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PowerDirector 15 cutting the tops off transparent PNGs
James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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When I add a transparent PNG to a video, a think strip of the image is cut off along the top, and it's apparent both in the video editor and in exported videos. I don't recall this happening in version 14. It's not a result of my settings relating to transparency and interlacing in my graphics software, nor a problem based on the color of the background before exporting. I've experimented with a few different options in that regard. The PNG exports from my graphics software fine, but won't display without the top cut off within PD15. Anyone else finding this?
ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline
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Hi James -

I can't replicate that here. Maybe try checking your preview settings to see whether it's set to "Fit". Screenshot attached.

What do you see when you import the attached .PNG?

Cheers - Tony
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James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Quote Hi James -

I can't replicate that here. Maybe try checking your preview settings to see whether it's set to "Fit". Screenshot attached.

What do you see when you import the attached .PNG?

Cheers - Tony


The image you've supplied doesn't have the same problem, and it turns out to be because the image area for your file goes beyond the edge of the visible image, so if PD15 is cutting something off, it's only cutting off something invisible. So I've solved my problem for now by adding a box larger than my image, turning the box's color to transparent, grouping it with the image intended to be visible, and exporting that.

But in my opinion this shouldn't be necessary with PD15, and I consider it a bug.

James
ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline
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James -

I doubt that it's a bug. PDR15 is not cropping anything off any image I import here.

Please post a screenshot of what you see when you import the attached .PNG file. Could you also attach an example of a graphic with the issue at your end?

Cheers - Tony
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James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Quote James -

I doubt that it's a bug. PDR15 is not cropping anything off any image I import here.

Please post a screenshot of what you see when you import the attached .PNG file. Could you also attach an example of a graphic with the issue at your end?

Cheers - Tony


The problem doesn't occur with this clock image. I haven't been able to figure out why it happens with some images and not others.

I'm not sure what the forum image source box wants yet - is it the file path on my computer?

James
JL_JL [Avatar]
Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline
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Quote
I haven't been able to figure out why it happens with some images and not others.

I'm not sure what the forum image source box wants yet - is it the file path on my computer?

Click the "Attachments" box below the message field and browse and attach image.

Jeff
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James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Sorry to go silent on this conversation earlier. Other things came up that kept me busy, but now that PowerDirector's creating an increasing number of issues, I thought I'd report something new that could relate to this.

I've discovered that transparent PNGs exported from Xara software don't play well with PowerDirector. Beats me why two identical-looking transparent PNGs - one export from Adobe software, and one from Xara, would behave differently in PowerDirector, but that is the case, and it's possibly responsible for the clipping of the PNGs.

So while you may not be able to replicate the problem with your own PNGs, can I leave you with one here and have you try that out in your copy of PowerDirector? The attached transparent PNG phone number ends up with the left-hand edge of the "p" in "Phone" clipped off. I'm interested to know if it does that in your software.

James
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Carl312
Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline
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Quote Sorry to go silent on this conversation earlier. Other things came up that kept me busy, but now that PowerDirector's creating an increasing number of issues, I thought I'd report something new that could relate to this.

I've discovered that transparent PNGs exported from Xara software don't play well with PowerDirector. Beats me why two identical-looking transparent PNGs - one export from Adobe software, and one from Xara, would behave differently in PowerDirector, but that is the case, and it's possibly responsible for the clipping of the PNGs.

So while you may not be able to replicate the problem with your own PNGs, can I leave you with one here and have you try that out in your copy of PowerDirector? The attached transparent PNG phone number ends up with the left-hand edge of the "p" in "Phone" clipped off. I'm interested to know if it does that in your software.

James
I do not have the "P" cut off.

I did add a drop shadow to the PIP to make the letters stand out.

.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 28. 2016 09:02

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline
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Hi James2016 -

Your "Phone number with buffer.png" displays as expected here in PDR, just as Carl found.

I don't know my way round Xara well enough to offer advice, but I have noticed that when you export a PNG it removes the "canvas" & exports only the graphic created... much like the PhotoDirector background removal tool. By default it crops to the edge of the graphic. Photoshop & Paint.NET export PNGs with the canvas included.

Even the your image displays correctly here, there may be a setting in Xara that will correct your issue.

Cheers - Tony
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James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Quote Hi James2016 -

Your "Phone number with buffer.png" displays as expected here in PDR, just as Carl found.

I don't know my way round Xara well enough to offer advice, but I have noticed that when you export a PNG it removes the "canvas" & exports only the graphic created... much like the PhotoDirector background removal tool. By default it crops to the edge of the graphic. Photoshop & Paint.NET export PNGs with the canvas included.

Even the your image displays correctly here, there may be a setting in Xara that will correct your issue.

Cheers - Tony


This is totally infuriating, and it's one of several PowerDirector problems that threaten to greatly damage my business if they're not urgently resolved.

