TGA Transparency Question (PhotoShop)

Ok. I have a texture, say a window... I want the window to have sheers in it...I get how to make the alpha channel...but I thought if I flattened the image then semi-transparency of the sheers would be transposed in the alpha channel (showing as a gray instead of black in the channel). But it's not working. I have seen it done. Anyone have any idea?

flattening does not do the trick..

you will need to make a image with the curtains and the window and then you will need to make a grayscale mask to put into the alpha channel to create a transparency.

White is zero Transparent and Black is full Transparent.

Depending on how sheer sheer is you will need to play with the shades of grey

You should be able to find tutorials on line on how to create a alpha channel in PS

Why are you Flattening the image? Flattening removes transparency.

What version of Photoshop are you using? In CS2, you only need to merge the layers... then go to Select in the Menu, Load Selection... then create the Alpha channel. This will make your semi transparent portion gray in the Alpha channel. Once I save the file as a 32-bit TGA, I usually undo back to the merging of the layers so that I can make changes to the individual layers if needed.

sorry flattening is what I always say... I meant merging the layers together. Thank you for the tips I have CS3 and I will try them now.. For some strange reason when I merge them it is not recognizing the Semi-trans info it is blacking (word?) it out.

Thank you ... will try your advice now.

How are you defining the semi-transparency? Are you reducing the Opaque value on that layer?

Flattening or merging, or whatever else you might want to call it, has nothing whatsoever to do with transparency. Your working document could have a thousand layers, or just one layer, and it wouldn't make any difference to the transparency levels in the outputted TGA. It's the alpha channel, and only the alpha channel, that contains the transparency information.

If you want part of the texture to be semi-transparent, paint that part of the alpha channel gray. It's that simple. The darker the gray, the more transparent it will be; the lighter, the more opaque.