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Author Topic: Assistance With Transparency  (Read 1097 times)

Moshineko

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Assistance With Transparency
« on: March 29, 2011, 06:30:53 pm »

Hey all, actually made this acct. to ask for help with this.



Because my wife and I always laugh at how we think our terriers are just like dorfs (eat all the time, complain, never wash, and dig, dig, dig), and because I have a lot of time on my hands now that my shift has changed, I've been working on re-drawing Mayday's graphic set into a Terrier Fortress set. Working okay for the most part, some I can figure out on my own, but I run into a small problem.

The transparency if I use the pure Magenta means that my dorf dogs end up black blobs. Is this typical and I'm just a whiny nellie, or is there something besides using a light gray background on the .png?
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AdeleneDawner

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Re: Assistance With Transparency
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2011, 09:39:45 pm »

Magenta as transparency is a .bmp thing, since bitmaps don't support real transparency. If you're using a .png, try making the background actually transparent and see if that helps.
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NW_Kohaku

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Re: Assistance With Transparency
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2011, 09:49:23 pm »

As Adelene said, .bmp files don't have transparency, so pure magenta is simply deleted to create transparency in .bmp files, but you can simply change the magenta very slightly, and make a very slightly impure magenta stand out if you so chose.

In order to add transparency into a file, however, you need to use an alpha channel, and a drawing software package that recognizes that sort of thing - I don't think Paint will let you work with alpha channels, if that is what you are using. 
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Bohandas

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Re: Assistance With Transparency
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2011, 10:26:28 pm »

I just wanted to chime in and say that I really like thise sprites; They're cute.
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Moshineko

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Re: Assistance With Transparency
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2011, 10:32:18 pm »

Excellent. Using GIMP, will see how it works. Thanks much, feel free to steal if you wish.

Next project is turning the goblins into badgers. ;)
Create some real species tension.
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NW_Kohaku

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Re: Assistance With Transparency
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2011, 11:37:21 pm »

When using GIMP, keep in mind it can be unintuitive/difficult to start out with a background that does not have transparency to start having transparency if you are not already using layers and are not already saving the image in a .png format.  It might be easier to start a new image file with a transparent background, and then copy-paste in the old image as a new layer, then work on magic wand erasing the old grey background.
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Personally, I like [DF] because after climbing the damned learning cliff, I'm too elitist to consider not liking it.
"And no Frankenstein-esque body part stitching?"
"Not yet"

Improved Farming
Class Warfare