Brand new at this, halo issues

OK, I have puttered away for 3 days with as much patience as I can bear, trying to rid myself of the dreaded halo. I have watched countless tutorial videos. I can not rid myself of the HALO.

I am using Photoshop 7.0. I feel like I'm doing everything right, but ultimately I am still left with a halo. I am attempting a simple shirt. I have downloaded Flaming Pear. I have downloaded Robin Wood automatic Action but in the end.... no luck.

-Please tell me what layers and channels should be visible before saving? I've tried every combination but obviously I'm missing something.

Also, I even broke down (not in tears thankfully!) and downloaded Robin Wood's t-shirt template to try to see how it was configured. I'd upload preview and repeatedly, on the arm I'd see a sandy-colored long sleeve, BUT NO HALO. I figured I was close. I paid the $10L to confirm in would be inworld and, of course, YES, it was. I shortened my shirt sleeves in appearance and it looks ok, but obviously this is not what should've happened. Can someone help with that question as well?

Thank you so much!!!!

That's your problem right there. It's not you, or anything you're doing wrong. It's the software version you're using.

7.0 can best be described as an experimental version of Photoshop. For whatever reason, Adobe tried to change the rules with it, and it failed miserably. Among other issues, it handled alpha channels differently from all other versions of Photoshop (and from practically every other graphics program in the history of graphics). For this reason, as long as you continue to use 7.0, you won't be able to follow most tutorials properly, and you also won't be be able to do simple things like eliminate halos.

But here's the good news. The patch that ended the experiment, and fixed 7.0 is still freely available on Adobe's website. Simply download the 7.0.1 update, and you'll be good to go.


Of course, the best thing to do would be to upgrade to the current version (Photoshop 11, also called Photoshop CS4 Extended), if you've got the money. There have been a lot of significant improvements to Photoshop over the past seven years since version 7 was current. The latest (extended) version even allows you to paint textures directly on a 3D model. If you can afford it, it's worth every penny.




The layers that should be visible are whichever ones you want to show up in the texture, plus a de-haloing layer, if you're using one.

Channel visibility is irrelevant. The ability to turn them on and off is just part of Photoshop's GUI, an visual aid to you as the artist, nothing more. They're never really on or off. Channels aren't like layers in that way. You could turn them all on or all off, and the texture would be exactly the same.

What's important with channels is their assignment, not their GUI visibility. Under the way most programs, including SL, read images, the assignments are as follows. Channel 1 governs redness, channel 2 governs blueness, channel 3 governs greenness, and channel 4, if present, governs transparency/opacity. So make sure no more than 4 channels are present. That's the 3 RGB channels, plus one alpha channel. If you've got more than 4, the TGA exporter won't know how to handle them all, and the transparency will fail.




I'm not clear what "that question" is. Are you asking why there was or wasn't a halo around Robin's T-shirt? Your wording is a little confusing.

Hi! I am also brand new at this, and I have the exact same issue. I have been pulling hair out for 2 weeks trying to get rid of halos, and I also have Photoshop 7. I just upgraded to 7.0.1. Thank you very much, Chosen. I was so excited to think I had found the answer to my problems, but I hate to say it, I still have a problem.

I have an alpha channel that represents exactly what I wish to become transparent. I ran the Flaming Pear Solidify filter, and now have a layer that looks like my tattoo image with funky swirls around it (from the filtering). I saved as a Targa, with alpha channels selected, and now my image shows up looking like the layer with the dark background and funky swirls. In other words, the transparency doesn't work The thumbnail looks correct though, oddly enough.

I can't run Gimp either, and that's a whole other head smacking fiasco.

Any other suggestions before I give up entirely? And Eliza, did it ever work for you?

Thanks

Somer

Update:

I decided to pay the L$10 to upload the file just to see what happens. It looks black in the (as upper-body) preview, and black in SLCP, but once it is uploaded and added to a shirt, the transparency magically worked!! Wow. I am so happy right now.

So, for anyone else having this issue, you should know the preview will be deceiving.

joy

Glad you got it worked out, Somer. Thanks for the heads up that the previewer is borked.