Masking

[Tejano Bob]

How can background around an object be totally masked out to make everything except the object invisible. To be used in animation. ProShow used masked PNG files, which PTE AV Studio 10 cannot load, and made it a "Layer." I believe, in Studio 10, the object would be the child of a parent image. The question is how to make the background of the child totally transparent.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Bob,

PTE can use any PNG file which has had the background made transparent. Take your original image into your image editor such as Photoshop and make the background transparent. Load this file into PTE and you will have an object with transparency surrounding it. No need for a mask to do this. If you have Photoshop just open your file and get the image size. Then select all and copy this file. Then click on "File" "New" and make it RGB Color with Transparent Background and the same dimensions as revealed for your original. Paste your copied file to this new image and use the eraser tool to erase all background except what you want to show. Save the creation as a PNG file and open it in PTE. The background will be transparent allowing any image it's placed on to be seen through the transparency portion.

No need to make the image a "child" just go to the Objects and Animations screen and add this image and move it to the top layer.

If you have problems doing this, let me know and I'll make you a little video tutorial...

Best regards,

Lin

[Tejano Bob]

I Have a lot of PNG files. I have made the backgrounds transparent. When I call up my file lists in Studio 10 and try to upload them, the jpgs show up and can be moved into the slide lists, but the PNG files show up in the file list as some kind of flower icon. I’m used to using ProSho Producer. To create animation I load up my PNG files and set them as levels within the slides. The PTE tutorial I’ve watched about masking shows animation created using Parents and children, but it isn’t very sophisticated animation.
 

 

 

 

[Lin Evans]

It sounds like perhaps you have png files defaulted to open in some other program. Right click on one and choose "properties" then see what it says and let me know. We really have no problems at all opening png files with transparency so something's not quite right here.

What version of Windows are you running?

 

Try this png file with transparency and see if it has the same flower icon:

 

Best regards,

Lin

[Tejano Bob]

I went to one of my folders that had PNG files and tried again to upload several of them. They uploaded with no problem. I have no idea why I was having trouble earlier. But, perhaps you can tell me how to get them into the slide list as layers.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Bob,

Let me make you a little video tutorial. You don't put them into the slide list as "layers" you put one in the slide list or a blank slide them add them in Objects and Animations. Give me a half hour and I'll show you exactly how it's done. You can do amazing animations with PTE - I'll also demonstrate one of the styles used to animate and solve a Rubik's cube.

As soon as I get it finished, I'll upload to YouTube and edit this post so you'll find it right here..

Best regards,

Lin 

 

[Tauratinzwe]

Masking has always seemed so counter intuitive after learning it in PS.  However, the more recent versions of PTE label things to make it somewhat clearer - to me.  Look forward to learning from Lin's tutorial.

[Lin Evans]

Bob,

Here are 14,480 individual tiny video screens simultaneously playing videos while the icosahedrons rotate and zoom and the Earth rotates in the background. All accomplished with PTE AV Studio 10. It's a totally amazing product which can do incredible animations. Some of the recent converts from Producer such as Paul and Aleina have shown how quickly they were able to adapt to the PTE way of doing things with their beautiful animations, etc.

Best regards,

Lin

 

[Tejano Bob]

Thanks for all the help., and I'll look forward to watching your tutorial, Lin. Right now I'm having a problem with animating text on a screen using keyframes as I watch Barry Beckham's Basic Video Tutorial. I'll address that in a separate query.

[Tejano Bob]

I just watched your tutorial Lin. That was a great tutorial, and you answered questions I hadn't even gotten to yet. I loved your scene and the objects. Crater Lake is one of my favorite lakes

[Tejano Bob]

Lin: I watched your tutorial, and followed it up through your uploading of the balloon pics. Then you apparently clicked on "Styles and Themes". The window that opened was blurry, but I think that's what it said. The window I get when I click on Styles and Themes in my practice video looks entirely different, and there is no "Easy Styler" option. Perhaps you're using a different version of the software. I'm using the Trial version of Studio 10.

[Lin Evans]

Bob,

What you see when you open Styles and Themes will be essentially the same, but if you haven't downloaded and imported any styles, the content will be drastically different. Everyone's Styles and Themes when they go to "Styles" will look slightly different depending on how many and which styles they have imported and installed.

I'm not certain what you mean or where you got the "Easy Styler" term????  That's not from me???

Best regards,

Lin

[Tejano Bob]

Lin: The screen I was talking about was in your tutoritial, and was the first screen after you finished adding the hot air balloons. I couldn't see what you clicked on, but the screen that came up looked like it had the title "Styles and Themes" but the resolution was low so I couldn't be sure. In that screen, your cursor was selecting some option from the left-hand panel , and you mentioned the name. It sounded like you said, "Easy Styler." You must have said something else, but that's what it sounded like to me. The sound was weak and a little distorted. Plus my ear tends to distort sounds if they're not crisp and clear. I sometimes can't understand what some people are saying on TV. Anyway, I think I was able to see the main thing you were trying to show me, so it pretty much answered my question.

[wideangle]

Bob

I think it was probably User Styles.

Regards

wideangle

 

[Lin Evans]

Hi Bob,

One thing I notice from your screen capture is that you are not watching my tutorial in high definition. Click on the little icon to the left of the word YouTube on the bottom right of your screen and choose "High Definition."  When you do, that icon will show a red HD indicating that you are using HD resolution. When you do that the text will be more clear so you might be able to see it if your screen display is large enough. The tutorial is in HD resolution which, unless you have a 4k display is about as high as I can output.

I apologize for my voice - after my stroke two years ago I have problems properly pronouncing some words. Probably the term you heard was either User Styles which was where I first looked for the Rubik's Cube Style or New User Styles, which is where it is located on my system.

Best regards,

Lin

[Tejano Bob]

Lin: Thanks for your response. I'll try your suggestion. I was unaware of the HD option on YouTube. As for your voice, even with the weak sound I was able to understand you better than I often understand characters on TV. I've already mentioned the problem I have with my ear distorting speech. That has, on occasion, yielded some funny stories, but this is not the forum for that. Thanks again for your help.

[Tejano Bob]

Well, I have come full circle with this problem. It began when I first began using Studio 10.I was unfamiliar with how animation is done in Studio 10. In ProSho  I used masked PNG files to make the area around an object transparent. When I tried to load PNG files into Studio 10, I would get flower icons in the file list, and, in the main screen load errors. I came in to the forum with my problem. One of the members responded that Studio 10 has the capability of loading PNG files, and that I must have made my PNG files for some special application. But when I went back to my file list, the flower icons were gone, and the files loaded OK. Now I'm back. I'm loading PNG files from a project I did in ProShow. The flower icons and the load error messages are back.

Update 4/24/2020: Problem solved but not answered. The question that arose in MY mind was, "Does it depend on where I got the file from?" I loaded a JPG into Corel Photo Paint (Similar to Photoshop), made it a PNG and resaved it. No load error. I loaded a problem PNG into PhotoPaint, then resaved it with no changes. No load error. I got the original PNG from the folder on my computer. Load error. The unanswered question is, "What's the difference?" Something to wonder about, but not terribly important.