Can't get an image background to be transparent - AutoCAD 2016

[jdb]

Hi all,

I have been searching for over an hour so please be patient with me if this is all over the forums. I can't find the answer.  

I am trying to get the background of an inserted image to be transparent.  I have an old hand drawn site plan that I am trying to "trace" a portion off in an AutoCAD file.  In the past I have always been able to insert either a .tif or .pdf and in the properties dialogue box pick "Yes" for the background transparency and then put the image over the area I need to trace and the image does not obscure my drawing.  I have been trying to do this all afternoon and it won't work.

The image comes in with a white background no matter what layer I put it on.   I can not find an option to change the background color, which was a suggestion I saw in a different post.  I do not use "Raster Design" (I think that is what it is called).  I have tried changing the transparency display. Nothing is working.  What setting am I missing?

I have sort of been able to work around it by changing the "fade", but I still have this big grey box and I have to really hunt to find my AutoCAD objects 

I am not sure what program the PDF was created in.  I use Bluebeam to view it.  When I open it in Bluebeam there does not seem to be anything to set to change the background color because I am not creating a mark up.

I am using AutoCAD 2016.  I draw with a black background.  I have attached a screen shot.

Please help if you can.

Thank you very much.

JDB

[Anonymous]

Hi,

May I request to post your file here so we can send examine.

Thanks.

[steven-g · Accepted solution]

Background transparency is a property of certain image types, image transparency and Autocad can turn that on/off but if it's not present in your image then it won't do anything. So you either need to edit your image in some other program first or adapt how you are using the image in Autocad, for a one off situation you would probably find it easier to temporarily adjust your Autocad to a lighter background with a darker cursor and use a dark layer color to do your tracing and then move the new line work away from the image (or turn the image off) and adjust your color scheme back to how you like (changing the dark layer color to a lighter one.

Or at the very least adjust the cursor to a darker color for a while (and use a dark layer color, you can do this easily from "Options-Display(Tab)-Colors"

[imadHabash · Accepted solution]

Hi,

would you please attache the pdf file here so we can test it ? make sure that TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY is set to 1 .

Command: TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY
Enter new value for TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY <1>:

 also ( as a try ) try to disable hardware acceleration from 3DCONFIG command and see if any changes .

Regards,

[Michiel.Valcke · Accepted solution]

As was said by @steven-g image transparancy is dependant on the information in the image you're trying to insert. If that information is not present, AutoCad cannot deal with it.

A cleaner way is to make the background of your picture transparant before inserting it in your drawing. If you have access to a program as Photoshop or Illustrator that can cut away the white background for you. I would suggest to use those.

There are also some online services that allow you to turn white backgrounds transparent in your .png file like this one and this one.

Always use a copy of your original .png before editing it if you're not sure what the end result will be.

[jdb]

Thanks Steven..this is a good work around.

[jdb]

Hi Imad,

I thought I had done all of this, but tried it again just now and it worked!  Thank you!

[jwverde]

Another good option is to use a 2bit tiff image file. Quality isn’t as good, but this will give you the transparency you need. Be sure to send to the background.

[BennnttPLS]

3DCONFIG disable Hardware acceleration worked for me. THANKS!