Transparency and Alpha Channels: The Definitive Guide

Thanks chosen, is so long since I set up my own photoshop I just could not remember about the RGB mode bit, and it was rather early in the morning when I was talking my friend through alpha channels, not exactly awake and brain just refused to work lol

Ty for your help

Yes I'm back But this time with some good news. I finally got it to work(The Alpha stuff). I use PSP X in case anyones wondering. Below I'll put the steps that I used over and over and over

1. Bring up your Image

2. Using the Magic Wand I select any areas I wish to be Invis. If more then one area hold Shift and you can do multiple areas.

3. Goto Menu above to Layers - Select Make New mask - Select Hide Selection

4. Goto Above menu to Layers - Select Load/Save Mask - Select Save mask to alpha Channel. Another Small window appears - Name the Alpha Channel - and Click SAVE ( BTW there is no need to Load the Alpha Channel after this. Its Automatically loaded)

5. On the right of your window You should see a smaller window - LAYERS - here right click the Mask layer and Select - Delete - Another small window appears - Select NO!!!

6. Goto above Menu - Select Save As - Save the file as .TGA and to the location you want it. ( As Chosen Few says Saving the File as TGA, so long as you never changed anything. It will Save as 32 BIT thats 8 Bits/Per Channel plus 8 More for the Alpha) Before saving you can see this by Viewing Image Imformation all the Info you need to see is there.)

THATS IT! All you need to do now is upload it in SL and there you have it 1 Image with Invisable areas of your choice.

Chosen Somehow I missed somthing in the way your Tutorial worked. But what I do here works perfect step by step. You can add this or edit this information to yours anyway you wish call it the " Guide To Alpha Invis for the newbie" hahaha
And thank you again for all you have done here for everyone. It's people like you that make SL a Fun, Exciting and Challenging place to be. HuGs n KisseS out to ya!

SuS of "SuS JeWLs" in SL look for me at Adored Clothing bye all

Thanks, Susiee. I think you're right. It's probably time to flesh out my PSP tutorial a little more. It glosses over a few things compared to the Photoshop stuff.

My only criticism of yours is that I'm not a big fan of the magic wand. It's pretty crude in its selection capability. There are more powerful selection techniques available. One of these days I'll have to get around to documenting them.

I'll add some of your stuff to mine when I get a little time. Thanks again.

I've been using the Flamin Pear TGA plugin for CS2 and although not always as accurate as other methods it's by far a lot more time saving and easy to use. I recently upgraded to CS3 as its a lot faster on my Intel Mac, but cant seem to find a compatible TGA plugin with the same feature as the Flamin Pear one: save as/TGA - voila! No alphalayers or actions and all those time consuming things.
So my question: Has anyone come across anything that works the same way?

I'm not sure what you mean, Max. It sounds like you're asking for an auto alpha channel generator, but to my knowledge, Flaming Pear has never made one of those. There is one floating around that was ripped out of Photoshop 7.0, and if it no longer works in CS3, that is a very, very, very good thing. In any case, it wasn't a Flaming Pear product.

So you know, creating real alpha channels is a 2-second process. It's not time-consuming at all. In fact, for things like stained glass windows and other images with high variance in transparency, it's actually a tremendous time SAVER. Even a simple transparency gradient takes several orders of magnitude longer to create without a real alpha channel than with.

Most importantly though, those automation gizmos spit out files that are incompatible with 99% of graphics applications, and they're extremely prone to data corruption. It's only by an a miracle of timing that SL can even read those files at all (the couple of months during which PS 7.0 was current, before the 7.0.1 patch, happened to be the same time that SL was about to be released). That could change at any time, and you could very easily find yourself with a hard drive full of images that SL can't use.

In short, embedded alphas are bad news. Learn to use real alpha channels. It's quick, it's painless, and it ALWAYS works. You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.



On the chance that you don't want to learn real alphas, that's up to you, but if that's the case, then as the author of this guide, I'm going to ask you let the subject drop here and now. The purpose of the guide is to teach people how to make alpha channels, not to talk about highly flawed alternatives to said learning. If you want to discuss embedded alpha automation, please do it in a different thread. I'm sure you can understand, I don't want to confuse the issue. Thanks.


