First dumb question from the newbie, I'm sure I have setting wrong somewhere.

My issue is the png is showing 100% black when opened in Photos and a browser.  I completed reading of technical blogs, testing this and that and such.  After many, many attempts, I cannot find out what I am doing wrong. 

My colleague who runs some digitizing software has reported the PNG is 100% black when imported into that software as well. I do notice that when I open the png in Photos, and show the Edit toolbar, you can see that the drawing is there (attached screenshot)

Here is everything I have done.
I am using File-Export PNG Image and not File-Save As-PNG
I checked every opacity setting I could find
Made sure all filters were off and antialiasing = off
Turned off the background

Attached Files:
Capture of Inkscape Page Properties
Capture of Inkscape Export
Capture Thumbnail...   Screenshot the file folder where the test document is saved.  You can see the drawing clearly in the folder view.
Additional files in reply to this submission

I am running Inkscape 0.92.2 (5c3e80d, 2017-08-06)

Reinstalled Inkscape.

Additional Files
Capture of Page Properties
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tqg28i3wqliiv ... e.PNG?dl=0

SVG File
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg8nxfbfon5l7 ... 1.svg?dl=0

Not seeing the issue here. Exporting with the same settings generates a png with alpha (transparency) as expected.

Transparency confirmed in Ai, Ps, Chrome, GIMP.

What system are you running (Win 10s by any chance) 32 bit, 64bit... and which installer: .exe, .msi, or windows store?

I have seen this -- either a black background, or the whole image black in a file manager (Windows Explorer) (and heard about it in other file managers), and I often saw it on ImageShack (when I was using it 6 to 10 years ago). Neither one of which could really be thought of as high quality, although there's an argument for ImageShack, of course. It's something particular to certain sites or image viewers, which can't handle the transparency. I read an explanation for it some years ago, but don't remember anything about it anymore. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. I never did see any way to predict it.

I might not even worry about the digitizing software, as long as it's just the display before the work is produced. For what purpose does that software digitize? Most recently I've heard of digitizing for machine embroidery, but there must be other uses as well.

I've never heard of this problem extending beyond those weak viewers though. Like if an image I uploaded to ImageShack was all black or had a black background. If you download the image, it's still correct. Or even if you use the ImageShack URL to insert the image into a webpage, it would be displayed properly in the webpage.

In case you're not aware, there are several tiny paths in the file, which probably you don't mean to be part of the drawing. Probably they were false starts with the Calligraphy tool. (You can see some in TD's screenshot.)(well, you can see the bounding boxes, but the objects are pretty tiny) I don't think they have anything to do with this problem, but it can't hurt to try. You probably don't want them anyway, right?

This also has nothing to do with the problem, but I think you might be using the wrong scale for mm units. (Document Properties > Page tab > Scale) See: https://inkscape.org/en/learn/faq/#inks ... rogram-xyz

Actually I just had a thought -- maybe those tiny object do have something to do with it. Can you share the exported PNG, please? Not a screenshot, but the actual PNG which doesn't display properly.

Edit
Nevermind about providing the PNPG, I see what you intend to export in one of your screenshots.

Here's a screenshot showing some of those tiny marks. Try deleting those extraneous little marks, such as those circled in red. And also, try filling in any tiny open spaces, such as those circled in blue. Then try the export again.

No promises, it's just a hunch.

To your questions, TD



Also, looks like I am using Microsoft App Installer, far as I can tell.

Appreciation for taking at look at this.

Ok, couple of thoughts...

Win 10 "Photos" has a black background that cannot be changed, so you could try making your artwork another color than black to see if transparency is actually being generated.

Since the win 10 version is "Pro" rather than "S", (did you upgrade?) you might be able to uninstall the app-version from the microsoft store and install a supported version from Inkscape.org.

If you are using a platform that requires you to install software from Windows Store (e.g. Windows 10 S), or if you prefer to install the store version for some other reason, you can find the official store version of Inkscape here.

Please note that this version is not compatible with regular installations (your settings will be lost).
Functionality may be incomplete and we can only offer limited support.

https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/windows/

PS please share a copy of the png that seems to be black.

Brynn, for some reason, I do not see the screenshot you mention with red and blue. would you post, please?

I did delete all the extraneous paths, thanks for that.

Here is the png

That file seems to have transparency.


So... where are these images going to be used? You might need better software than MS Photos.

The digitizing software is for machine embroidery.
Here is the view when changing the background color in SVG and exporting, so I guess the transparency is working.

TD, ships in the night...lol

So, we are thinking this is something to do with Windows 10 Pro? Sighs

These images are going to be digitized and used for machine embroidery. That software is also showing the image as black.

I'll uninstall and install the 64 bit version from this site. Let's see

On the contrary... Pro is better than "S", because it's not locked into app-store installations.

If the digitizing software wants *no* transparency, you can put a filled rectangle behind the export objects and ensure the "hide all except selected" is not ticked.

Yes, the black background for Windows 10 photo app is one of the many reasons I rejected Windows 10. But just because it shows a black background, doesn't mean it has changed the background of your image to black. The background really is still transparent.

And I'm pretty sure the same goes for the digitizing software. Just because it looks black in the display doesn't necessarily mean it will try to embroider a black background. Well, not unless a test has been run, to find out. Is the person with the digitizing software experienced? If this is their first time using it, who knows, maybe it always displays a black background? Is there some reason why they can't make a short test run?

Actually, we have a member who does embroidery of Inkscape designs. I won't be able to remember what his software or hardware is called, but he can produce simulations. Maybe the person with that software can run a simulation?

Aarrgh! I'm sorry I forgot to attach the screenshot. I was thinking that maybe the extra marks, and maybe the tiny gaps too, was causing these weak image viewers or websites to give the wrong display. So maybe deleting them would fix the display.

But now that we know about your operating system and image viewer, I don't think it will help. Again I'm having a feeling that there is no problem. I have a feeling it should work just fine. I would ask the person with the digitizing software to either make a simulation, or use a very small PNG as a test run. Just draw a small circle or rectangle or square, export, and either simulate it or embroider it, to find out.

I'll attach my screenshot anyway, because it's probably a good idea to get rid of the extraneous marks anyway, and also to fill in the gaps. But I no longer think it might solve the problem. Note that I didn't circle all of them - just a few to show you. Find the zoom tool, if you haven't already, and you'll be able to see them better.

Thanks so much everyone, especially Brynn and TD.
We are running a few tests with the embroidery software this week. Will post results.