PSP X2 unable to save png properly

Hi I'm really hoping someone can help me with this. I don't know if this is due to using the trial version of PSP X2 or I'm just missing something. Anyway here is the issue. I'm trying to modify a "blank" logo banner png to add my site's text/etc. for a logo from a website template that uses png's to do a dropshadow effect. This is the demo site for what the template should look like http://blackbear15.joomlabear.com/

This is what happens when I modify the logo png at the top (which is blank in the actual template)

http://www.flyinionfilms.com/badhead.jpg

The guy that created it says he does not use transparency due to issues it causes with IE (he does have some png fix script in for IE 5.5/6 in the template CSS/HTML). He said it is just using a drop shadow effect and all I should have to do is put my logo stuff on top and to save using 24 bit with no transparency. I've tried saving every which way I can see in the png exporting options in PSP X2 though and get the same result every time. Then in one last desperate attempt I installed GIMP and literally just loaded up the background graphic png, a transparent background .psd I'd saved from PSP with my logo and placed that on top of the background, merge layers, save and it worked fine without tweaking any png options anywhere. I'd really rather use PSP though (can't afford something like Photoshop) I just need to figure out if this is something PSP can't do though. Hoping someone out there can help me figure this out.

Are you using the "Save As" or "Export". Using the "Export" will allow you to choose the PNG Optimizer where you can control the type of png you want.

Yes I'm using the Export with PNG Optimizer. I've tried every combination of options I can think of in there that would make sense and it always comes out the same way. Even stranger is that the problem only happens that badly when I look at the site in IE7. If I use Firefox it looks pretty much perfect but it does seem like you can barely see that the shadow effect is off slightly. So that is confusing me even more. I've been trying to figure this out for about 4 days now :(

Without seeing the psd file, kind of hard to try it out. But just to make sure of what you are addressing, is it the dark black border on the side of your header?

I looked at the demo site you listed in firefox and pulled in the original png header by itself and when I looked at it in psp it had that dark black on the side just like yours. I don't use joomla stuff as they sometimes have hard html and css code to work with. To be honest, I don't think the problem is with psp, but if you could attach the psd for the header, some of us could play around with it to hopefully be able to help out.

Oh and by the way, welcome to talkgraphics. :)

Yeah I don't know exactly how that graphic interacts with the HTML/CSS in the template to get the effect because yeah I can't see any difference between the blank .png and the one I've added my logo to but something is different and causing it not to fade in IE7. I'll attach the blank file from the template itself for you to play with though you'll either have to be running a Joomla site with that template to test or upload it here and I can test it to see if you guys figure something out that works. All I was doing was opening the .png and adding text to it then doing the export. Of course I'm exporting it as head.png as well to match the original file name that is in the template.

I also downloaded the template from Joomla, but I don't have PHP installed on my computer so I can't test anything. So I am really just guessing on trying to help. Does Joomla have a forum that might provide help on this specific template? Or maybe need to talk with the creator of the template again. I don't know of any reason why PSP would be causing this.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

The author's forum is the first place I posted about this. I haven't really been able to get much help from there other than "save it as 24 bit without transparency" and "you can send your files to me and I can put it together for you". While I definitely appreciated the 2nd part, it of course didn't help fix the problem which is why I'm here :)

The really screwy part as I said is that I can open this head.png and some other logo parts in GIMP and merge the parts with the head.png/save it and it works fine so that definitely points to something I'm not doing right in PSP or that it can't do itself due to either being a trial version or just not able to save this file the way it needs to be for some reason.

edit: omg I just realized when I attached the png file to my other post the forum converted it to a .jpg, here's a link you can use to download the png http:www.flyinionfilms.com/headoriginal.png

I created a new image in PSP X2. I created a new image as wide as the head.png but wide enough to add the menu.png under it. I then opened the head.png and menu.png. I copied them into the new image and pasted as new layers. I then added a new layer and added text. I then exported the whole thing without merging or anything using the PNG Optimizer. Used the 16million color option, then on the Transparency Tab I chose No Transparency. Then I open IE7 and viewed the image and it looked OK. So I believe PSP is doing it correctly.

So if you are uploading your new image to Joomla and it still appears incorrectly then the problem lies on their end. I have attached what I created.

Attachment 48306

Thanks I'll try those steps when I get home tonight. I can't use the file you posted since the forums converted it to a .jpg for display or I'd test your image right now.

Hmm no go for me here. Can you possibly post a link to the png you created so I can upload that and see what it does? I'm wondering if the Trial version is disabling something and that's why it's not working for me. Like I said I was able to use that GIMP program to put the head.png and a logo text file together into one and it worked without modifying any kind of options. I don't see how it could be a Joomla problem since I'm using the same file name and just adding text/etc. on top of a template file.

Edit: OOOps my bad hang on I'll get the png.
Here you go. Right click and save as.

Hrrm no link. I'll check it out if you can get it linked though. I'm wondering if it's going to work though. I've been chatting with someone over at the pspug forums and it sounds like we're coming to the conclusion that psp is saving it differently than photoshop or GIMP does and that's the problem. At least that's what I got from his last post. He was making it sound like regardless of options all graphics programs can be a little different in how they save the files and something about how psp does it IE7 just does not like in this case. I can see how that might be possible I guess it just didn't occur to me that it could happen. If it really is the case I guess I have two choices. Either find one program that can do everything, or use psp for the design/layout stuff and then put all the pieces together in GIMP.

Everytime I try to upload the png it gets changed to jpg. Don't know why or if I am doing something wrong. So I asked for assistance in the Off Topic. When I get an answer I will upload the png. Or I could email it. If you want, send me an email at joeyoung72@gmail.com and I'll send it to you that way. Sorry for the wait.

sent you an email.

Reply sent with attachment.

Thanks, yeah I just tested it out. Same problem in IE7 and Firefox works fine like usual :( I guess I'm just out of luck here with this particular project and Paintshop. Thanks for trying though.

OK one more suggestion: Did you clear your cache in IE7. Do you have a link to your actual site that includes what I sent you? If it shows up OK in Firefox but not IE7 I don't know what in psp would cause that. If you have the link, I will check it in IE7 and 6 to see what I find. This is strange.:confused:

I wasn't clearing the cache but it was definitely loading the png since the text is different on them. I just re-uploaded your png to the site so you can see what it looks like. The site isn't live yet so not a huge deal but let me know when you're done looking so I can put the right logo back up there :D

http://www.flyinionfilms.com/index.php

OK I looked at in IE6 & 7 and I see that black area too in both. And I also looked in Firefox and it was OK just as you said. This is indeed strange. Have you tried just saving the head as a png instead of using the export png? Maybe there is something in the export that is causing it. Since the head.png is not a transparent image I think just the "Save As" and png file would be OK. Just guessing at this point though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jyoung

OK I looked at in IE6 & 7 and I see that black area too in both. And I also looked in Firefox and it was OK just as you said. This is indeed strange. Have you tried just saving the head as a png instead of using the export png? Maybe there is something in the export that is causing it. Since the head.png is not a transparent image I think just the "Save As" and png file would be OK. Just guessing at this point though.

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Yeah I tried that last night as well with 3 different copies of it (to make sure I had good copies to start with) with each one having the layers put together/merged differently including just the "merge visible"/save like I did in GIMP. I'm going to see about loading IE8 beta this weekend and see what that does with it since it's "supposed" to be strict standards. With my luck IE8 will explode all the CSS/etc. that the template is using though haha.

I wouldn't bother with IE8. Even if it does work it will be a while before anyone uses it anyway.

Maybe you should contact Corel tech support with this. I am all out of ideas. Sorry. :(