Item Transparency Tool (2.7)

[Roy 52]

If you have a lot of images of items to make transparent and upload, wouldn't it be handy if there was something that could do the boring work for you? A program where you just drag all those images to and that program does all the work with a press of a button?

 

I've been developing such a program that takes the images, makes them transparent and either saves them or uploads them to Imgur.com. It's fully operational, has a good UI and with a few more features. I did this to make it easier for myself but there are probably a lot more people who could use it.

 

Requirements

.NET Framework 4.0

 

How to use

1. Open images in tool
   
2. Click upload
   
3. Copy url links
   
4. Paste urls in post
   

Screenshots

 

 

1. Items to make transparent (right original, right done by program)
   
2. Save button
   
3. Upload button
   
4. Upload results
   
5. Imgur info (everyone gets 50 uploads per hour from Imgur)
   
6. New update notifier (shows down when there's a new update)
   
7. Internet connection notifier (Turns red when it couldn't connect to Imgur; press to retrieve Imgur info)
   

Drag and drop items to right panel.

 

Program makes them transparent automatically.

 

Uploading

 

Uploading is done.

 

File menu.

 

New update interface.

 

 

 

 

Extra's

You can now upload any image file (if it's an item or not) to imgur by using the new 'Upload Files' option in the File menu.

 

Download

2.6:

 

Or download the old version (2.5) here:

download

 

 

Change Log

1.7.0.0

Improved auto-updater.

Changed some small things.

1.8.0.0

Improved the auto-update

1.9.0.0

Improved the auto-update.

Small improvements to UI.

1.10.0.0

Improved code

1.11.0.0

Improved code.

Added error handling when file access is denied.

1.12.0.0

Optimized cropping and transparency code (made it about 4.6 times faster).

Added version to about box.

1.13.0.0

Cropping is now done based on the closest black pixel and not always with a preset value.

Cropping the image too small won't cause incorrect results anymore.

Improved code.

1.14.0.0

Items like the Amulet of Fury or certain rings (items with a bit of background inside them) give better results now.

1.14.1.0

Fixed a bug.

1.14.2.0

Improved code.

Fixed another bug.

1.15.0.0

Added an option to upload files without cropping

improved some code

1.15.1.0

Added tooltips showing the original filename.

Fixed a bug with uploading gif images (they lost transparency).

1.16.0.0

Now possible to paste selections from paint directly into the program.

1.16.0.2

Added menu item for paste image.

Double-clicking on an item after it has been uploaded, copies the url (including img-tags) to the clipboard.

1.16.1.0

When Imgur goes off-line for maintenance, the program will give a message saying so.

The update box is slightly bigger now to see the changelog entries better.

1.17.0.0

Using the new imgur api.

Removed the imgur info (can't figure out how to get that right now).

1.17.0.1

Solved a bug where you couldn't upload anything.

2.0.0.0

Added a crosshair to drag to the item you want to crop.

Added a vertical scrollbar to the changelog textbox.

2.1.0.0

Added a contextmenu to upload, save and open the original in mspaint.

2.2.0.0

Added a shortcut (Ctrl+D) to capture an item close to the cursor (similar to the crossshair drag and drop).

2.3.0.0

Added commandline 'TransparencyTool.exe -u file1 file2 ... fileN' for uploading images.

Also included a batch file in the installation directory (uploadFiles.bat).

Simply drag the files you want to upload on that batch file or a link to that batch file.

2.3.6.1

Fixed a bug in the image quantization (some images changed when saving/uploading).

2.4.0.0

Fixed a bug where the transparency would be lost after saving/uploading.

2.5.0.0

The program will now check if it has done its work correctly.

If it finds any problems with the transparency, it will now make that item's background red.

So if you see some red, double-check the image.

2.5.0.1

Corrected the dropbox url where the update log is located (for some reason it ended with .cm instead of .com).

2.6.0.0

Improved the algorithm, it now works for more difficult items like the brawlers knockout necklace.

2.6.0.5

Uploading an image when imgur.com is over capacity, will give an error about giraffes.

2.7.0.0

Improved the algorithm a little bit.

 

Feedback

If you find any bugs, please don't hesitate to post them; Any ideas are welcome too.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Roy

[Hunter 152]

I suppose this is useful for those without Photoshop, etc. However, I don't imagine it works flawlessly without already blanking out the background in paint (Obviously I see your examples, but it can't be FLAWLESS).

Another problem is the item shadow - We don't include that in the Databases.

 

 

However, it's a great piece of work! I'm sure it will be very handy.

[Roy 52]

I suppose this is useful for those without Photoshop, etc. However, I don't imagine it works flawlessly without already blanking out the background in paint (Obviously I see your examples, but it can't be FLAWLESS).