Why does my software work differently from other people's?

And how is it possible to say that Xara removes the canvas? I ask for two reasons: I just finished reading a Xara support ticket response in which the support person is unaware that Xara PNGs are different. And the other reason is that the other related problem I was talking about that prompted me to send the phone number PNG is that I've discovered you can effectively see the edge of the canvas of a transparent Xara PNG in PowerDirector. And the reason you can see it is that all PowerDirector titling displays differently when it's on top of a Xara transparent PNG. It displays more brightly in color and loses anti-aliasing around the edges. So if you have titling that animates across a Xara transparent PNG, the produced video output is unusable.
James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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I can actually guess why Xara removes the canvas - it needs to be able to "feather" the edge of the visible image if necessary, rather than the edge of the canvas. But I don't know of any way to stop it "removing the canvas" if feathering is not needed. However, Xara has so far shown no sign of recognising what I'm talking about in relation to this.

And it does seem that "removing" the canvas is not entirely what happens, because enlarging the canvas in Xara makes a difference to the result in PowerDirector. You might see the phone number file I attached is called "Phone number with buffer". That refers to the fact that in creating that PNG file, I had already enlarged the canvas above and below the image in order to solve the problem of its edges being cut off. I hadn't noticed that the left edge of the image was also being cut off, so I hadn't increased the canvas on the left. That's why this image has its left edge cut off in PowerDirector but doesn't have its top or bottom cut off.

I don't know why you're not seeing the left edge cut off in PowerDirector. I'm wondering if it's because you're just not displaying it large enough to see that, or if such a small amount is cut off that you can't tell unless you know how wide the edge of the "P" was in the first place.
James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Complicating the issue further, it seems the cut-off PNG issue is not as serious in PowerDirector 15 as it is in PowerDirector 14. So maybe that's why you can't see. I've just tested a PNG file that obviously had the problem in PowerDirector 14, and it's not obvious in PowerDirector 15. But there is one other file that has the problem about equally in PD15 as it did in 14, so I'm attaching that here, too. The left-hand edge of the "B" in this image is cut off in PowerDirector 15, too.

For an example of the problem output, see from 3:06 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBLoIcQiW2U. The top left edge of a "W" in "www" is cut off, and the left edge of the "P" in "Phone" is cut off. This phone number image is the same one I attached earlier in this thread. Both of these images cut off in PowerDirector are not cut off when viewed on a standalone basis after export from Xara.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 28. 2016 16:34

James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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... And maybe I'm wrong about PD15 having less of this problem. I've just realised the "By" in my PowerDirector 14 output at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBLoIcQiW2U isn't cut off. Meanwhile, it IS cut off in PD15! This is truly ridiculous.
Richmond Dan
Senior Contributor Location: Richmond, VA Joined: Aug 07, 2014 17:17 Messages: 673 Offline
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See attachment...this is with PD14 ( I added border and drop shadow to show more detail). I don't see anything missing from the "B".
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Regards,
Dan
Power Director 21-Ultimate
v 21.0.3111.0
XPS-8940, Win-10 64-bit,
Intel Core i9-10900 processor
(10 core, 20M Cache),
32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6
James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Quote See attachment...this is with PD14 ( I added border and drop shadow to show more detail). I don't see anything missing from the "B".


Thanks very much for trying this. Would you mind trying the graphic at maybe half the size and on a black background, and adding a blending effect on a layer behind it and seeing if the problem appears?

I just can't understand why I seem to be the only person who has this problem.
ynotfish
Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline
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Sorry James (or is it Mikael?) -

Even on a video background with 2 blending effects applied, the complete name is displayed, with no truncation... both in PDR & the produced file. Screenshot attached.

It would be infuriating (!) and it would be much easier to assist if others could replicate the issue.

Yes - easy to see the edge of the image in PDR, indicated by handles (aslo attached)

Cheers - Tony
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 28. 2016 18:08


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James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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Quote Sorry James (or is it Mikael?) -

Even on a video background with 2 blending effects applied, the complete name is displayed, with no truncation... both in PDR & the produced file. Screenshot attached.

It would be infuriating (!) and it would be much easier to assist if others could replicate the issue.

Yes - easy to see the edge of the image in PDR, indicated by handles (aslo attached)

Cheers - Tony


Thanks again, Tony.

If this, along with at least 4 other PowerDirector 15 issues, aren't resolved urgently, there's every likelihood I'll have to abandon Cyberlink software in order to have any chance of saving my business.
James2016 [Avatar]
Newbie Location: Queensland, Australia Joined: Oct 19, 2016 06:53 Messages: 37 Offline
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(BTW, my name's not Mikael. I really am a James. Mikael is the composer of a backing track I used in a video.)
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