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whitty-boo β€” TUTORIAL::How to make Transparent BG in SAI

Published: 2012-03-08 17:26:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 326507; Favourites: 5095; Downloads: 1747
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Description EDIT 2: Some people have noted that their SAI does not do this. It is because it is not an updated version of SAI that supports transparency. There used to be a journal/ link that I had in the comments which led to a Transparency-supporting SAI, but this link is now down. I do not have a new link; please research and find a transparency-supportive SAI by your own means.Β 


My first tutorial lolol //fail

A lot of people have been asking me how to do transparent backgrounds in Paint TOOL SAI. There weren't any tutorials on dA that seemed to be as simple as how I did it (there were barely any in the first place so.)

If you have some trouble understanding the summarized pictures, here's some more info on it.

Basically, in SAI everything you draw is automatically "transparent". When you save as JPEG, which doesn't support transparency, everything "transparent" is turned to white, like how you see it when you are drawing in the program.

Adding a new layer underneath and making it a different color allows you to see things you missed, preferably the whites. Let's say that when I added the yellow, Casey's white hoodie turned yellow also. That means I need to go in and color it white or else it will become transparent as well.

Saving it as 32bpp makes all the areas you didn't draw on turn transparent.

Some tutorials say that you have to merge all your layers into 1. That is not true. I could have had 3 or 4 layers on that Casey picture, it doesn't affect transparency.


I hope you guys find this helpfull!
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Comments: 1143

Artiiwoo [2017-11-04 01:35:18 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the help!Β 

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sheepsky [2017-11-01 20:19:48 +0000 UTC]

i have a problem
the png save options widget doesnt pop out and i dont know how to make it pop out-
i never seen it pop out too
anyone can give me any advice?

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Killgara In reply to sheepsky [2018-07-21 07:35:48 +0000 UTC]

I'm having the same problem, IDK what to do...

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Drake-Astley [2017-10-31 00:30:01 +0000 UTC]

thank you!

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spyrkle4 [2017-10-21 21:30:23 +0000 UTC]

Def going to use this! thanks!

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harryyem [2017-10-01 10:19:30 +0000 UTC]

YOU ARE SAVING PEOPLE'S LIFE OMFG THANK YOU SO MUCH

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MiriamCD [2017-09-26 06:43:15 +0000 UTC]

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW THANKS THANKS THANKS

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Ahoki-Chan [2017-09-22 15:44:18 +0000 UTC]

YOU JUST CHANGED MY ALL LIFE !
I WAS USING PHOTOFILTRE FOR THE TRANSPARENCY OH MY GOD THANKS YOU!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

penuk [2017-09-17 15:27:22 +0000 UTC]

thank

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xRoxyDRAWZx [2017-09-14 11:10:31 +0000 UTC]

Wait, i thought you color with layer 2, i color with using LAYER 2

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Chazmazda [2017-09-10 14:34:56 +0000 UTC]

thank you for this. This was really helpful!

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ailanor In reply to ??? [2017-09-05 19:39:17 +0000 UTC]

Do you have any advice if the window isn't popping up with the option to save to 32 bpp??? I've never had this window appear using SAI and haven't had any issues until a couple months ago, when it just started automatically saving all my PNGs with white backgrounds. No idea why it's happening. Can anyone help me???

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Trash-August In reply to ailanor [2017-10-01 05:47:19 +0000 UTC]

UseΒ www196.lunapic.com/editor/
I had the same issue and honestly it helped tons

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DarkySG In reply to ailanor [2017-09-24 04:02:58 +0000 UTC]

i have the same issue, guess ill wait and come back to see if someone has an answer for this

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Trash-August In reply to DarkySG [2017-10-01 05:47:44 +0000 UTC]

www196.lunapic.com/editor/
Use this! :0

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DarkySG In reply to Trash-August [2017-10-01 23:09:46 +0000 UTC]

i used this hundreds of times for ms paint images but it doesnt achieve what i need it to with paint too sai

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Trash-August In reply to DarkySG [2017-10-01 23:34:41 +0000 UTC]

Rip
I usually do pixel art I didn't try it with anything else ;v;Β 
SorryΒ 

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

KaitoErizawa In reply to Trash-August [2017-11-30 02:06:12 +0000 UTC]

When Sai doesn't include transparency while exporting as .png itself I just export it as .psd file, then open said file with gimp and extract it as png again.