If I misread you, and embedded alphas were not what you were talking about, please explain.

On the other hand, if you were referring to the Photoshop Actions that I made, which used the Flaming Pear filters, they work perfectly well in PS CS3.

All you need to do is install the Flaming Pear filter again, and then reinstall the Actions. (Or just copy both from your PS CS2 folders to the same folders in PS CS3.)

Hope this helps!

Hi, I'm self-taught on photoshop, which means my knowledge has HUGE gaping holes.

I found the tutorials extremely helpful, as I've never worked with alpha channels before, but when I go to 'save as' I cant find anything like '32 bit tga'. I'm given the option of saving as a PICT, JPG and several others, but nothing even sounding like tga or having any numbers. Am I going to the wrong place? Thanks.

Ok, nevermind, I was told by a friend to go to Targa in 'format' under 'save as' and that worked swell! thanks for the great tutorial. baby steps, baby steps.

I finally figure out my version number of PhotoShop its 8.0 but still clueless and frusterated with understanding how to do Alpha's.
Maybe its the version number anyone know of any guides that are geared towards ps 8.0?
I can do many things with the program but still struggling.

Hey FD. Photoshop 8 is Photoshop CS. Yes, the tutorials will work with it. They'll work with any version other than 7.0.

I'm sorry the tutorials are now so hard to read since LL turned off bbCode on the forums. I'm working on transferring all my tutorials to my own website, and posting links to them from here, at least until the forums get fixed. It's just been hard to find the time to do it right.

In any case, I thought we had at one point gotten you pretty well squared away on understanding alphas. I guess I was mistaken about that. If you describe your work flow, I'm sure I can pinpoint what's going wrong.

I have gotten better using different art programs but I must confess I am struggling with 2 areas. I don't understand why its been so hard for me its like a mental block or something.
One is alphas and transparent layers This has been major creative roadblock for me and I just not sure how to explain it perhaps you can give me some pointers in how I can determine the problem to even explain it to someone else? Or is it too much?
This is what I am doing I am hand drawing things now and also using prims and textures I find as layers for more ornate complex things.
Second area I am still struggling with is how to take my hand drawn images and stretch them over uv suit or skin. Colorizing hand drawn textures then turning them into alphas for 1 prim layers on other objects. I tend to like to design layers of things in world then use snapshots edit and then sometimes there are things i wish i could use as alphas like furniture legs,etc

In order for me to start really effectively using my hand drawn pencil sketches I am scanning in and colorizing I am going to need to know how to do transparent and alphas, the second how to position my drawings that been texture that show throwugh in different layers. and how to make image have transparent back ground. I am not sure why but I read guide I start the steps and something inevitably goes wrong. I have utterly no clue how to even ask or show what is happening where I am stuck at. But I am not ready to give up yet. Just frusterated. I try it again, tried to do google search to see what I am missing but I can't find one guide out there that isn't a paid site
The problem been happening before the bbcode thing I have just been to embarassed and frusterated to say anything.
I ran into this problem reccently with my pearl texture I wanted to create rainbow effect that was faded I couldn't figure it out someone mentioned something I still need to try but by then I just was really frusterated. I will try again though.
At this point if I just could master alpha and transparent layers I feel a level of success.
I hope any of this makes sense if it doesn't just ignore.
Thanks. FD

I'm using PSE 5.0 for clothing with transparent parts. It took me a few days for figure out that if you are using blurs at the edges of your clothing, it appears the actual saved selection in the alpha channel is larger than the marching ants makes it out to be. The part between the marching ants and the background (say black) ends up with a grey halo.

Here is a technique that works. Follow the instructions and save your alpha channel. Then apply Flaming Pear's filters to any layers of your clothes with soft edges. Add your black layer underneath and save as a 32-bit TGA.

Hope this lowers the learning curve for other PSE users.

Hi. I really hope this question has not been asked before, if so lead me to the thread. I want to create a feather that has different transparencies so it look in depth. I have downloaded the brush that I want to use as the feather. It has it own transparencies built in and I want to transfer it to the alpha channels.

