony
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Tony,

I clicked where you showed to download Paint.Net, made two or three attempts to download, failed each time. Seems Paint.Net might no longer be available. It had a virus attached to it as well, which AVG suggessfully banished(at each download attempt). It came up "unable to find" after I clicked on the window to allow installation. So that's Paint.Net down the drain for me.

Cheers!

Neil.

Virus Schmirus!

If AVG thinks the Paint.NET installer contains a virus, malaware, spyware or free candy, it's dead wrong... or falsely positive.

I've attached the installer, which I just ran without any alert from Trend Micro Maximum Security.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote: Virus Schmirus!

If AVG thinks the Paint.NET installer contains a virus, malaware, spyware or free candy, it's dead wrong... or falsely positive.

I've attached the installer, which I just ran without any alert from Trend Micro Maximum Security.

Cheers - Tony

Ton,

I'm just reporting what I found. Nothing more. The installer you've attached, will this download and install Paint.Net if I download your attachment? I'll give it a try.

Cheers!

Neil.

Okay, Just answered my own question! Used your download zip attachment, successfully downloaded and installed Paint.Net. Cheers, Tony! And thanks for your help! Using your attachment worked far better than that link you provided earlier. Worked like a charm, in fact!

I just downloaded the same file that Tony put here as an attachment from the link he suppied. My antivirus scan show that it is clean. I have and use paint.net installed years ago. It is one of the best free image editors that I have found. It download on my very first attempt.

Three hearty cheers for Tony! Hip-Hip..... Hooray!(X3)

Now all that's left for me is to play around with it and see what it can do!

Cheers!

Neil.