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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: 326514; 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

ilovewolves123456789 In reply to ??? [2015-07-13 17:40:39 +0000 UTC]

File>export as>.png

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Dredorida In reply to ilovewolves123456789 [2015-07-13 18:01:37 +0000 UTC]

Yes, I know, but I don't get a popup window giving me the opportunity to choose opacity for my pixels

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WolfiePixel In reply to Dredorida [2015-08-14 14:34:34 +0000 UTC]

i have the same problem

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Dredorida In reply to WolfiePixel [2015-08-15 04:45:58 +0000 UTC]

It turns out that I (and probably you) have a 'fake' version of SAI. It works just like the true version, but is missing some components.Β 

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ilovewolves123456789 In reply to Dredorida [2015-07-14 06:10:20 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm. What ver. do you have?

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Dredorida In reply to ilovewolves123456789 [2015-07-14 06:24:20 +0000 UTC]

Someone gave me some help turns out although i thought I had the legit version, the site I got it from was a tad bit untruthful so I just need to purchase the good version~

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Iraxchu [2015-07-12 10:31:58 +0000 UTC]

I did everything but at the end, I don't have 32bpp etc...

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bxsket-cxse In reply to ??? [2015-07-11 07:56:53 +0000 UTC]

thanks very much for the tutorial!Β 

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Ordinary-October In reply to ??? [2015-07-10 21:23:37 +0000 UTC]

Okay, after i save mine the PNG save options don't appear. why is that?

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KiyoTohka In reply to ??? [2015-07-10 13:01:36 +0000 UTC]

can I have the link?

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KiriMagica In reply to ??? [2015-07-05 13:58:55 +0000 UTC]

so helpful. thank yewww

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DragFairy In reply to ??? [2015-07-05 02:55:23 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a Million! c:

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Ala-Ma In reply to ??? [2015-07-04 17:56:53 +0000 UTC]

Thank youuu, i really wonder why people don't read the descriptions, gonna see that journal now Β 

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DrexelTheDeviant In reply to ??? [2015-07-01 14:43:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! this helped ^^
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β 

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StarPaw007 In reply to ??? [2015-07-01 00:46:22 +0000 UTC]

What if we did originally make the canvas transparent? Does that mean we're screwed?

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SteelPwny In reply to ??? [2015-06-30 23:43:13 +0000 UTC]

Thank you this helped a bunch!! <3

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FiveNightsAtHarmonys In reply to ??? [2015-06-26 07:26:41 +0000 UTC]

thanks so helpful

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robloxgirlblox In reply to ??? [2015-06-21 20:59:58 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! This was super helpful!!

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CaptianLinebeck In reply to ??? [2015-06-19 00:32:37 +0000 UTC]

Would this work on making Shimeji's? ouoΒ 

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sydrasydra In reply to CaptianLinebeck [2015-07-16 20:11:51 +0000 UTC]

omg this is the reason why i came here xD

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CaptianLinebeck In reply to sydrasydra [2015-07-17 01:29:25 +0000 UTC]

omg xD

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cptstvenrogers [2015-06-15 10:40:11 +0000 UTC]

I used this and it wa super helpful!
To those saying it doesn't go transparent: make sure all your outer lineart is joined and there are no gaps. (Honestly, it wouldn't work for me at first, but then i joined up all the outer lineart and it worked!)Β 
To those saying the window doesn't pop up: it pops up after you press save!

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Xsylum [2015-06-15 02:21:09 +0000 UTC]

I tried it, for administrative purpose, and it appears to be so useful that I have to thanks a trillion times !!!!

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rougeballoon [2015-06-12 09:29:33 +0000 UTC]

It shows up all black and horrible ;n;'

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ilovewolves123456789 In reply to rougeballoon [2015-07-13 17:43:06 +0000 UTC]

You might not have changed to the 32bpp choice.

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rougeballoon In reply to ilovewolves123456789 [2015-07-14 08:19:52 +0000 UTC]

Well, I think it's because I transfer the files onto camtasia, I can't use Photoshop, so the final animation comes out black because that is the default background. T^T

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ilovewolves123456789 In reply to rougeballoon [2015-07-14 11:02:18 +0000 UTC]

Well, Camtasia puts a background in anyway

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ChilledAlmondJelly In reply to rougeballoon [2015-06-26 04:36:47 +0000 UTC]

same...

