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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

PNG full 8-bit alpha support?

Mike96
Advocate
Hi!
Is there any way to import an image/picture with transparency or to set transparency of an imported image/picture? I mean, in 2D views, not in rendering.
I imported a PNG image to my plan (tried also with worksheet), ticked "Transparent" in its properties but it only shows 2-bit transparency, so: 100% transparent or 100% opaque. My image has many levels of opacity but it looks like full information about aplha channel is not read in AC.
Or maybe there's some trick to do it?
ArchiCAD 25

Windows 10
4 REPLIES 4
Hello Einstein96,

You are able to disable surface transparency by the option at the right bottom of the surface parameters.

In my own I prefer using PNG24 by "web export" with Photoshop about all my archicad personnalised surfaces.

The PNG8 is a lighter but lower quality format because it is compressed.
Christophe - FRANCE
Archicad Designer and Teacher
Archicad 15 to 27 FRA FULL

OS 11.6 Big Sur - MacBook Pro 2017 - 16Go RAM
"Quality is never an accident ; it's always the result of an intelligent effort" John Ruskin
Lingwisyer
Guru
Christophe wrote:
You are able to disable surface transparency by the option at the right bottom of the surface parameters.

2D views Christophe, not 3D.

AC22-23 AUS 7000Help Those Help You - Add a Signature
Self-taught, bend it till it breaksCreating a Thread
Win11 | i9 10850K | 64GB | RX6600 Win10 | R5 2600 | 16GB | GTX1660
PNG8 or PNG24 by a picture hatch > no transparency
That why I talk about surface in 3D
There are archicad trees which contain transparency in 2D. Perhaps by object GDL parameters ?
Are you able to disable perspective into your 3D view to view a 3d surface with transparency ?
Christophe - FRANCE
Archicad Designer and Teacher
Archicad 15 to 27 FRA FULL

OS 11.6 Big Sur - MacBook Pro 2017 - 16Go RAM
"Quality is never an accident ; it's always the result of an intelligent effort" John Ruskin
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Einstein96 wrote:
Hi!
Is there any way to import an image/picture with transparency or to set transparency of an imported image/picture? I mean, in 2D views, not in rendering.
I imported a PNG image to my plan (tried also with worksheet), ticked "Transparent" in its properties but it only shows 2-bit transparency, so: 100% transparent or 100% opaque. My image has many levels of opacity but it looks like full information about aplha channel is not read in AC.
Or maybe there's some trick to do it?
Unfortunately, the alpha channel is not used. The Figure Tool's transparency option simply makes 100% white pixels transparent.
https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/user-guide/89545/
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
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