Digital Art Zone

Hi guys…problem is ALL of my renders where sky should show that I save are missing their backrounds. Only white! I tryed putting a backround picture in and save it…still white. The indoor renders are fine when shot against a wall or object. It’s just sky backrounds..nothing. Any help appreciated.
When I render scene everything is in there. Check Render editor…Scenes are fine. When I save…white backround.
Thanks in advance.

If you are saving as PNG the background is saved as a Alpha Channel. One fast fix is to save as JPG.
To keep the High Quality I’ll save as JPG load into any Art PRG make sure its all a single layer and then save out in PNG.

Another option, although it won’t be a one-click-and-it’s-done fix, would be to bring the .png into whatever paint program you use (Photoshop, PaintShopPro, GIMP, whatever) and flatten the image so that the alpha channel is merged with the visible image. That’s where your problem is — whatever you’re using to view your renders is assuming that a .png pic’s alpha channel is supposed to be invisible. A good assumption for most pics, but not usually a good idea with a 3D render.

As a bonus, keeping the pic as a .png means you won’t lose detail. Using a .jpg in the process will lose detail, even if you have the quality dialled right up. I never save as .jpg until I’m completely finished with all postwork.

Kitty what you say is mostly true, but opening a full resolution JPG the first time and then saving as a PGN will keep the full detail. It’s the opening and saving as jpg over and over that drops the resolution. But as you said loading a PNG and flattening it to a single layer also works just as well. It is the standard viewers that expect the Alpha channel to be transparent. All my new work is PGN and stay in PGN just because of the loss that JPG files can cause.

Apologies, it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine — I work in the print industry, and as I’m the studio/prepress department (it’s a very small company) I’m the one who has to deal with the optimists who supply heavily over-compressed .jpg pics expecting us to be able to produce beautiful sharp printing. Most people can’t see the difference in a single max-quality .jpg save, and there won’t be much in the way of compression artifacts, but the loss of thrown-away detail is still there if you look closely.

Point made and well taken. And as I stated I only work in full PGN now. I Hate JPG with a passion.

SpottedKitty how does BMP fair when wanting to print? (Forgeting how big I need to render for printing) I am in the middle of a long project that I want to print. I have been saving as BMP up to now.

Thanks alot guys. I WAS saving as png!  I changed to jpg….works fine. I’ll save important work in both formats for now. Learning GIMP..got in the habit of saving everything in png format. lol THANKS AGAIN for the quick response. Great people.

Sorry to be a pain but…...One more problem…I’m running 64 bit DAZ 4.5…from 4.0 on a junked machine. I put my 4.0 registration number in 20+ times… Program won’t accept it for some reason. DAZ tech says to log on as Administrator…I do but it still pops up everytime.  DAZ works fine…I just have to keep bypassing the registration number and open the program unregistered I guess.
Anyone else having this problem?  Thanks again.
Joehook

Szark - 02 December 2012 06:48 PM

SpottedKitty how does BMP fair when wanting to print?

The big problem with .bmp files is that most programs saving them can’t do it with any kind of compression. It’s a very old format — I know the spec’s been updated over the years, but most of the time when I see a .bmp it’s uncompressed (the file is HUGE!!!) and not always high quality.

Speaking as a printer, the format I most like to see is .tif since it’s easiest to save properly if you don’t really know what you’re doing. A .tif file allows compression, but watch it — the .tif standard allows for various compression types to be “bolted on”, so you can have a .tif with no compression, lossless compression, or lossy .jpg compression.

Safest for image quality is .png since it (AFAIK) only allows lossless compression. Both .tif and .png support an alpha channel, so if you want to use one in your render, either one will do.

BTW, have you talked to a printer yet about file specs and settings? There are a few things you need to know before creating your final render, and some things that can wait until just before you finish postwork and save the final file that gets sent to the printer.

hookmanjoe - 02 December 2012 07:49 PM

I just have to keep bypassing the registration number and open the program unregistered I guess.
Anyone else having this problem?  Thanks again.
Joehook

Have you gotten the Newest Reg code? Many folks had this happen from 4.0 to 4.5. I had to drop my Pay code for the Free reg code when the PRG was updated from 4 to 4.5.

Jaderail…just checked..still have my old 4.0 serial #. I’m not going to re-register and possibly lose my account info. Maybe DAZ tech. will read this and get me a free serial # that works. lol Program does work fine…just an annoyance to me now.
Thanks. hook

You do not need to Re-register your account. Just Check your MY Account and then My Available Serial Numbers for the one that DS4.5 Needs.

I did…this is what I got. Told DAZ..said 4.0 should work. It doesn’t.  If there’s a 4.5…I haven’t got it.  hook.

Serial numbers removed

Have you not BOUGHT the FREE version of Daz Studio 4.5 from the store? If not you should. And Also get the Free Hexagon 2.5 and the free Bryce 7 Pro. They will not stay free forever. You will need to learn some new stuff but the FULL DS4.5 is a must if your PC is able to run it (and will get you FREE updates later just because you Bought it). Please look at all the system requirements before you install. I expect a new Daz Studio 5.0 will end the Free give away. So get the Free working versions while you can.