Problem:

I want to create a 360 Product View with transparent background.

Step-by-step guide

The main steps are:

  1. Use any of the background removal tools included in the Shutter Stream Software remove the backgrounds from the images
  2. Save images as .png file format (you can choose this format from the Shutter Stream's Options menu first)
  3. Go to 360 Product View Creator
  4. Import the .png files
  5. Save/Output the 360 Product View File

Solution:

Manual Removal and Addition of RGB Pixels:

The lasso tool (and all background removal tools) automatically converts all images to an RGBA image.  The fourth channel is the Alpha channel.  When a region is cut, the lasso tool sets the corresponding alpha values to zero, indicating full transparency.  However, the RGB values of the original image remain untouched.  When using the lasso tool, users have the option of removing (transparent alpha) or adding (opaque alpha) the RGB pixels from/into view.  The lasso tool is now a powerful tool that can be used for manual background removal after one of the other background removal tools has been used:

a)  If the automated background removal was too aggressive in removing pixels, you can add them back in by selecting the region with the lasso tool and then choosing Opaque Alpha as the lasso option.

b)  If the automated background removal was not very aggressive and there are additional pixels that you'd like to remove, then select Transparent Alpha when you apply the lasso tool.

The lasso tool can also be applied in a batch process now, making it that much more useful for editing multiple images at once.

In Shutter Stream Version 2.1 we've made several enhancements to the BR tools. Mainly, we added support for color background removal, which is usually used if you are using a green screen. The second major enhancement is that now all images, to which BR is applied, are RGBA images, not just RGB. Control over the alpha channel allows us to make the background completely transparent (not just white) and to optionally add missing pixels back into the image.

If you want to BR tool from 2.1 to function just like in 2.0, then do the following:

a. Select "Background image" as the removal type. Then set your background image just like in 2.0.

b. Set the Hole Fill Radius to zero.

Here is an example of transparent image:

You have to save images as transparent (RGBA) file format. Then, you will have to choose it as a watermark or just import it into a software which can display the transparency of the .png image.

Checking for Transparency

To quickly check without 3rd party tools if an image file has transparency support on a Windows PC, please follow these steps.

  • Open a new PowerShell session.
  • Add the system.drawing Microsoft .NET class to the current PowerShell session, by typing:
    add-type -AssemblyName system.drawing
  • Create an Image object from the specified file, by typing the following line, please make sure to replace 'filepath' with the actual path to your file, as seen in the screenshot.
    [System.Drawing.Image]::FromFile('filepath')

The properties of the object will be shown.
For checking transparency in the selected file, inspect the PixelFormat property.
In this example it has 4 channels, argb.