boxertech

Join Date 01/2008

Magic Pink not working

I am using SkinStudio6 and WindowBlinds 6 on Vista. I can download a skin, and the Magic Pink transparency works fine. However, on my skin, the Magic Pink is just Pink. When I open a skin bmp from a skin whose transparency works and save the file - no changes, the transparency stops working and pink displays. I am pretty sure I am saving the bmp wrong. I get the same results with png and tga file formats.

I am using PhotoShop to edit the images. I flatten the image and save as a 24-bit format uncompressed. The pink is the correct RGB value.

Can someone give me a clue?

kw

skinstudio

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

Are you setting the image to use Transparency in SKS? Not translucency.

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BoXXi

Join Date 03/2001

+393

I've been having trouble with magic pink showing on the right side of my window frame in a new skin I am working on too!! I know I haven't messed up the image as I've done magic pink a thousand times and I've checked it thoroughly. The frame was showing fine until I imported the image for the pushbuttons, and then suddenly I have pink showing on the right frame.......... Weird!!

I took the right frame back into photoshop, checked it, and then re-imported it back into the skin. It worked fine again then.
This has happened a couple of times recently, so I'm beginning to wonder if it's a bug?

In the meantime..... are you trying to use shadows? because that won't work with magic pink, you need to have a hard edge for it to work consisting ONLY of magic pink.
A good way to test is to take it into Photoshop, and using the Magic Wand tool select the pink in your image with the wand set to a tolerance of 1. If it selects ALL the pink your image is fine, if it only selects part of the pink then you haven't got a hard edge and you need to change it.
Let me know how you get on........

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I am using UIS2 frames, and I do not see where to indicate transparency in SKS. I see the setting for Tool Windows and Per pixel Frame, but not UIS2 frames. For testing purposes, I used an existing skin with transparencies and changed the graphics. The existing skins work until I replace the graphics with mine. The existing graphics(tranparency) stops working after I resave the graphics.

I am sure that the pink to 255:0:255. I have some anti-aliasing on one of the images, but I can fix those edges later. My problem is getting the Magic Pink to go transparent.

kw.

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

U cant anstialias any edge using Magic Pink. Has to be hard edged, any antialiasing will affect RGB

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

Is your image still a bmp?...sometimes saving a tga as 24 bit(or even 32bit)with magic pink instead of translucent will cause pink to show up even if its perfect magic pink.

Send a copy of the 24bit BMP(not tga or png) to your desktop and reimport the image...let it over write the old one and see if it still does it.

Also look in the personality section of the code view...there is a line called 'use transparency'.

That might be affecting your frames.(it should be =1)

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Started from scratch. I recreated the bitmap, no anti-aliasing, all hard edges. Still the Magic Pink is pink not transparent.

I the WindowBlinds skinning guide says the UIS file should have a UseTran=1. However, in SKS 6 in the UIS2 frame section, there does not appear to be a way to set transparency. I manually edited the UIS to set UseTran=1, then applied changes in WindowsBlinds, but pink is still pink.

kw.

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

Use the code tab in SKS. If u modify the uis make sure SKS isnt open before u save it.

If all else fails.. Edit in 5.

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

I manually edited the UIS to set UseTran=1, then applied changes in WindowsBlinds, but pink is still pink.

The line is 'UsesTran=1' in Personality...not UseTran.Tell you the truth,I'm not 100% sure thats the line that does it...but I'm pretty sure.Even tho I set mine to 0 its still transparent...so...not sure.

Are you on Vista?

Also,try importing the new image with SKS5 like vStyler said...maybe this is an SKS6 bug?

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

As a last resort...reinstall WB or change versions.

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BoXXi

Join Date 03/2001

+393

when you say magic pink is showing, is it ALL of the pink that is in the image, or just bits of it? this is important. If it's just bits of the pink that are showing we can fix that, but if it's ALL of the pink that is showing then I think it's a problem with WB's, as it's happened to me.

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However, in SKS 6 in the UIS2 frame section, there does not appear to be a way to set transparency.

Not seeing it here either.

So where do you enable transparency for UIS2 frames in SKS6? ... aside from coding it in ... this version is supposed to be easier to use for the beginner skinner, remember?

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BoXXi

Join Date 03/2001

+393

I've found that you don't need to set transparency for window frames that use magic pink, it seems to do it by itself. I could be wrong of course, I'm not the greatest at this stuff.

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Neil Banfield

Join Date 04/2001

+1104

Transparency is assumed on the UIS2 frames unless NoShape = 1 is set.

Please be aware that magic pink is only allowed in BMPs. It is not allowed in TGAs where you must use the alpha channel for transparency. If you use magic pink it will simply show up as magic pink.

UsesTran = 1 relates to the titlebar buttons, not the frames themselves.

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BoXXi

Join Date 03/2001

+393

Thanks Neil....... I thought so.

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Transparency is assumed on the UIS2 frames unless NoShape = 1 is set.

Thanks, Neil

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

When the magic pink starts showing up in borders, might also want to delete all the temporary files from the skin folder (*.wb4, *.*~), then reload the skin using WBConfig - I often run into magic pink showing up after making numerous edits to a skin & reloading it repeatedly. Flushing the temp files & reloading the skin fixes it nearly 100% of the time (rarely, a rinse/repeat is needed).

Don't know if it's WB itself or SKS that doesn't deal well with those temp/cache files, but that's been my experience so far.

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BoXXi

Join Date 03/2001

+393

Thanks Daiwa..... Good tip!!

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