How to print from layout with transparency?

Rhino Rhino for Windows
21

Hi Momo -

No, this is currently still on the “Future” list of things to look at:
→ RH-66636 File IO: Export - Transparent background of layouts and details
-wim

1 Like
22

Thanks for the quick reply!

23

I think I have found a solution. Sorry to be 5 years late.

export your layout as a Rhino PDF vector output. Open that pdf in Adobe Illustrator. select image, left click, then “release clipping mask”. is should keep everything as a vector with no background. Then you can export from illustrator as a PNG as you wish.

This works best for me at least. You’d think that after 5 years, we could have a no background option when exporting PNGs from Rhino. I dont have rhino 8 yet though, so maybe you can now.

Hope this helps in some way

2 Likes
24

Thanks for the suggestion!

It is still not possible even in Rhino 8. @stevebaer any progress on this?

25

-wim

26

I see this is marked as “Feature” in the issue tracker, but is it?

There is an option to check in the “Visibility” tab of the “Print” window called “Background Color”. Checking that when the background color is set to transparent results in the checkered pattern to appear. In this context, it would make one believe the “printed” image would be transparent, when, in reality, the PNG image has that same opaque checkered pattern.

To me this reads like a bug, not an expected behaviour.

Other than that, and I don’t mean to be rude, should this be taking years?

1 Like
27

@stevebaer

28

It would be really nice if this were a high priority. Using View Capture for precise overlays is not ideal. This seems to be the exact purpose of layouts.

1 Like
29

Also, I’m not a developer, but from my understanding, adding transparency support to an export option that already handles compatible file types like PNG shouldn’t be too complex or time-consuming. It seems like a relatively simple fix that could likely be implemented within a day.

30

I believe I already implemented this feature recently in Rhino 9; it was just listed under a different YT issue. I’m going to mark the one here as needs testing to make sure it is actually the same feature

1 Like
31

This also works if you want to keep the image as vector art, by deleting the clipping mask, and saving it as a PDF, the image has a transparent background.