Lace textures? Add alpha in PS?

Hi.

This maybe basic to many BUT How can i make lace textures I make in PS or download from the net see through?

Ive seen the stocking in SL and want to create my own.

But when i try to upload so called Lace textures into SL i just get a grey pattern and no transparency,

I am fairly new at photoshop and understand adding alpha is/can be done through channels but i cannot select anything with magic wand to then add the alpha

anyone help me?

many thanks

Dizzy

I don't work much with PS, just PSP, but for the magic wand you might want to play with selection modes and tolerances. At least I assume in PS one can tell it to select based on RGB value/Hue/Opacity/Etc. Etc. Depending on what your source file is, sometimes switching to a different mode for the tool will do wonders.

Also, it may just be that you'll have to create an alpha channel more or less by hand. Trace things in greyscale on a separate layer (or layers) and use that to make your alpha.

Without seeing the image you're working with those are the best suggestions I can make off the top of my head. Posting the source may be helpful because each image can present its own challenges that need to be solved.

Dizzy- When you try to use the magic wand, what is the tolerance set at? You can change this setting under tool options (Window/Options will bring up the menu at the top of the screen if it's not open now). Basically tolerance determines how much wiggle room you give to the selection- a tolerance of zero will only select the precise color/lack of color you touch with the wand, whereas a higher tolerance will allow a wider variety of closely-related colors/shades to be picked. What might be happening is your lace has shades of white and grey so close to the background color that the wand is just selecting everything instead of what you precisely want. If it's higher than 5 or 8 this might be the problem.

Something else- if I'm making a pattern where the solid parts outnumber the transparent ones, I'll select the solid parts (the wire of a chainlink fence pattern instead of the air in-between) and then invert the selection (Ctrl-Shft-I PC, Cmnd-Shft-I Mac) to make the Alpha with- saves a lot of time.

Sorry if all this is obvious or doesn't fix anything.

Thanks Guys!

I really appreciate your replies.

I have seen some lace on the net I can buy but being new to PS7 I am afraid to buy them to find when I load them into PS7 or upload them into SL they are not transparent.

So from what I can gather...I have to set tolerence to 0 - 5 then simply click away all over the lace then when I think I have selected the 'pattern' select inverse then goto channels and add a channel?

LOL
Im sorry just PS7 seems to have so many dif ways to do the same thing.

I'll play about .Many thanks

If you are in Photoshop, it's a lot simpler than that. Don't try to select anything with the Magic Wand.

Instead, look at the layer in the Layer Palette. If it says "Background," then double click on it. That will make it into a layer.

Select the whole thing by tapping Command/ctrl+A.

Copy it. (Command/ctrl+C)

Go to the Channels palette, and click the little page at the bottom to make a New Channel. It should come in as completely black, but the little "marching ants" should show it's still selected.

Paste. (Command/ctrl+V) The lace will fill the channel. Drop the selection. (Command/ctrl+D)

Now, you need to make the parts that you want to be transparent completely black. The parts that need to be opaque must be white. Gray stuff will be somewhere between, depending on how dark it is.

So, make sure that you can see the Info palette. (By default, it's in the upper right, and often behind the Navigator. If you can't find it, go to the Window menu, and choose it from there.)

Now go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. That will open a dialog called a Histogram.

Make sure that Preview is enabled (bottom right corner.) Slide the little black arrow, at the left just below the graph thing, to the right. As you do, you'll see the gray parts get darker.

Move your mouse over the areas you want to be transparent. In the Info window, you'll see a letter K, probably in the upper left, depending on which version of Photoshop you have.

It will show two percentages. The first is the original percentage, before you changed levels. The second is the new one. The second must say 100% where you want transparency, or it won't be transparent.

Keep dragging left on that black point, until it does. Then adjust the white point on the right of the Histogram. It must say 0% where you want complete opacity.

The middle point lets you adjust the gray, so more or less of the lace will be transparent.

When you have it, close the Levels dialog.

You now have a Transparency Channel. If you save it as a 32 bit .tga file, you'll have transparent lace, just as easily as that!

If you want to check it, go back to the Layers palette, and click on your layer. Go to Select > Load Selection, and choose Alpha 1 from the Channel drop down menu.

Then tap the Add Layer Mask button in the palette (the one that looks like a gray square with a white circle in the middle of it.)

That will let you see the transparency in your image. But I would recommend that you delete or disable the mask before you save, or you'll have white edges on your lace where the transparency isn't total. (Transparency saves as if it was on a white ground.)

Once you get used to it, this takes less than 5 minutes to do. Much faster (and more accurate) than trying to select stuff!

Hope this helps!

Robin (Sojourner) Wood

I must admit i looked at it and thought ' oh dear' but its fantastic!

I made my first lace texture today and ive read lots of tuts and yours was precise & written brilliantly!

I would pay GOOD money for stuff like that on tap!
many thanks!

DD

You are most welcome. I'm glad that you found it helpful.

(Yeah, it does look a little intimidating without screen shots, doesn't it? I'll have to fix that, and post it as a tut on my site. You think people would prefer text, or video?)

Robin (Sojourner) Wood
http://www.robinwood.com

its called ASAP As Simple As Photoshop ( thats good marketing isnt it?!)
And i paid $20 after the initial trial.

I have found it a fantastic source of info and the tuts are bite sized supported with optional video and vioce as well as the text.

Heres the link for you to nosey at. http://simplephotoshop.com/


Might give you some ideas...

Tell you what would be good ..thats tuts on making basic clothing items one for each template and including alpha channels just so ppl can get used to how to use edit & save the templates

I would love to learn hair i saw one texture for a hair i bought was literaly wood!

Looked like my hair was gelled and combed thru leaving comb marks...interesting/

my prob is I ALWAYS have my fingers in too many pies...I want to do everything and do it NOW...i swap from one thing to another....i back into photoshop after your post as it released my interes in the software again...i LOVE that software! Just wish i knew how to use all its superb features ALL AT ONCE ! lol

Thanks again!

Hummm. The trainer is for PC, and I'm on a Mac. So I guess I won't be watching it.

But I've gone ahead and made a quick Quicktime video of the process, in case someone wants to take a look. You can find it here.

It's not attached to a page yet, since I need to have a shot of the lace taken inside of SL to do that and SL seems to be closed for the new upgrade still.

But you can look at it, anyway.

Robin (Sojourner) Wood
http://www.robinwood.com