Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

To talk about anything else
Post Reply
User avatar
mox
Posts: 1024
Joined: 13 Feb 2006, 19:24
Contact:

Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

Post by mox »

Hi there,

it's an old topic about undesirable pixels around PNGs + alpha that may happens sometimes when loading files outside TVPaint.

In TVP, I'm used to export 32bits PNGs with No PreMultiply and I've been quite lucky so far.
But when I import my files into a tool using a game engine, depending how the colors + alpha are, it's not accurate to say the least.
It looks like every drawing package have its own way for saving PNGs and alpha processing be different...
alpha.png
alpha.png (69.14 KiB) Viewed 4185 times
I tried a lot of things tweaking backgrounds, colors, masks,... Nothing works.

TVP users: what is your workflow to get rid of this edges or at least to soften them?
I know people using SuperPNG but it only works for a well-known tool I don't use :]

TVP Dev: aside FX stack, we don't have RGBA channels, any solutions to prevent this?
Jerome Lorin
Moxica (playground)
(Win11/TVP 11.7.3-64 bits pro)
User avatar
slowtiger
Posts: 2949
Joined: 08 May 2008, 21:10
Location: berlin, germany
Contact:

Re: Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

Post by slowtiger »

Oh yes, that is an issue in all programs I use.

My usual workflow is TVP to Moho or FinalCut. In Moho it depends on brightness of top and bottom colour. If I animate white clouds in TVP to put them on a bright blue sky in Moho, I use "no premultiply". Some bright clour on the same colour in Moho: "no premultiply" as well. Anything with a black outline is "premultiply".
TVP 10.0.18 and 11.0 MacPro Quadcore 3GHz 16GB OS 10.6.8 Quicktime 7.6.6
TVP 11.0 and 11.7 MacPro 12core 3GHz 32GB OS 10.11 Quicktime 10.7.3
TVP 11.7 Mac Mini M2pro 32GB OS 13.5
User avatar
mox
Posts: 1024
Joined: 13 Feb 2006, 19:24
Contact:

Re: Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

Post by mox »

I tried to export to Premultiply too to spot differences, but it always makes the edges worse like an intentional outline, so NoPremultiply is rather a better choice to export (for me).

To be honest, even if I don't spot differences, I wonder if the choice of the background "None, Color or Check" has impact on alpha when exporting :?:
Jerome Lorin
Moxica (playground)
(Win11/TVP 11.7.3-64 bits pro)
Satchiken
Posts: 3
Joined: 12 Oct 2021, 07:25

Re: Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

Post by Satchiken »

One method you could try is to create and apply an opacity/alpha map.
So one image for your RGB channels, the second image for your A channel.
User avatar
mox
Posts: 1024
Joined: 13 Feb 2006, 19:24
Contact:

Re: Pixelated edges around files such as PNGs or TGAs

Post by mox »

Yes it should work in the case I would be a coder and I'd import two images and "blend" them, but it's out of my hands.
I'm really looking for TVPaint export to be clean...
Jerome Lorin
Moxica (playground)
(Win11/TVP 11.7.3-64 bits pro)
Post Reply