Transparent background disappearing?

[WillT]

2 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

Leave it as it is.

I did forgot that alpha is 8 bits in gray-scale so you may need one more step.

To adjust contrast after you do the Black and alpha.

I have been trying all combinations with no success yet.  So next I will leave the plugin as it is and apply it to the original layer with the signpost?  Then create a second layer with the 255,0,255 fill?  

[WillT]

Wow!  Finally!  That seemed to do it.  The edges look a little fuzzy for some reason though but on something that small it is not the end of the world.  What did you mean about the contrast?  When and on what would that last step be done?

 

Edit: I spoke too soon. I don't quite have it yet.  Somehow I ended up with a solid white background instead of magenta/transparent.  I'll do it again from scratch to see if I can figure out why.

Edited December 31, 2018 by WillT

[HyReZ]

If that did not work  disable anti-aliasing,  turn the color tolerance up to 69 or 70% and set your primary color to black an use the bucket tool to fill your sign. This can help fill in anti-aliasing effects.

Edited December 31, 2018 by HyReZ

[HyReZ]

6 minutes ago, WillT said:

Wow!  Finally!  That seemed to do it.  The edges look a little fuzzy for some reason though but on something that small it is not the end of the world.  What did you mean about the contrast?  When and on what would that last step be done?

 

Edit: I spoke too soon. I don't quite have it yet.  Somehow I ended up with a solid white background instead of magenta/transparent.  I'll do it again from scratch to see if I can figure out why.

You can use undo to backup a few steps

Edited December 31, 2018 by HyReZ

[HyReZ]

I will have to look in later it is 2AM

[WillT]

Oh wow!  Thanks.  I am on the west coast so earlier but time for me to call it for now too.  I will try it once more and post the results and the exact steps I took to get there if it does not work.  Whenever you get to look is fine but I won't get back to it until mid day tomorrow.  I really do appreciate the help!

[WillT]

So after doing the following steps, the black signpost image still has the magenta bleeding around the edges. (Looks pretty much the same as the previous images before using the plugin.)

 

Started with the original downloaded image at 32X32.
In PDN applied the Black and Alpha+ at the default setting to the one layer with the black signpost.
Then created another layer and filled it with the bucket with 255,0,255
Swapped the position of the layers so the symbol looked correct. (Magenta background with black signpost.)
Saved as .bmp file at 24 bit and flattened.

 

Did I miss a step or use the plugin incorrectly or something?

[toe_head2001]

8 minutes ago, WillT said:

In PDN applied the Black and Alpha+ at the default setting to the one layer with the black signpost.

 

HyReZ has lead you astray. The Black and Alpha+ plugin doesn't do what you want.

 

Use BoltBait's Transparency plugin instead:

 

Before:

 

After:

 

[Eli]

46 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:

Use BoltBait's Transparency plugin instead:

We are back to the Transparency effect 😄 @toe_head2001 Thanks, that is a neat trick for sharpenning edges.

 

[IHaveNoName]

I think the problem is going to remain despite the use of BoltBait's Transparency plugin.

 

I tried it on the 256x256 symbol WillT posted earlier. It indeed does what is shown by toe_head2001's but that is on the 256x256 image. The moment you reduce that transparency adjusted image down to 32x32 the transparent pixels return and that is surely going to cause the magenta outline to reappear.

 

 

  1400% magnification

 

 

If you apply the Transparency plugin to either that or use it on the original image after reduction to 32x32 the result is the same: an expanded icon size:-

 

1400% magnification

 

That actually looks cruder, even when reduced to normal use size, than my earlier suggestion to build the icon from individual pixels at 32x32.

 

One thing I was thinking is how the Garmin device reacts to .ICO images (Windows icon file format). As I understand it these are effectively 24bit BMP images. Before the .ICO specific save format was available in a lot of graphics programs, like PDN, the recommended method of creating images for icon use was to make a 32x32 icon, add an .ico extension to the file name then save as a 24bit BMP using the Windows Paint tool. It would then save as an .ICO file.

 

It might be worth experimenting with PDN's icon (.ico) save format instead of BMP as that appears to save a transparent background. I suspect it won't work but the magenta background outline is the problem now and I can see no way of addressing that if intermediate colour pixels are present. Trying to get the Garmin to display the original all transparent background instead is worth a shot.

Edited December 31, 2018 by IHaveNoName

[HyReZ]

Greetings All,

toe_head2001 is correct! I did make errors in my advice. When you construct your signs next time use  a canvas size of the dimensions that you need an then zoom in  until you get a pixel grid that is big enough to see what is going on at that resolution. Next: start building! Zoom in and out occasionally to see your progress. (Goto to View tab and enable Pixel Grid and Ruler)

During construction be cognizant of anti-aliasing, you will want disable it on most projects of this type. 
 

Edited December 31, 2018 by HyReZ

[WillT]

Well this has been a bunch of learning! Now that I know my way around PDN much better, a side benefit is that perhaps I will use it much more than I thought originally.  Anyway I am hesitant to say this is figured out and possibly jinx it, but I do seem to have it working for this particular signpost image.  I was doing some of the things @IHaveNoName suggested above.  While working with a version of the file in .ico format, I decided to zoom way in and try adding solid black to some of the signpost pixels, and erasing completely the contents of the adjacent "transparent" pixels.  This gave me clean edges, although it looked bad and boxy zoomed/enlarged like that.  BUT, when I put it back to the 16X16 size I decided I wanted for this particular map symbol, it looked fine.  

 

So I saved it to the correct folder and it showed up in the BaseCamp software.  Then I saved a version of the file to the Garmin GPSr and it worked, sort of.  I could make a waypoint on the GPSr unit and assign it the signpost symbol file and it showed up.  But when I sent a waypoint that had the signpost symbol already assigned to it in BaseCamp to the GPSr, it did not show the signpost, but rather the generic waypoint symbol blue flag.  I realized that this was because even though the Garmin products could display the .ico files just fine, in order to have the symbols synced between garmin devices, the Garmin firmware/software was requiring them to be .bmp, not .ico....  And they had to have the exact correct names. (In this case, 002.bmp in BaseCamp and Custom 2.bmp on the GPS receiver so the Garmin software would know to use those two files interchangeably.)

 

So.. what I did as the last step was open each of the .ico symbol files in PDN and just save them as .bmp files.  PDN just seemed to save the .ico files as .bmp files without changing anything about the image or colors, etc.  So now it works as it should.

 

Now at least I know how to get a small symbol icon file from an image that has anti-aliasing already on it.  BUT... I think I will really try to make my own files for the remaining symbols I need and avoid the issue from the start on as many of the symbols as possible.  

 

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions along the way.  It took a while and a lot of studying up on PDN by me to understand most of the suggestions, but I feel it was well worth it.

Edited December 31, 2018 by WillT