Decals, tiff format and clear backgrounds

[shift1313]

I have been playing around with decals in SW09 recently and one thing that i cant seem to get around is having a sticker with a clear background. I know Solidworks says tiff file format is supported and im told that is what i need to make a clear background on the sticker, but every time i try to use a graphic saved as a .tif i get an errror saying the file type is not supported. I have no issues using .jpeg or .png files but i get the background of the image. I can change the color of that but id like to see through it. For instance you see drawing with labels above buttons where on the acutal prouct these would be printed on. How do i make a detail whose border is the shape. So say i had the word POWER and thats all i want.

thanks in advance.

[shift1313]

i thought i would upload an image as an example of what i was trying to do.

this was a windscreen i modeled off a kawasaki versys. the kawasaki sticker on the actual screen had a box around just like the one on my render, but it was printed on a clear sticker. This is one thing i would like to do. The other is have the sticker only be the tracing of the letters(if that makes sense)

thanks

[shift1313]

I came close with this earlier today but still not right. I was using a tif or png file. I selected an image mask, used the same image as the decal but selected the Invert Mask button. It worked but it wasnt the result i was hoping for. It looses most of its color(because the image is now a negative). Ill keep working at it.

Nobody does this?

[shift1313]

okay so setting an image mask, no using the invert mask button and playing with the illumination gets me pretty close to an acceptable image. I can post the image im working with here but if i get a chance ill upload something.

[shift1313]

i played with the file i posted above so there was a good comparison.

[MaxwellEdison]

Shift, I feel bad because you are discussing this with yourself, so I thought I would add that I have no idea whatsoever how to do it. Someone help this guy out!

[shift1313]

haha, thanks max. i think ive got it squared away. I really was talking to myself though I figured it may help someone out. The issue im having now is with the clarity of the png or tif that i am using. I had one(not the image above) that had some broken edges and it really messes up the overlay on renders. Im not sure if I am allowed to post the sticker/model I am working with because we are developing it for a consumer product which is not the norm for us

[shift1313]

okay so im half way there. I can get it to work fine on anything but a clear materail like glass or plastic.

[cedar]

Sorry Shift... I know almost nothing about rendering.

[shift1313]

thats alright. ill figure it out eventually im sure. there doesnt seem to be much info on this. In the help documentation it talks about cutting holes with decals but i cant seem to find the options they list. ill keep working at it though because i think its a nice touch to be able to do.