Render Transparent Alpha background with PNG?


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By sean.smgraphics - 5 Years Ago
Is there no way to set a background alpha for renders?
I just purchased Character Creator Pipeline. My use case is to render the character I create with a transparent background so I can easily drop them into other scenes created in photoshop.
I have yet to find any way to do this most basic function from within Character Creator 3. Given how hair renders, this is a must have for any of my work.
I have been exporting as PNG and I always get the background color, or the sky.
I don't even see options to change the PNG to 32 bit anywhere.
What am I missing?
By animagic - 5 Years Ago
Did you try a black background with PNG?

To change the background color, go to 2D Settings in Project settings and set Background Color to black.

https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/7a1e1f0e-59e3-41bc-abb7-8e79.png

Hide the sky and it should work. As far as I know PNG export is always at 32 bit.

Anyway, here is a test:

https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/f3f51fa7-4968-4f72-b08c-24fb.png

Note that most image viewers don't show transparency, so you need a proper graphics editor to check.
By Dan Miller - 5 Years Ago
sean.smgraphics (5/5/2020)
Is there no way to set a background alpha for renders?
I just purchased Character Creator Pipeline. My use case is to render the character I create with a transparent background so I can easily drop them into other scenes created in photoshop.
I have yet to find any way to do this most basic function from within Character Creator 3. Given how hair renders, this is a must have for any of my work.
I have been exporting as PNG and I always get the background color, or the sky.
I don't even see options to change the PNG to 32 bit anywhere.
What am I missing?


I haven't tried it myself but it seems like the solution is to send it over to iClone then follow these steps:

Exporting an Alpha Video
By sean.smgraphics - 5 Years Ago
I have no idea how it happened but it's working now. I have tried black background before and it didn't work. Maybe it was a fluke the first time.
Thanks for the feedback.
By Peter (RL) - 5 Years Ago
sean.smgraphics (5/5/2020)
Is there no way to set a background alpha for renders?
I just purchased Character Creator Pipeline. My use case is to render the character I create with a transparent background so I can easily drop them into other scenes created in photoshop.
I have yet to find any way to do this most basic function from within Character Creator 3. Given how hair renders, this is a must have for any of my work.
I have been exporting as PNG and I always get the background color, or the sky.
I don't even see options to change the PNG to 32 bit anywhere.
What am I missing?


Hi Sean

The default project in CC3 includes a 2D Background. If you want to render with a transparent background just go into Project Settings (CTRL+SHIFT+P) and take the check out of 'Activate Image' under 2D Background. You should then be able to render with a transparent background.
By sonic7 - 3 Years Ago

And if you're still pulling your hair out because of NOT getting a transparent background, then one extra step may be needed. (step #2 below).

#1. (As mentioned above), "Active Image" needs to be *unchecked* in the *2D Background Pane* under "Project Settings"
#2. Under your main "scene" tab, the "Sky" also needs to be *unchecked*.

If the sky happens to be set to the color "black" (in 2D Background Color), then you won't see any "visual clue" that the sky is ON - it will look the same as when the 'Active Image" is swithed OFF.
(If the 2D Background Color was already set to a color, then you would have seen 'visually' that the sky was switched on because the color would show in the background).
So double checking this "Sky" setting is worthwhile.
Had me stumped for a while ....