SuperPNG is the first plug-in I ever wrote. Back in 2002, Photoshop and After Effects had 16-bit color modes, but couldn't read or write a 16-bit PNG. So I set out to fill the void, learning a lot in the process.
Within a few years, Adobe filled the holes and I figured SuperPNG was destined for retirement. Working in visual effects, I also found myself no longer using a 16-bit integer format in production, preferring 16-bit float via OpenEXR. SuperPNG was all but forgotten—I didn't even have it installed myself.
But then the other day I went to save a PNG in Photoshop and noticed a glaring omission: no ICC profile support. I found it astounding that Adobe, one of the founding members of the ICC, had overlooked it in PNG. Time to dust off SuperPNG.
And then I have also gotten so accustomed to being able to control alpha channels in ProEXR EZ, I decided I had to add that feature to SuperPNG. So now the options dialog lets you choose between using transparency or the channels palette as the source for your alpha. Hold down shift when opening a PNG, and you get an import options dialog as well, letting you direct that alpha however you wish.
For more information, see the PDF manual, also new in this version. Quite an update for a free plug-in!
Enjoy!
22 comments:
Hi, tried the new Version in After Effects but it crashes on the Format Option Menu.
Error:
--
After Effects error: Crash in progress. Last logged message was: <5180> <5> Destruct for 615562416
Any chance to fix this?
Best.
In Photoshop it works flawless.
Please, could you include in downloads the older versions (Win & Mac) of SuperPNG?
A lot of people like me still use Photoshop CS.
I had not really intended for people to be using SuperPNG in After Effects any more. Nevertheless, I think I figured out what was causing the problem. Re-download and give it a try.
BTW, that recent change should also let SuperPNG work in earlier versions of Photoshop. Just successfully tested it in Photoshop 7.0! Let me know if you have problems.
Great plugin! Thanks for your attention to the otherwise overlooked details.
Looks like you have some very interesting other output plugins that I'm looking forward to investigating as well. FYI, I am featuring SuperPNG on the front page of downloadphotoshop.ca today.
More power to you.
Could you please tell me what folder I need to place the plug-in into in PS?
Check the manual. It goes inside your Photoshop plug-ins folder. On Windows, make sure you choose the 64 or 32-bit version properly.
Doesn't seem to work in 64-bit of PS CS6. :(
It should! And it's been tested. Mac or Windows?
Where would I see SuperPNG? I am on PhotoshopCS6 and even though it shows on About Plugins there is not reference to it anywhere…
Is there a way I can use ImageMagick to convert using SuperPNG codec? I batch convert in Photoshop some Specular passes, and great- but slow. I am a noob with ImageMagick and the png conversions are clipping the levels...
With ImageMagick, you should be able to use a "-quality 95" flag to get similar results to SuperPNG. We both use the standard libpng library. I don't know what's going on with the levels.
Hi Brendan. SuperPNG plugin doesn't open PNGs with alpha channels as advertised. Used to use an older version that worked, but 2.0 doesn't. I'm on CS5, Windows 8 64-bit. PNGs open like "normal" Photoshop PNGs with alpha transparency and layer 0, no alpha channel. I definitely placed the plugins in the right folders (I have both PS 32-bit and 64-bit installed, the plugin works on neither).
Mike, try holding down the shift key when you open a PNG. You should get a dialog with alpha handling options and be able to set your preferred default. This is described in the manual.
I downloaded your superpng plug in but I'm not sure where to put it. When I open the plug ins folder there are other folders in there. Do I need to put it in one of them? It will not allow me to put it in the file format folder.
I am trying to upload a transparent image with an alpha channel to my iPad.
I have PS CS5.
Yeah, just putting it in the plugins folder didn't work.
It goes in the Photoshop plug-ins folder. If you're on Windows, make sure you copy the right version (32-bit or 64-bit).
New SuperPNG dialogue breaks Photoshop CS6; from within a smartObject, I am trying to transform an alpha mask uniformly -- this requires I hold down shift, but everytime I do, your dialogue pops up; when I dismiss the window the transform gets aborted. This is happening despite the "Always show this window" box being unticked. Is there some way I can correct this default behaviour, short of removing the plug-in?
Hmmmm. I guess I'd suggest you import the PNG file using Photoshop's PNG plug-in instead of SuperPNG. You can force this in the Open dialog (Open As on Windows).
I guess the smart object is continuously re-loading the PNG. The checkbox causes the window to appear even when you don't hold Shift, but there is no option to prevent it from popping up when you do hold Shift (how would you ever get it back?).
Hi. I have SuperPNG installed on my Mac and it appears as a plug-in in Photoshop's plug-ins list and file format options.
However, no matter what I do, the options dialog doesn't open. I've tried the Shift and Option keys throughout opening a file with File/Open, and it doesn't appear. Any ideas? Thus far the plug-in has no effect at all when opening PNGs.
Thanks!
Same to me - holding shift when uniformly scaling anything pops out that window, so I can't use Photoshop (I can, but can't scale, so..). Cool... Interesting is that it starts after some time, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Any solution? How to change that default shortcut for example?
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