32 bit BMP problems when transparent index enabled (v1.91)

[xnviewuser]

Hello!

I use Media Player Classic for exporting stills to BMPs from AVIs. These exported BMPs are 32bit and xnview can not show these images when transparent index is enabled (there's a black rectangle shown instead). Other programs (paint, pain.net, photoshop) are able to show these files.
Example file: http://rapidshare.com/files/35647855/sn ... 8.bmp.html
We discussed about this in this topic: http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?p=49491

I'm using XnView v1.91.

[xnview]

Hello!

I use Media Player Classic for exporting stills to BMPs from AVIs. These exported BMPs are 32bit and xnview can not show these images when transparent index is enabled (there's a black rectangle shown instead). Other programs (paint, pain.net, photoshop) are able to show these files.
Example file: http://rapidshare.com/files/35647855/sn ... 8.bmp.html
We discussed about this in this topic: http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?p=49491

I'm using XnView v1.91.

The problem with this file is that alpha channel is black, so picture is transparent!!!! If you convert it to 24bits (Image/true colors), you'll see the picture...

[xnviewuser]

Hello!

I use Media Player Classic for exporting stills to BMPs from AVIs. These exported BMPs are 32bit and xnview can not show these images when transparent index is enabled (there's a black rectangle shown instead). Other programs (paint, pain.net, photoshop) are able to show these files.
Example file: http://rapidshare.com/files/35647855/sn ... 8.bmp.html
We discussed about this in this topic: http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?p=49491

I'm using XnView v1.91.

The problem with this file is that alpha channel is black, so picture is transparent!!!! If you convert it to 24bits (Image/true colors), you'll see the picture...

You mean Media Player Classic exports corrupted BMPs?
Is it somehow possible to disable alpha channel in BMPs (only)?

[Drahken]

I just tried saving a screenshot with MPC using BMP format, and have the same issue. It works fine if you save in JPG format though. I also noticed that if you zomm IN on the image, it looks normal. At 100% or less though, it becomes transparent.


Is there any particular reason you need to use the BMP format when saving scenes from MPC?

[xnviewuser]

I just tried saving a screenshot with MPC using BMP format, and have the same issue. It works fine if you save in JPG format though. I also noticed that if you zomm IN on the image, it looks normal. At 100% or less though, it becomes transparent.


Is there any particular reason you need to use the BMP format when saving scenes from MPC?

I write articles about movies so I export a few stills for those documents. When I'm ready with the exporting I take a look at the pictures and delete the unnecessary ones (that's what I would use XnView for). I use the BMP format because I need to do some photo editing (effects, resize, etc) so I would prefer a lossless format until I'm finished with that.

To the developer:
I'm aware that disabling transparent index (I need that enabled for GIFs and PNGs) or converting would make those files "readable" for XnView, but it's a bit long procedure and it also seems that it's more like a workaround and not a real solution. I'm not much of a programmer so I don't know how much work would that be, but I think the best would be that XnView could ignore the BMPs alpha channel.

[xnview]

You mean Media Player Classic exports corrupted BMPs?

Yes

Is it somehow possible to disable alpha channel in BMPs (only)?

You can only disable transparency for alpha channel and transparent index. Else you can batch convert your picture in 24bits

[Guest]

You mean Media Player Classic exports corrupted BMPs?

Yes

Alright, I think I'll switch to GOM Player then. Thank you.

[Drahken]

Yeah, anything that exports a fully transparent alpha channel is exporting corrupted images. Definitely an issue that should be brought to the attention of MPC's developers (along with a request for a non-BMP lossless format for screencaps).

Edit: I just reported the problem to MPC.

[xnviewuser]

Yeah, anything that exports a fully transparent alpha channel is exporting corrupted images. Definitely an issue that should be brought to the attention of MPC's developers (along with a request for a non-BMP lossless format for screencaps).

Edit: I just reported the problem to MPC.

Agree. As you also mentioned before, PNG support would be the best.
Could you give me a link to the MPC support please?

Thanks anyone for the help, sorry for the offtopic.

[Drahken]

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=82303

You have to sign up with sourceforge before you can post, but signup is free (and once signed up, you can post on any sourceforge project, not just MPC).

[xnviewuser]

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=82303

You have to sign up with sourceforge before you can post, but signup is free (and once signed up, you can post on any sourceforge project, not just MPC).

Thanks. It seems that the MPC project is stalled.

[Drahken]

Bummer. Then again, since it is open source, you might be able to find an active fork or clone program.

Some people use zoom player, I've never tried it myself though. You could also try VLC.

Since you're editing the images later anyway, you could use xnview's screen capture function. It also catches the video controls in the pic, but you could edit those out.
What xnview captures with the client area turned on (turning that on removes the window borders & such):


The full player window:


You can set it to capture when you press a given key, and either open in xnview for later editing, or save directly to file in any format.

[xnviewuser]

Bummer. Then again, since it is open source, you might be able to find an active fork or clone program.

Some people use zoom player, I've never tried it myself though. You could also try VLC.

Since you're editing the images later anyway, you could use xnview's screen capture function. It also catches the video controls in the pic, but you could edit those out.
What xnview captures with the client area turned on (turning that on removes the window borders & such):
img

The full player window:
img

You can set it to capture when you press a given key, and either open in xnview for later editing, or save directly to file in any format.
img

I'll switch to GOM Player, not a big deal. It's a pretty good media player, and the exported BMPs are OK too.

[Drahken]

I was just taking some screencaps with VLC, and I see it supports using PNG format. The odd thing is that it's compression falls somewhere between a 0 setting and a 1 setting. Either VLC's PNG implementation has great level 0 compression, or crappy level 1 compression. Now since both progs are open source, if we could just get someone to take the PNG support from VLC and add it to MPC....

http://allspark.net/cypherswipe/naruto-stage6.png