.PNG+ (Portable Network Graphics Plus) Files - No Support Anymore?? Help Appreciated!

[Shaun Gupta]

Hey all,

I've been maintaining a website for someone (just updating schedules and
such). Not great at HTML so was using layered images in the PNG+ (Portable
Network Graphics Plus) format. This actually worked great for several
years, until a recent reformat of my OS

I used to have MSN Premium and decided I no longer had a need for it.
It came with a simple but nice image editing tool called Microsoft Picture
It! Express, which supported PNG+ files. I assumed at the time that PNG+
was a common layered imaging format and that I could use my choice of image
editing programs to change it/access the layers.

Unfortunately, now that I'm not running it, I can't seem to find
anything else (aside from further versions of Picture It! or the Microsoft's
Digital Imaging line of software) that can edit the file. And those pieces
of software have been discontinued. So, is this format no longer supported
by any current software application?? (Push come to shove, I can get the
old software back, but either way things will have to change with the way
this is done as I can't be using a format that nothing supports, and I'm
upgrading to Vista soon and don't want to use outdated software).

This is a very frustrating issue to have, especially since essentially
free software (there was a monthly subscription to use MSN, but that was it)
edited these just fine for me and nothing else will touch them now, with
layering intact. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
Shaun

 

[John Inzer]

Hey all,

I've been maintaining a website for someone (just updating
schedules and such). Not great at HTML so was using layered images
in the PNG+ (Portable Network Graphics Plus) format. This actually
worked great for several years, until a recent reformat of my OS

I used to have MSN Premium and decided I no longer had a need for
it. It came with a simple but nice image editing tool called Microsoft
Picture It! Express, which supported PNG+ files. I assumed at the
time that PNG+ was a common layered imaging format and that I could
use my choice of image editing programs to change it/access the
layers.
Unfortunately, now that I'm not running it, I can't seem to find
anything else (aside from further versions of Picture It! or the
Microsoft's Digital Imaging line of software) that can edit the file.
And those pieces of software have been discontinued. So, is this
format no longer supported by any current software application?? (Push
come to shove, I can get the old software back, but either way
things will have to change with the way this is done as I can't be
using a format that nothing supports, and I'm upgrading to Vista soon
and don't want to use outdated software).
This is a very frustrating issue to have, especially since
essentially free software (there was a monthly subscription to use
MSN, but that was it) edited these just fine for me and nothing else
will touch them now, with layering intact. Any help/ideas would be
greatly appreciated...
Thanks,
Shaun

=====================================
..png-plus was introduced in Picture It! 2002 and
continued to be the default format for layered projects
until the discontinuation of Picture It! - Digital Image.
The last version was called: "Microsoft Digital Image
Suite 2006 Anniversary Edition" and...it is optimized
for Vista.

MS Picture It! and MS Digital Image are the only
programs that recognize .png-plus...all other apps
only see the embedded JPEG and not the layers.

Your best bet would be to find and purchase a copy
of "Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 Anniversary
Edition". Online sites like Amazon and eBay are
usually good sources for outdated software.

There's a 60 day trial version available for
download if you would like to give it a try:

Microsoft Digital Image
Starter Edition 2006
http://tinyurl.com/28loxr
(this product line has been
discontinued but you can still
download the Starter Version
and run it for 60 days)

Unlike the retail version...the trial does not
have the ability to create VCDs and it does
not include the clipart and pre-formatted
projects.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Shaun Gupta]

Thanks much for the great and helpful response! Great to know there is
software meant to be used on Vista to support .png+ if I do need to continue
working with them once I upgrade, and I'll try the trial version you
suggested to get me out of the current bind.

I do find it a bit strange that Microsoft would suddenly abandon support for
what seems like a good and accessible layered format. You'd think if they
just decided to stop developing imaging software they'd freely incorporate
it into the OS imaging software or something so people who work with those
file types wouldn't be left in the cold, though I suppose they just figure
people can buy their older software. (Or maybe they still have plans for it
in the future - I take it no part of the new Office can use it either as of
the current time though?)

Also, if I wanted to use Digital Image to convert to a different type (ie.
more widely supported) format of layered image in the future, is this a
possibility, or is .png-plus the only layered image type supported? (I'm
pretty sure photoshop has something similar, but I'm not really looking to
buy Photoshop, couldn't convert it most likely if I did, and can't think of
any other file types that do this.)

Thanks again for the great help and any other responses you can give me!

Sincerely,
Shaun

 

[John Inzer]

Thanks much for the great and helpful response! Great to know there
is software meant to be used on Vista to support .png+ if I do need
to continue working with them once I upgrade, and I'll try the trial
version you suggested to get me out of the current bind.

I do find it a bit strange that Microsoft would suddenly abandon
support for what seems like a good and accessible layered format. You'd
think if they just decided to stop developing imaging software
they'd freely incorporate it into the OS imaging software or
something so people who work with those file types wouldn't be left
in the cold, though I suppose they just figure people can buy their
older software. (Or maybe they still have plans for it in the future
- I take it no part of the new Office can use it either as of the
current time though?)

================================
As you can see at the following site...
Digital Image Suite 2006 is supported
until 10/12/2010.

microsoft product lifecycle
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeconhdmu

As I previously stated...

MS Picture It! and MS Digital Image are the only
programs that recognize .png-plus...all other apps
only see the embedded JPEG and not the layers.
================================

Also, if I wanted to use Digital Image to convert to a different type
(ie. more widely supported) format of layered image in the future, is
this a possibility, or is .png-plus the only layered image type
supported? (I'm pretty sure photoshop has something similar, but I'm
not really looking to buy Photoshop, couldn't convert it most likely
if I did, and can't think of any other file types that do this.)

=================================
The only format that preserves layers in
PictureIt! / Digital Image is .png-plus.
=================================

Thanks again for the great help and any other responses you can give
me!
Sincerely,
Shaun

=================================
You're welcome.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[John Inzer]

Sorry....I posted the wrong link
for the Support Lifecycle Index:

Support Lifecycle Index
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex


--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Shaun Gupta]

Great, thanks. I downloaded the Starter package you linked to, and it works
like a charm. Thanks again for the great help. =o) At least now I know I
can keep working with it and we have some time I can keep doing updates
until we can figure out another way to do the site (or choose to keep doing
it this way for a few more years).

 

[John Inzer]

Great, thanks. I downloaded the Starter package you linked to, and
it works like a charm. Thanks again for the great help. =o) At
least now I know I can keep working with it and we have some time I
can keep doing updates until we can figure out another way to do the
site (or choose to keep doing it this way for a few more years).

===============================
You're welcome...

But I guess you realize the Starter
version will de-feature after 60 days.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Shaun Gupta]

Right, but at least I can now get this update done and decide what to do
from there.