.TGA issues.

i use the photoshop 5.0 and i am having a problem with it. for some reason it will not save it correctly or something and when i try to upload it on secondlife the texture is not even there it is just a large invisible layer. can anyone please tell me what i am doing wrong?

I don't have Photoshop 5, but it appears as though there is a transparent alpha channel on your texture. You can test this by saving out the texture as a 24 bit tga instead of a 32 bit one. Or check your channels tab and see if you have a fully black and therefore transparent alpha channel there. The channel should be white (unless you need some areas to be transparent or partly transparent) if you want it to display properly in world. If no transparency is required, you are better off saving as a 24 bit tga.

Hope this helps.

Textures needlessly saved as 32 bit are subject to the alpha sorting issue of genuine translucent or transparent textures with no upside.

How are you saving the file? 32bit or 24bit .tga

Is the texture solid or does it require transparency?

Ever since SL started allowing PNG files I switched over to them for transparencies.
It totally simplifies the process I am not sure how PS 5 handles them but in later versions
you dont even have to mess around with channels just make the texture the way you want
it to look go to the layers tab and "merge visible layers" then save as is. PS pops open a
little box asking if you want it to be interlaced or non-interlaced. I have usually just
chosen non-interlaced as that is the default checked option. And it has worked fine.
After some reading, the "interlaced option" is a...

"PNG offers an optional 2-dimensional, 7-pass interlacing scheme – the Adam7 algorithm. This is more sophisticated than GIF's 1-dimensional, 4-pass scheme, and allows a clearer low-resolution image to be visible earlier in the transfer. However, as a 7-pass scheme, it tends to reduce the data's compressibility more than simpler schemes."

Quote from the Wikipedia-

Something you want to avoid with any transparency in SL is putting them side by side or edge to edge on corners as this will cause the dreaded alpha sorting issue that makes part of images randomly "disappear", as Osprey mentioned above.

This of course only applies if your trying to do transparencies.

Would you like to know more? Good article here..
The PNG File Format

No, you get alpha-sorting issues even if you are not trying to make things transparent if you mistakenly save the image as a 32 bit targa.

Not only that, but unfortunately a PNG file can be accidentally saved as 32-bit even if you didn't plan it that way, if your graphics program interprets even one pixel as having 32-bit depth. Be very careful to check how the file is being saved. Don't just assume that because you didn't include transparency, a PNG file will automatically be 24 bits.

Very true,

Thanks for correcting that.

I don't know........it's strange that so many people have the problem with 32 bit vs 24 bit. To me it's simple. If your image has trasnsparency that is needed in the final uploaded texture, use 32 bit. If not, then 24 bit.

8 bits per channnel..........easy math. You have RBG.......that's 3 x 8. You have RBGA..........thats' 4 x 8. Alpha is simply another channel.....at 8 bits just like red, blue, green.

Save accordiingly.

I don't think it's "so many" people, rather, that at a certain early stage in learning to prepare images for SL there is sometimes a bit of confusion about 24 bit and 32 bit. Once it's understood everything is fine for that person, however there are new people arriving every day.