Need advice, please

Hi, I was wondering if someone could look at my newest filter and let me know what I did wrong on it. I made the filter so it would have a transparent background, but when I try to save any of it the color of the background I used when working in that filter will show up. I know that I can choose to have a transparent background when I start a new project with the filter, but I also know that some of the filters will save as transparent backgrounds even if your work area was pink. Hope that made sense.

Here is the filter http://www.filterforge.com/filters/3061.html

Thank you for your time.

How do I do that?

Thanks for responding.

Too many controls ha-ha, more than 10-12, and yer just everywhere and nowhere at once. Decide what your filter does, then make it do that better than you though it could, mostly by hard coding some values, eliminate 3/4 of the controls with set values.

jffe

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ahimsa wrote: Jffe, that wasn't exactly very helpful. Actually it sounded a bit insulting.

----You asked.

jffe

ahimsa, are you talking about when you save an image with it or when you save the filter and leave the editor?

if you're loading a solid image as your background while working in the editor, that backgruond image will still be there when you leave the editor. so, it's always going to bleed through. and if you quit out of FF and load it again, then the life preserver is going to be showing in the transparent parts.

if you're trying to save an image with a transparency, then dont use .jpg. it cant handle transparencies. use .tiff.

Kraellin, with some filters I have used made by others I have been able to edit them and add the alpha thing and then no matter what color background I chose when fiddling around with the preset I could always save the finished result as a png file that I could use in PSP as a tube. With this one when I save as a png it still has the background canvas color that I used while playing with the preset. I have figured out how to have a transparent background while I work now, but not how to make the filter itself save a png file with a transparent background.

I have looked at other people's filters to see how they are doing it, but I seem to be missing something. Most of the filters have so many components that I get dizzy trying to figure it all out.

Thanks for responding.

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Jffe, the question I had was about making it save transparent and your response after the laughing was about my using too many controls. I am new at this and right now that is the way that I can get the most control of the type filters I am making. I am making filters to be used primarily by people who make clothing and jewelry textures for Poser. So I am wanting to give myself and the other person enough controls so that they can have fabrics and design elements that look as realistic as possible. I am not just trying to make goo filters. If I end up with this program maybe I will get to the point where I can get the same effects with only a few controls, but since I only have this program for about three more weeks I am trying to make as many nice filters as I can in the hopes that at least a few will become high ranked as I can't afford to buy the program for at least a year or two.

ahimsa,

One way to get rid of those background parts that you want transparent is to have the Image component somehow connected in your filter (but in your case, not really being used). I'll attach an example of how I did this with your filter. (I can't remember the reasoning on why FF made it this way -- so I see it as just a quirky thing for now.)

Design Elements 1A.ffxml

Yes, I mentioned that I know how to do that. What I am wanting is different.
On some filters when you open a new image you can use any color you want and not transparent. The filter itself causes the transparency when you save. The fireworks filter is a good example. She made 4 background types and one is transparent and when you save as a png it will have a transparent background reguardless of what you chose when you chose new image. That is what I am trying to do.

ssamm, I updated the filter thanks to you and had this added to the description : Thanks to ssamm for helping me get the transparency part working right.

I tried to help, but failed

I didn't know that about the image either.....I'm learning something new all the time.....thanx ssamm