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whitty-boo — TUTORIAL::How to make Transparent BG in SAI

Published: 2012-03-08 17:26:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 326542; 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. 


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

YoseiDraws In reply to ??? [2013-01-13 20:00:56 +0000 UTC]

I'm sorry I am a little stupid
I think I did everything that is in the tutorial, I made another layer and I clicked on the eye, than I saved it as a .PNG
Or do you mean I need to read the other tutorial?
But than I have to download another SAI, and I'm not sure if that will work for me

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to YoseiDraws [2013-02-21 09:05:06 +0000 UTC]

You'd have to download new sai.

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YoseiDraws In reply to whitty-boo [2013-02-22 17:31:45 +0000 UTC]

Yea I already did once, but it's working fine!
Sorry for doing so stupid and overeacted, I can be a little stressed sometimes
I can make transparent backgrounds now ^^ , if you look at my art you will see
Thank you so much!!!/

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Effrey In reply to ??? [2013-01-09 02:38:57 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!
I wwas always worried about if a transparent picture will have a white BG so i go to photoshop (which makes my PC incredibly slower) just t check.

Anyways, thanks again!
Nice tutorial by the way! c:

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AkiyaChuu In reply to ??? [2013-01-08 11:43:04 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much!
Well done for your fist tut

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RikuUchiha888 In reply to ??? [2013-01-06 22:56:22 +0000 UTC]

Thank you SO much for this I was confused

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Amaterasu233 In reply to ??? [2013-01-06 15:27:56 +0000 UTC]

helpful...thank chu person 8D

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PlatinaStar In reply to ??? [2013-01-04 16:02:10 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xXGoldenNinjaXx In reply to ??? [2013-01-02 11:05:03 +0000 UTC]

thank you so much for this

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doctor-cat In reply to ??? [2013-01-02 03:39:28 +0000 UTC]

Ah, danke! This helped a lot.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Vintergnista In reply to ??? [2013-01-01 16:16:55 +0000 UTC]

OMG THANKS! This helped so much XD Very awesome tut

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RavenVillanuevaT2P In reply to ??? [2013-01-01 02:08:19 +0000 UTC]

Helpful For Me...

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Harmee32123 In reply to ??? [2012-12-31 02:45:34 +0000 UTC]

So helpfulll

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Ghosthole In reply to ??? [2012-12-30 05:59:09 +0000 UTC]

I find this so helpful. Thank you! I forget every time I draw, so I'll have to favorite this real quick. *Favorites*

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Shannenthefox In reply to ??? [2012-12-28 07:34:31 +0000 UTC]

hey tnx fore the info but what if i save in png. but the windonw didnt pop out?
What should i do?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Shannenthefox [2012-12-31 03:39:13 +0000 UTC]

Read it.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Tianibean In reply to ??? [2012-12-26 20:12:39 +0000 UTC]

omg this helped so much!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

kokiflora In reply to ??? [2012-12-26 11:59:26 +0000 UTC]

that was helpful

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cynderthedragon5768 In reply to ??? [2012-12-25 03:52:44 +0000 UTC]

what do I do if the window doesn't pop up for the settings?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Cynderthedragon5768 [2012-12-25 18:18:21 +0000 UTC]

Read the description.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

chillua In reply to ??? [2012-12-17 14:31:42 +0000 UTC]

I did all the steps but... the background is still white T.T

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

DreamsAre4Ever In reply to ??? [2012-12-17 04:35:44 +0000 UTC]

I LOVE IT.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

VannaBananaa In reply to ??? [2012-12-16 23:18:23 +0000 UTC]

THIS HELPED SO MUCH! THANKS!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

MadeOfCandy In reply to ??? [2012-12-14 15:38:51 +0000 UTC]

very useful, thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cereal-97 In reply to ??? [2012-12-09 00:22:35 +0000 UTC]

can u tell me the exact steps??i keep doing what the directions tell me to do.like in the 5th or 7th step.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Cereal-97 [2012-12-09 00:57:25 +0000 UTC]

I don't understand... it is the steps lol.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Cereal-97 In reply to whitty-boo [2012-12-09 01:52:52 +0000 UTC]

like when u say to use the bucket tool and it shows casey with the kacki background w/ the white heart.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Cereal-97 [2012-12-09 05:11:55 +0000 UTC]

you need to be more specific, What are you having problems with exactly?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Cereal-97 In reply to whitty-boo [2012-12-09 17:12:54 +0000 UTC]

like when u say to use the bucket tool on layer 2.when i use it,i dont see the color on layer 1.do u have to go to layer 1 to put the color?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Cereal-97 [2012-12-09 17:14:02 +0000 UTC]

no it means your first layer is already completely white, i can't help you there.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Cereal-97 In reply to whitty-boo [2012-12-09 17:35:43 +0000 UTC]

oh no wait it worked.thnx!this saved my life.im sorry i was so annoying.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xStellarLittleStarx In reply to ??? [2012-12-08 02:51:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! This tutorial is great by the way!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

ThePoorCornelia In reply to ??? [2012-12-06 04:12:18 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much ;w;

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Wakettina In reply to ??? [2012-12-02 09:38:41 +0000 UTC]

You have save my life *O*

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Smigolson In reply to ??? [2012-12-02 08:17:50 +0000 UTC]

i think...i love you!! omg i have been getting so mad because i couldnt figure that out!! thank you sooo much!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xXMusicianTrentXx In reply to ??? [2012-11-27 01:41:07 +0000 UTC]

the box doesn't pop up for me.. please help. im trying to upload a design onto tengaged,

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to xXMusicianTrentXx [2012-11-27 03:35:53 +0000 UTC]

Please read everything.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

xxRisunaxx In reply to ??? [2012-11-22 00:55:47 +0000 UTC]

thank you~!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Pony87xyz In reply to ??? [2012-11-21 12:32:24 +0000 UTC]

In my SAI don't appear the PNG save opinions...what I do?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to Pony87xyz [2012-11-21 17:20:10 +0000 UTC]

Read the directions.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Lelea5 In reply to ??? [2012-11-18 21:31:59 +0000 UTC]

thanks a lot

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

KennyNoms In reply to ??? [2012-11-12 04:43:50 +0000 UTC]

MIND BLOWN. Oh my gosh, this is so helpful!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

SakuraAlice33 In reply to ??? [2012-11-10 09:14:58 +0000 UTC]

it doesn't work :iconpoutsplz:
what is a bg file anyway?

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

whitty-boo In reply to SakuraAlice33 [2012-11-13 06:14:54 +0000 UTC]

You have ton Olson what it's not doing. I need more info.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

SakuraAlice33 In reply to whitty-boo [2012-11-13 10:05:21 +0000 UTC]

the transparent background is not working

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

whitty-boo In reply to SakuraAlice33 [2012-11-13 12:15:02 +0000 UTC]

I know can you describe how? Like what you're working on, if the box is popping up?

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SakuraAlice33 In reply to SakuraAlice33 [2012-11-10 09:17:29 +0000 UTC]

ahh!! my bad!! i mean why it won't work??

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HikaReki In reply to ??? [2012-11-03 04:30:54 +0000 UTC]

i've always been saving my works in .png but that thing didn't show up D:
thank you very much for the info ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

LostHelix119 In reply to ??? [2012-10-31 02:36:08 +0000 UTC]

I feel like banging my head off my desk for not knowing how to do this. Thank you for putting this up.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

meebub In reply to ??? [2012-10-30 03:55:47 +0000 UTC]

;w; Thank you so much!

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