Transparent PNG export issues

[Akril15]

As I've been getting comfortable with AGS, I've also been experimenting with different kinds of game graphics. However, I seem to have recently hit a barrier of sorts.

I've been making more and more animations using partially transparent PNGS. With PNGs, I can create animations that not only contain far more colors than a GIF, but also contain some cool alpha effects. I create the animation in Paint Shop Pro 7 with each frame as a separate layer, then import the file into Animation Shop 3 to see how it looks in motion.

However, I've discovered that there is (apparently) no easy way to convert the layers of a PSP image to separate PNGs. I thought AS3's "Save Frames As" option could solve this problem easily, but for some inexplicable reason, it saves all PNGs with opaque white backgrounds. My only alternative is going through the PSP image layer by layer, exporting each one individually.

I've tried looking around for other ways of doing this, but so far my least dubious options seem to be:
A) getting an upgrade to a Photoshop CS3, then downloading an unofficial PNG layer export script (since Adobe apparently never got around to implementing one themselves)
B) Buying a program that can read Photoshop files and extract their layers in various formats

I'm baffled at how difficult this is turning out to be, and I can't help wondering if I've somehow overlooked a much simpler (and cheaper) alternative.

Does anyone here have any advice concerning this little problem?

[Igor Hardy]

Hello fellow ACG writer (and a great one to boot!),

I think this unofficial export script for CS3 does what you are looking for nicely (I've tried it before):

http://jufa.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/getting-back-functionality-that-went-mia-in-the-adobe-workflow-export-layers-to-png-with-transparency/

[Sslaxx]

Hello fellow ACG writer (and a great one to boot!),

I think this unofficial export script for CS3 does what you are looking for nicely (I've tried it before):

http://jufa.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/getting-back-functionality-that-went-mia-in-the-adobe-workflow-export-layers-to-png-with-transparency/

I'll note that Akril does not have, as yet, CS3. It seems really odd that PSP or PhotoShop doesn't have this option by default - neither does, for that matter, GIMP. Is this ability really not considered important, then?

[Khris]

Just for reference, not very helpful probably, but CS5 has that functionality built-in and it works perfectly.

[Monsieur OUXX]

I've has issues importing PNG files made with PSP 9 into AGS. There is white shit where there should be transparency. That might be related: Maybe the PNG handling of PSP is not 100% standard. Or maybe it's "too" standard and uses fancy stuff that other applicatins don't use.

I'm not sure if it's related to your issue, but I thought that might help.

[Akril15]

Hello fellow ACG writer (and a great one to boot!),

I think this unofficial export script for CS3 does what you are looking for nicely (I've tried it before):

http://jufa.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/getting-back-functionality-that-went-mia-in-the-adobe-workflow-export-layers-to-png-with-transparency/

Hello (and thank you)!

Sslaxx is right, though -- I should have mentioned that the only (legal) copies of Photoshop I have are pretty antiquated: Photoshop version 5.5 and Photoshop Elements 2.

I've has issues importing PNG files made with PSP 9 into AGS. There is white shit where there should be transparency. That might be related: Maybe the PNG handling of PSP is not 100% standard. Or maybe it's "too" standard and uses fancy stuff that other applicatins don't use.

I'm not sure if it's related to your issue, but I thought that might help.

Hmm, strange -- I haven't had any problems with the PNGs I've exported from PSP7, but one quirk I've noticed is that PSP7 has trouble reading PNGs, even ones that I've made using it. Any partially transparent PNGs I open in PSP7 appear completely opaque with black blotchy areas (the weird thing is, the same PNGs look just fine in AS3).

Incidentally, this is the PSD layer-extracting program that I mentioned in my original post.