I opened a saved SBPro 2010 Tiff file and found the top layer had developed a black “background”. This is the second time this has happened (different files). The file had around ten layers which included imported images and sketched layers. Only the top layer, a sketch, had a black fill where it should have been transparent. I was able to erase the black and save the drawing but does anyone have any clue what is going on? It’s very worrying.

Windows Vista 32

hi Joe:

We have received 2 similar bug reports but unfortunately we haven’t been able to reproduce it. I’m taking note of your workflow to see if we can consistently reproduce it.
Thanks for your feedback.

Ivan Pinzon
Sr. Software Developer
SketchBook Dev Team
Autodesk

Ok Ivan, thanks for getting back. I’m not sure I can even reproduce it but if it happens again, I’ll try to report everything I think might be relevant, with screenshots. (I should add that the black fill did not cover the whole canvas).

This has happened to me also, and indeed it is very troubling. In my case, it’s not necessarily the top layer but it happened on one of my middle layers, never when the file is open but only when re-opened. The image remains, but there is a layer of black completely covering, so by adjusting levels in Photoshop it’s possible to have a partial retrieval, but if you are dealing with a finished illustration then it’s basically useless.

Sketchbook has also crashed at times out of the blue, corrupting the file currently open. I don’t know if this bug is somehow connected to the weird black layer thing. Perhaps you guys should check the code when saving a file, maybe something happens during a previous save which corrupts the file...?

Just my laymans, non-techy 2-bit worth opinion ;)

In my case, it seems that the black occurs where an imported jpeg is placed, i.e. if I add a jpeg at half the size of the canvas, save and open later, the area of the jpeg turns black on one layer.
(It hasn’t happened again since my first post)

I had something like this in the last version of SBP. The file was fine when I worked on it but I got the black thing when I opened the file later. It hasn’t happened since. I guess we all must be vigilant and expect the unexpected

Huge Regards
Dave
http://www.squeakypics.co.uk

I get this reasonably often, I use SBP for about 95% of my work.

As with those mentioned, the black only appears after a re-opening of the file, indeed the preview of the file appears normal and if opened as a flat tif in other sotware it will again appear normal.

There are a couple of work-arounds, but these will depend on the complexity of the effected layer.

Lock the transparency of the layer, use any brush and you can paint back over the effected edges. If it is linework or sketch work you can regain the original clarity. Similarly save the file as a psd and use the same process in PS.

If the effected layer is more complex you will probably have to repaint a considerable amount, again with the transparency locked.

Why it happens I have no idea, but I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of possibilities:

Using a lasso marquee selection on a part of a layer, then translate/rotate/scale the selection. Occasionally you may see the edges get heavy, this is normally a sign of things going wrong. More often there is no indication and one can work happily on the layer until next time the file is opened… (incidentally, transforming part of a layer in SBP 2010 is - for me- a guarantee of a crash afterwards, anyone else experience this? )

Sometimes I believe erasing a part of a layer can cause this, then undo-ing the erasing will cause a part of the layer to be cloned in the top or any blank part of the same layer, pretty odd. This can indicate the layer will be effected later.

That’s my experience anyway, I tend to fix my files so have none to attach, but I will next time it happens.

It’s my only complaint about SBPro (ignoring the transform crash I get), otherwise I love it! Great work on the new update!

C.

Yep - I get this also.
Just mentioned it in another thread, because I’ve been having a spate of crahses recently (probably as much to do with my XP Pro needing a clean install as much as anything)and this loss of alpha reared its head again at the same time. 

I also think it may have something to do with layers that have been transformed, because I’d just moved three layers of what would be a group if we had them (yes please - lovely Autodesk team)and saved.  Yet only one of the three layers decided to fill in with black, so it does seem to be one of those intermittant, hard to reproduce on demand faults, that could take a while to isolate and remedy.

Have any of you had SKB just disappear without warning as well?  I’ve had that two or three times.  I do use it most days so am more likely to encounter any foibles I suppose.

Nick Harris artwork
64bit Pentium4
3gig DDR2 RAM
512mb Radeon Graphics card
A4 Wacom Intuos3
BenQ 2200W monitor

We have been able to reproduce this bug or an instance of it, by:
- using the blur/sharpen brushes
- saving as TIFF

The problem is that the alpha in some of the pixels gets corrupted and SBP gets confused when opening the sketch since it finds a mix of premultiplied and non-premultiplied pixels. It then guesses and sets the alpha to 1 which is why you end up getting the black background. These pixels used to be black-transparent.

Even though we are still investigating, I found a workaround for now:
Save the sketch as PSD.
Also, you could save both: “Tiff” and then Save As/Save a Copy “PSD”

If someone gets the black background with PSD please let us know.
Thanks.

Ivan Pinzon
Sr. Software Developer
SketchBook Dev Team
Autodesk