I would consider my skill level beginner/moderate, so easy terms please.

If you need an image of the feather here is the url:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52565434/?q=by%3Alunanyxlivingstock+in%3Aresources%2Fapplications%2Fpsbrushes&qh=sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps

Thanks in advance.

Did you read the feather author's terms of use? Did you contact him, and request redistribution rights?

he is VERY spefici on how his textures can be used.

Garee's got a point. The creator's TOS requires that you ask permission before any commercial use, so if you're planning on selling anything made with her brushes, make sure you ask her first. If she says yes, great, but if she says no (or if she fails to respond at all, that's the same as no) then find another way to make your feather. It also says you need to ask before any "off site use", so I guess you should ask about using it for SL, even if you're not planning on selling anything. SL is certainly "off site" from deviantART.

Anyway, assuming you do get permission, then the answer to your question is simple. Here are two easy ways you could go:

1. Use the brush directly on your alpha channel. Simply load up the brush with white paint, set it to an appropriate size, and stamp it once onto the alpha channel. Then flood your canvas (on a layer, not on a channel) with whatever color you want the feather to be. Save as 32-it TGA and upload to SL. Since your alpha was completely black except for the white shape of the feather, you should now have an opaque feather on a transparent background.


OR


2. Stamp the feather onto an otherwise empty layer, and copy the layer to alpha. To do this, ctrl-click the layer's thumbnail in the Layers palette to select the whole layer (you should see marching ants outlining the feather now), and then go to your Channels palette and click on Save Selection As Channel down at the bottom. You'll now have a new alpha channel with the shape of your feather on it, complete with all transparency values. Go back t the Layers palette, create a new layer, and flood it with whatever color you want the feather to be. Save as 32-bit TGA and upload to SL.



Whichever method you prefer, the whole thing should take you about 10 seconds, tops. Easy.

Also keep ijn mind, that if someone can extract the feater brush with a screen cap, you are violating her copyright and TOS.

There's enough of that in SL already without adding more.

Gareee, your previous warning was reasonable and well founded, but this one seems a little out there. It sounds like you're trying to say that if someone takes a screenshot of Adia's work then Adia is somehow in the wrong.

The truth, of course, is that if someone steals Adia's work, whether via a screenshot or any other method, then that person, not Adia, is in violation of copyright. If that screenshot is later used to create a Photoshop brush, then that possibly adds a second count of copyright infringement into the mix, but it's still not Adia who's doing the infringing. If she has permission to use those brushes in her own work, that's where her responsibility ends. She can't be held accountable for the actions of thieves who choose to steal her work.

Was your wording maybe a little off between the the "you" and the "they", and were in fact talking about someone extracting the brush from an image on the deviantArt site? In that case, you'd be right, of course; that would be a violation of copyright. But I don't really see how that's relevant to this discussion. Either way, your post is pretty confusing.

In any case, this thread is about alpha channels, not about copyright or terms of service from individual resource providers. If you'd like to talk about things that are specific to alphas, by all means do so here, but if you want to continue this copyright/TOS discussion any further, please start a new thread. I'm sure you can understand why it's important to keep theses stickied guides on topic. Thanks.

Typically with brush sets, as long as the brush cannot be singled out and extracted, use is pretty much allowable. However if the brush itself can be extracted from a commercial product, then that use is in violation of TOS.

I create poser content for a living, and we see this all the time. Someone buys a brush set, maps say one feather on a polygon, and then redisttributes the brush as a transmap.

Since that brush can now be extracted by the end user, it then becomes in violation of TOS.

And since it sounds like the OP wanted to do exactly that, then it would in fact be in violation of the TOS the brush creator has in place.

The poser content community is very vigilant of copyright protection, because there are so many people out there who want to "get rich quick" based on someone else's work.

I've seen almost all my own products on various peer to peer sites, and we pretty much watch each other's back.

Sl seems to be a whole differnt ballgame.. anyone's creations seem to be fair game to plagarize. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've seen commercial work sold in SL as textures, decorative artwork and the like.