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twinrot-arts [2015-06-12 00:36:10 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for this tutorial, we more than likely have an old version that doesn't support it, so it was nice to have a link to another Journal for the new version...~

Fu~Ku

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puppygirl12745 [2015-06-11 19:40:48 +0000 UTC]

omfs thank youuu this was super helpful ^-^

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cynderiaopus-smisse [2015-06-07 20:10:33 +0000 UTC]

can someone help me please ?Β i don't have the png save option window

UWAAAAAAAAA SORRY I DIDN T UNDERSTAND THE DESCRIPTION
A MILLIONS SORRY ;^;

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Mmoxie In reply to ??? [2015-06-02 02:37:46 +0000 UTC]

thanks a ton friend

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Dreadsina In reply to ??? [2015-05-26 14:59:32 +0000 UTC]

This helped me so much. Thank you!

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MarchionessDammy In reply to ??? [2015-05-25 19:34:09 +0000 UTC]

thanks for the help!!!

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vdavzs In reply to ??? [2015-05-25 06:16:05 +0000 UTC]

thanks, this really helped meh out~Β 

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BirdOfDeStars In reply to ??? [2015-05-25 02:13:09 +0000 UTC]

Ohhh, I see, this was super helpful! I just clicked the wrong thing in the box. Thank you so much!

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Rokatsu In reply to ??? [2015-05-24 15:46:56 +0000 UTC]

I'm beyond lost... this wasn't helpful at all. No box pops up and it doesn't work the way you did it unless I choose "multiply", and even that doesn't do what you did.Β 

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Kaydorable1 In reply to Rokatsu [2015-05-24 22:20:01 +0000 UTC]

Well what did you do? I think I can help/ What steps did you take?

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Rokatsu In reply to Kaydorable1 [2015-05-25 00:41:47 +0000 UTC]

I looked up paint tool sai transparency tutorial on DA and every single one was useless to help me. @@ they all said a box had to appear to save it in a certain way and then you had to do another thing to make it transparent and that didn't work either.Β 


Β 

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Kaydorable1 In reply to Rokatsu [2015-06-15 06:50:46 +0000 UTC]

Are you sure you added a different color bg UNDER all the layers you have?
Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  and
Are you sure you have it saved as a .PNG?

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Rokatsu In reply to Kaydorable1 [2015-06-15 08:17:43 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I did all that. I found a tutorial that explained this better though thank god so I learned. Apparently the problem was the version of SAI I had.Β 

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Kaydorable1 In reply to Rokatsu [2015-06-15 16:21:45 +0000 UTC]

Ohhhhh! That would have made sense. See, before I had the version I have, I had an older one which would not let me save at ALL. So, I'm glad you got that worked out.

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Rokatsu In reply to Kaydorable1 [2015-06-16 00:27:21 +0000 UTC]

The only problem is the newer one is on my laptop and I'm so used to the settings on my old one and so attached to it that I don't really want to make that change or adjustment. It's kinda like when I used windows XP and switched to windows 7 XD Ahh I continue to cling to the past in technology QAQ"Β 

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Kaydorable1 In reply to Rokatsu [2015-07-05 17:48:32 +0000 UTC]

Ah... Same here. Windows 8 and Windows 7. I really really hate Windows 8 but all the mini laptops at school were Windows 8 so mehh. But, eventually, you'll get used to it.

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Stoopidunicornbruh In reply to Rokatsu [2015-05-27 18:04:05 +0000 UTC]

You need the latest Paint tool sai version in order for it to pop up.Β 

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Rokatsu In reply to Stoopidunicornbruh [2015-05-27 18:33:55 +0000 UTC]

Ahh alright @@Β 

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BatInAHat In reply to ??? [2015-05-23 09:58:11 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for posting this ;u;
You made it so simple even I could follow it
Here is what I achieved with your help if your interested //slapped thriceΒ 
Cutieheart

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immabunni In reply to ??? [2015-05-11 06:07:22 +0000 UTC]

Haha, YES! Thank you! I've been wanting to do this FOREVER, and now I know how! Thankz you! Β 

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chiitters In reply to ??? [2015-05-11 05:58:48 +0000 UTC]

Oh my god. Thank you

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FennecFe In reply to ??? [2015-05-11 01:12:37 +0000 UTC]

You made my drawing possible thanks so much
also, I referenced you in the drawing I was able to post thanks to you and this tutorial. I really appreciate it
(If you don't like that I referenced you please tell me)

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