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HassySoda In reply to ??? [2017-09-02 23:05:40 +0000 UTC]

I DIDNT KNOW U COULD DO THIS TYYY

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

yoomzie [2017-09-01 10:51:48 +0000 UTC]

thanks! this was mighty helpful!

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ChicknHead [2017-08-18 13:35:31 +0000 UTC]

THIS HELPS SO MUCH Thanks a MILLION.

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Shesan [2017-08-11 21:41:50 +0000 UTC]

Thank youu~~

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

MooniHyena [2017-08-01 21:31:20 +0000 UTC]

skgjs this helped me so much thank you !!!!

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squiddy-aj [2017-08-01 16:50:24 +0000 UTC]

this makes no sense to me. i feel stupidΒ 

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

ZeroJumper In reply to squiddy-aj [2017-08-09 23:44:03 +0000 UTC]

you're stupid

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 2

bonsai-rain In reply to ZeroJumper [2017-09-03 16:45:08 +0000 UTC]

...

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

squiddy-aj In reply to ZeroJumper [2017-08-15 20:06:27 +0000 UTC]

it's not my fault i just got this complicated art tool

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squiddy-aj [2017-08-01 16:39:11 +0000 UTC]

this still does not helpΒ 

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Auroraesthe [2017-07-26 22:09:42 +0000 UTC]

Since my Sai doesn't support transparency I made the background of my shirt design black and made it transparent using MS Word lolΒ Β Β 

Β  Β 


In my opinion, it looks fine? Idk thoughΒ Β 

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NightGazingSkys [2017-07-23 03:39:51 +0000 UTC]

This helped me so much, thank you! <3

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KHVathiel [2017-07-23 00:24:25 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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gh0stt0ast [2017-07-06 02:50:08 +0000 UTC]

the window asking for the pixel format does not pop up for me. what do i do?

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Ally-the-turtle In reply to gh0stt0ast [2017-07-24 05:39:34 +0000 UTC]

Me too!Β 

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FREGLYISBAE [2017-06-27 14:55:18 +0000 UTC]

thx!!!!!

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lisoe [2017-06-09 18:31:50 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

elisamakesart [2017-06-07 12:59:04 +0000 UTC]

thanks!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

jackpenguin8 [2017-06-07 12:25:50 +0000 UTC]

thnx

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Heart-Anonimous [2017-06-04 19:26:57 +0000 UTC]

I LOVE YOU!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Β 

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

aelier [2017-06-02 14:03:09 +0000 UTC]

You are literally a gift to mankind!

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Samole28 [2017-05-27 19:53:47 +0000 UTC]

I succeed ! Thanks you very much for this tutorial ! You're sweet !Β  Β 

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tsuundoku [2017-05-27 19:02:04 +0000 UTC]

I did find a file that does support transparency here:Β www.dropbox.com/s/qa983ux8zk57…

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WickedHex [2017-05-23 03:34:47 +0000 UTC]

oh my god! thankyou!

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Z-Dude69 [2017-04-29 18:43:15 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot ^^

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VideoGameLover15 [2017-04-28 14:28:52 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for posting this helpful tutorial! Helped me a ton!

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DerpyNamia In reply to ??? [2017-04-07 00:16:53 +0000 UTC]

What do I do if the options box doesn't pop up!!??

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ZephyrCentauri [2017-04-05 13:21:30 +0000 UTC]

omg thank you sooooo much for this!

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MimiTheNooblet [2017-03-25 19:31:04 +0000 UTC]

thanks!! this helped a lot

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locococo22 [2017-03-21 03:55:18 +0000 UTC]

ThankΒ you!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Anime-Night-Dreamer [2017-03-16 10:34:25 +0000 UTC]

I always wondered how it work, but now I know thanks to this tutorial, thank you so much for sharing this!

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Koofey [2017-02-20 21:07:00 +0000 UTC]

oooooh finally!

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