Transparent background

by **SteveFromOz** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:38 pm

Hi all,

Is there a way in Proshow Gold (or Producer) to adjust the transparency or opacity of a background without creating a separate file in an editor such as Photoshop?

Regards,

Steve

by **debngar** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:09 pm

Producer has an opacity adjustment slider. Unless something has changed in more recent versions, Gold does not.

A show global background is static and cannot be adjusted like that. Only layers in a slide can have various opacity. A bottom layer in a slide can cover the global show background however. So, if the opacity of the bottom layer was adjusted, one could see parts of the show background below that.

Hope that makes sense.

by **SteveFromOz** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:38 pm

Sort of. Currently I do not have Producer, so I guess I'll have to make a background image in photoshop to give me the look I want. Easy enough, just a few extra steps.

Steve

by **debngar** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:25 am

You could install a free trial version of Producer to see the additional goodies it has if you're wondering about that.

by **SteveFromOz** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 12:22 pm

True, and have been thinking that.

by **tdew** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:27 am

I am having trouble visualizing a transparent background. What would you see beyond it? If it really worked and you were viewing on the computer, you'd see the desktop? What am I missing?

by **debngar** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:16 am

tdew wrote:I am having trouble visualizing a transparent background. What would you see beyond it? If it really worked and you were viewing on the computer, you'd see the desktop? What am I missing?

New users are sometimes confused regarding the difference between a "show" background and a bottom slide layer that can serve as an alternative background for a slide that sits under other images in the slide. A show background cannot have varying image opacity. Hence, there is no adjustment slider in that area for opacity, neither is there a chroma key tool offered in the background adjustment screen area. Within a slide layer, that option is offered for adjusting a slide image to remove selective color for purposes of making an image partly transparent.

Here's the part in the Producer manual that speaks of the show background. I'm pretty sure it applies the same to Gold. http://files.photodex.com/docs/manuals/ ... uto,55,414

If a .png image with transparent areas is substituted for the usual "show" background, the areas of transparency show up black and not transparent. It's possible the user wants to insert a transparent image on the bottom layer which may show through to whatever global "show" background was chosen for that show or particular slide.

by **SteveFromOz** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:01 pm

This is the effect I would like to achieve. The lighter image will be used as a background on just a few slides, with other images rolling in from the sides in various ways. The darker image is the original file. Yes, I know I can do it in photoshop and it would only take 5 minutes, but it would be nice to be able to do it in PSG.

Steve

by **debngar** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:18 pm

Ok then, try this. In the slide option adjustment tab, adjust the contrast slider to lessen and experiment some to turn up the white point, brightness and black point.

That all can be done in Gold. May not look quite the same, but is doable. Place it on the bottom layer of the slides you wish for it to appear.

by **im42n8** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:07 pm

Ok, nice try ... ain't gonna happen in the current version of Gold or any previous version. Simply put, Gold won't cut it for what you want to do WITHOUT using a 3rd party program.

So, If you create the effect you want, you'll need to create an image with the desired change in opacity using an image editor (like Photoshop) and import that modified image. Make sure that imported image layer is the lowest layer in the layer stack for the slides on which you want the effect. The color of the slide's background will then be used to change the look of the imported, semi-transparent layer being used as a "background" for the slide. (It's either that or you use an image layer with the desired color(s) below that layer in Gold. OR photoshop the image to change using any of a number of approaches available in PS to achieve the desired . . . the key thing is to create the look you desire for the "background" of the specific layers you'll use that image in).

Adjusting the unadulterated image's layer's White, Black Point, brightness, contrast, saturation, etc in Gold is NOT going to do it for you ... ain't gonna happen. It's all gonna fall short of the effect you're seeking (by a long shot).

The effects available in Producer far exceed anything available to Gold and you don't have to rely on a 3rd party program to achieve any number of interesting effects. Gold is effectively crippled of many features. It's basic to what seems, to me, to be quite extreme. If you've had Gold for awhile, upgrading to Producer is relatively cheap ("Cheap" being a relative term depending on your pocketbook and what you want to achieve at anytime in the future). But, it provides unparalleled flexibility in a number of areas ...

Dale

by **debngar** » Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:05 am

Re: Transparent background

by SteveFromOz » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:01 pm

This is the effect I would like to achieve. The lighter image will be used as a background on just a few slides, with other images rolling in from the sides in various ways. The darker image is the original file.

If the desired effect is to simply fade and lighten the image for use in a layer underneath an image, then it is possible by way of those adjustments. I've done it myself.

The method achieves similar results to the example you provided looking for a way to do that in Gold. Initially it was described as transparency, but later was described as wanting a lightened image.

If the desired effect is to create transparency, it's already stated that Gold cannot do that. It would then have to be done in an outside editor or Producer.

by **BarbaraC** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 7:39 am

I gave it a try using Adjustments, and I got pretty darned close to what you wanted, but there may be another, easier way to achieve the effect. I just tested it in Photoshop, placing a white layer on top of a photo and then reducing the opacity of the white layer. It worked perfectly. This certainly wouldn't work for a global background, but it definitely will for individual backgrounds: Create a white layer in Photoshop with 55-60% opacity, save it, and then place it as a layer on top of your background photo in ProShow. Because you'll have the white file handy, you can use it however and whenever you like.

Barbara

by **im42n8** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:09 am

I agree with Barbara. I made the changes to the photo provided and got something similar to what was appeared to be desired without much of a problem. However, in general, that's NOT going to happen for any variety of reasons. I tried a variety of image types to achieve the effect (all high quality images) and Gold simply wasn't up to the task. But, with the white graphic layer with the given transparency settings, you can then tweak the image some to get the image even better suited.

Now, for a caveat. My experience with Gold and transparency in graphics hasn't been stellar. In trying to make a graphic that I could use as a shadow to an image layer, I've been disappointed with the results. There's something about the way Gold handles PNG, TIFF, and PSD files that isn't what you'd normally expect. Now, that's not to say that you won't get something that works for you (such as graphic solution that Barbara gave). But, for the stuff that requires a bit more finesse ... just note that it might or might not work as desired at first blush. I don't why that is but, that's my experience. Gold's shadow feature is abysmal and I wanted something that gave more "depth" than provided by Gold's function. For solutions on the scale provided by Barbara however, seems to work fine ....

Dale

by **BarbaraC** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:57 am

I just tried a side-by-side comparison, using the translucent white layer in both Producer and Gold. I didn't see a speck of difference, so maybe there's a problem with shadow type layers, but apparently not with a translucent white .png.

Barbara

by **im42n8** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:10 pm

No, not with the translucent white (or other color)... not a problem. But, when I last tried it with a layer used to create a shadow ... it was less than desirable as a shadow. There was something in the way Gold handled it that was different than what I could get in Producer (I was doing side-by-side comparisons, effectively). It was disappointing.

Next time, I'll actually write down the problem and document it (instead of simply remembering ... there might be something in the mix I'm not remembering).

Dale

Checked it out ... I faded the the edges of a graphic such that the very outside edges were transparent. This transparency transcended to completely opaque at 10% of the layer's width. Gold showed the edges as sharp, not faded. Then, I noticed that the problem was probably with the application I was using ... it didn't fade edges of the graphic correctly ... way too sharp. So, the problem probably isn't Gold ... it's USER ERROR (on my part, for not noticing what the application's output was). I used a different application to create the shadow image and voila! Fantastico! Just what I wanted ... oh well . . . gotta pay attention to what those applications are doing on to their outputs (to keep them honest).

Oh well ... (and as Anna Rosanna Danna said: "never mind.").

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