PS-Alpha question

Is there a way to edit an alpha template in Photo Shop after being saved to a tga? I realized there is a small hole that doesn't belong. I am trying everything I know to get rid of it..(which isn't much...) What can be done?

Thanks

Hi Rioko!

You can open the file, go to the Channels palette and make the alpha visible and the others invisible. Then you can work directly on the alpha.

Just be sure to change the visibilities back before you save it.

(Just a thought: I always save the item as a PSD then save again as a TGA file...that way if I have to change something, I can go back and work with the PSD.)

Best,
~Ari

What do I do to cover the hole though? I figured out how to unselect just the hole,but now I am stuck again..


Thank you for your help. I know I should be saving the PSD as well,but sometimes I am just lazy . I think I finally learned my lesson though,lol. < bangs head off of wall...>

FYI, the visibility toggles are just an illusion of the GUI. Unlike with layers, turning channels on or makes make absolutely no different whatsoever to the way the file saves. If the channels are there, they are there, period. The TGA file itself has no idea that they can be turned on or off. All it knows is that they exist.

What to do with each channel is the job of the destination program. Most programs by default will interpret channels 1-3 as color information, and channel 4 as transparency, just like SL does. SL can also use those same channels as vertex displacement maps (for sculpties). The fact that it does that doesn't change anything about the TGA itself though. Again, the TGA has no idea what its channels are used for, only that they're there.

By the same token, Photoshop can do all kinds of things with channels, including turning them on or off. Nothing in the file itself changes when this happens.

Try it. Turn off any number of channels in Photoshop and save the file. Re-open the file, and it will look exactly the same.

(Note: The results may or may not be the same if you've got that gawd awful auto alpha-generator from PS 7.0 installed on your machine. If you do, get rid if it immediately. It severely handicaps your ability to work with channels the way you're supposed to.)



"Alpha template"? First, we had "alpha layer" all over this forum, which I think has finally been mostly snuffed out. Now we've got "alpha template". What's that?

If you're asking about an alpha CHANNEL, that's something we can help you with. I have no idea what an "alpha template" is.

If you were indeed asking about editing a channel, then Arikinui's answer should be all you need. Simply go to the Channels palette, turn off visibility for all channels except the alpha, and paint the hole part white instead of black.

This, of course, is assuming by "hole" you mean an area of transparency that's not supposed to be there. If you meant something else, please explain.



You said it. ALWAYS save your PSD's.

I called it a template because I saved it so I can use it again. But you are right, it's an alpha channel. I did what was suggested but photo shop is not allowing me to paint over the hole. I am getting a circle with a slash through it whenever I choose the brush or the fill tool.



Um never mind I just tried again and it worked,lol. Go figure. Thank you both!