The whole algorithm to get the background off is based on the black line around the item. There are cases where it partly fails (when there are 'holes' in the line, when pieces of the background are on the inside and it doesn't work great on stackable items) but it should work for most.

 

Another problem is the item shadow - We don't include that in the Databases.

You mean the brown line around the right-bottom edges? I always kept those on, has there been a recent decision to not include it?

 

However, it's a great piece of work! I'm sure it will be very handy.

Thanks

Edited September 5, 2011 by Roy

[Ambo100 25]

Good job Roy :D

 

Another problem is the item shadow - We don't include that in the Databases.

 

Yes we do :(

[Hunter 152]

There's a large inconsistency in that, now that I actually look. Lots of items have it (the majority, even), but lots don't.

 

Frankly we shouldn't - it looks slightly messy.

[Chaoss 71]

There's a large inconsistency in that, now that I actually look. Lots of items have it (the majority, even), but lots don't.

 

Frankly we shouldn't - it looks slightly messy.

On the contrary, I think item backgrounds give it a nice look, and besides, it gives a more accurate representaion of how they look in-game.

[Joyful Lemon 7]

Woah I'm impressed good work :(, I won't use it but I can see it being used alot

[Jacky 19]

Nice, I'll definately get it once the next db drive gets on or I get bored and want to complete the dung item db. :(

[Roy 52]

I suppose this is useful for those without Photoshop, etc. However, I don't imagine it works flawlessly without already blanking out the background in paint (Obviously I see your examples, but it can't be FLAWLESS).

The whole algorithm to get the background off is based on the black line around the item. There are cases where it partly fails (when there are 'holes' in the line, when pieces of the background are on the inside and it doesn't work great on stackable items) but it should work for most.

Items with background in them get transparent correctly now.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Roy

[Hunter 152]

That's good :( It'd be interesting to see if you could add an in-program editor to fix stuff like broken barrows armour with incomplete lines.

[Roy 52]

That's good :( It'd be interesting to see if you could add an in-program editor to fix stuff like broken barrows armour with incomplete lines.

I was also thinking about that, and maybe a way to take a screenshot of the screen and select the items you want to make transparent. But that's for later (maybe tomorrow).

[Salmoneus 444]

Roy, I never got back to you about this after I tested it out -- sorry about that! It's really a fantastic tool and you really did an awesome job here - it's by far easier and quicker than trying to transparentize images manually. Thank you for sharing this with us! :(

[Roy 52]

I apologize for the massive bump but I see no other way of notifying the people who might be interested in this without posting in a relatively old topic.

 

I had the idea to add a normal upload function that doesn't start cropping out the background of the images but just uploads them to imgur and gives the url's.

 

So after a bit of programming I finished it and perhaps some might find it useful to have a program to upload their images.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Roy

[heb0 150]

Thanks for bumping--I hadn't realized it was here and it will be a huge help.

[Roy 52]

Small update...

 

Fixed a bug with the new upload files option where gif images lost their transparency.

And added a tooltips to show the original filename of the images.

[Traviesa 5]

I never knew this topic existed until it was bumped last week. Could we PLEASE sticky this? It's a very useful tool -- thank you, Roy!

[Roy 52]

While added some more images I noticed a way to improve this even more.

 

I always take a screenshot, open it in paint and then select the item, crop it, save it and do so with all items in the screenshot I want. (Then open those saved images with the transparency tool.)

 

This isn't very efficient so I improved the program so that it's possible to just select something from paint, copy/cut it and paste it into the program. It makes things a lot easier I think...

 

I never knew this topic existed until it was bumped last week. Could we PLEASE sticky this? It's a very useful tool -- thank you, Roy!

Stickying would be nice...

[Roy 52]

Imgur has released its new version of the api the program uses to upload the images. If I understand correctly they will drop their support for the previous api in about 6 months so I edited the program to use the new one.

 

So if it's July and you can't upload anything, check if you got the newest version (1.17+).

[Salmoneus 444]

Stickied! :D

 

Thank you for sharing this awesome tool, Roy! It definitely makes the job of transparency a bit easier. :)

[im gona mill burray ur mom 630]

this is obviously virus

 

nice work though it would be a big help for those that submit items

[Sobend 876]

I keep getting "too many uploads, try again later." Any ideas?

[Roy 52]

I keep getting "too many uploads, try again later." Any ideas?

It seems that the new api for imgur needs a bit more work... It's fixed now by going back to the old one.

[Sobend 876]

Where can I get to this old one?

[Roy 52]

Where can I get to this old one?

I changed it in the program to the old one (it's nothing more than a adjusting a small number).

 

You can download the new version of the prgram:

dl.dropbox.com/u/847423/TransparencyTool.exe

 

And normally if you open the old version you have it should give you a warning about a new update.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Roy

[Sobend 876]

Okay thanks. I'm guessing you can only use this for items right?