And if there is ANY shadow of a doubt, there's nothing wrong at all with contacting the creator, and asking about permissions. Since sl textures can easily be shared if permissions are not set properly on them it's very possible the brush author might not want them available for the 6 million accounts that are now active in SL.

IMHo, that will become one of the next big SL stinks.. copyright violations, since they are so prevalant.

And I'm not saying the OP had the intent to illegally redistribute someone else's work, but content creators really DO need to be aware of what can and cannot be used in their own content creation.

Must I quote myself?

Help! I just want to learn how to make clothes. Seems sooo confusing. Is there somewhere to learn how to make clothes using photoshopcs??

If you've got a specific question about transparency, then by all means ask it here. Otherwise, please find a more appropriate thread or start a new one. It's important that these stickied guides remain on-topic. Thanks.

Anyway, go to http://secondlife.com/community/templates.php, download the Template Collection and the Learn How To Use These Templates! PDF file. Read the PDF, and if there's anything you don't understand, come back to the forum and ask (but not in this thread unless the question is directly about transparency). Good luck.

Alpha Textures in GraphicConverter (software for MAC users)

This method works in version GraphicConverter X V5.2, it probably works in most earlier versions of the software as well. GraphicConverter is often included in software bundles on Mac computers. Trial versions can be downloaded free at http://www.lemkesoft.com The trial version has a time delay when it opens before you can use it, during which a window ask you to consider paying $30 for the software. It is an excellent graphics software tool for the beginner, its biggest deficiency is that it does not support layers.
GraphicConverter can create alpha textures, and with some effort can even create gradient alpha textures with varying degrees of transparency in a single image.

How to:

1. Select a graphics file with your image on it. Paint all parts of the image that you want to be transparent in black. Black eliminates the white halo effect.

2. Select the Transparancy Tool, from the toolbox, it looks like a magic wand with a "T" in the corner of the thumbnail. Click on the black areas of the image.

3. In the Effect (pull down menu), select "Create an Alpha/Mask Channel from Transparency".

4. In the Effect (pull down menu), select "Show Alpha/Mask Channel". This should show you a black and white image with all transparent areas painted in white and visible areas painted in black.

5. Check for any black or white areas or stray pixels that you might have missed and paint them the appropriate color. You can paint or draw on this Channel with shades of grey to make some parts of the image more or less transparent. The lighter the shade of grey, the more transparent it will be.

6. You can Save the image now, or use the Effect (pull down menu), select "Hide Alpha/Mask Channel" to see the original image again.

7. Save the image as a 32 bit Targa (TGA) file.

8. If you didn't do it already, save the image as the size you want in SL, 512x512 pixels or less, using the Picture (pull down menu), Size, Scale window.

When you go to upload the image into SL the preview pane gives you one last chance to verify the transparencies are as they should be, before you pay the L$10 to upload the image.

Just wanted to say a huge big thank you to Chosen for the tutorial! Now proudly uploading my own creations (could become a wery expensive hobby *giggle).

I read method 1 about the alpha channels .
what Bikini picture ?
I tried to do "method 1" using my own pic - I just took the upper body template from here and paint something on the "working layer" .
when I reached the part where you need to add new alpha channel , it turns black , but I didn't see the marching ants (only black) , so I couldn't go on .
* I'm using photoshop cs2 9

There is no specific picture. The bikini is just a verbal example. If you go back and reread, you'll see that at the beginning of all the tutorials, I said, "I'll be sticking with the example of a bikini top for each one". This example came from earlier in the FAQ section, under What Do Alpha Channels Do, where I said, "So, for example, if you are making a bikini top for your avatar, the alpha channel would be white in the shape of the bikini top, and black everywhere else. The white part makes the bikini top 100% opaque so that you won't be able to see through it when it's on the av, and the black part makes the rest of the image invisible so that there appears to be nothing on the av's arms, stomach, etc." It was just something I picked at random.


Did you ctrl-click the working layer's thumbnail to select everything on the layer? Sounds like you missed that step. Do that, and you'll see the marching ants.