From: mcgeeb Gupte
I thought PNG was the answer the all of TGA problems. This should be simple and easy and I thought it was.
There's no such thing as a "TGA problem" or a "PNG solution", or any other blame-game misnomer one might care to come up with. There are only work-flow problems and work-flow solutions. If your texture isn't coming out the way you want, the issue is with your methodology, not with your file formatting. If you were told otherwise, then you've been listening to the wrong people.
I'd be curious to know what exactly you think are the "TGA problems". I'm sure I could teach you how to fix whatever they are.
So you know, just about all of the people who purport PNG to be the "solution to TGA problems" are those who refuse to learn how to use alpha channels properly. Those people are often under the unfortunate and mistaken impression that alpha channels are some strange quirk of the TGA format, rather than the widely utilized, nearly universally applicable data maps that they really are.
To those stubbornly and decidedly ignorant people, PNG may well seem like a miracle cure at first glance, just because it happens to support a "simple transparency" work-flow. They're so happily relieved at the prospect of a WYSIWYG mindset, they start to exaggerate the value in their minds, assigning imaginary magical properties to PNG, while blaming all their woes on TGA. Before you know it, all of a sudden PNG will walk your dog, wash your dishes, and massage your feet at night, while TGA eats your children and sacrifices virgins to the dark lord of the underworld in your back yard.
Don't fall for hype. You've basically got three choices:
1. Invest in yourself by expending the time and effort necessary to become well educated on how this stuff all actually works, and prosper.
2. Keep accepting piece-meal explanations, and little bits of information here and there, from sources who may or may not be qualified, and keep having problems.
3. Go live under a tree for a few decades, and hope to reach Enlightenment.
I recommend number 1. If that's too difficult, then go for number 3. Number 2 will only lead to continued frustration.
I realize I may get yelled at by some of the anti-alpha crowd for what I've said here, but that doesn't make any of it any less true. Again, I invite you to explain whatever you think the "TGA problems" are, so we can solve them the right way. I'd be confident betting any amount of money you'd care to name that whatever they are, they've got nothing directly to do with any particular file format.
From: mcgeeb Gupte
Near the top is where I think the problem is. There is just so little area from the hair to the white area that I think it is starting to show when either the texture is unrezzed in SL or viewed from a great distance.
This is why it's almost never a good idea to let automation take over tasks that can be better done by hand. That bleed should cover the whole canvas, not just those few pixels around the subject. You could easily achieve that with the free Solidify filter from Flaming Pear.
From your comments in the other thread, which I did read, you seem to be under the impression that it would be somehow time-consuming to halo-proof a TGA. I can assure you it wouldn't. It only takes more understanding, not more time.
