help with pps

I have read all the tutorials and had numerous kind people helping me but Im still hitting my head against a brick wall. I started trying to make a mask using the suggested face alpha - this worked - since then I have been tryiing to make new transparencies to no avail - now Im desperate and even tried saving and uploading the ones from the templates without any adjustments at all ie saving the shorts and the shorts suggested alpha - making sure its not compressed but I end up with black legs its not coming out as a transparency - I tried putting psp back to factory settings in case I messed something up but nothing seems to work . I hope someone has the answer out there before I throw the comp out the window lolol

Are you saving your images in the proper format?

It sounds like you're saving at 24 bit when you need to be using 32 bit. There are 8 bits in every channel. Red, green, and blue take up the first 24 and alpha takes the last 8. 24 bit images contain no alpha channel information, even if you created an alpha before saving.

Saving an image at 24 bit instead of 32 would be analogous to saving a Word document as plain text instead of .doc format. You'd lose all the special formatting.

I'd be willing to bet this is your problem. If not, explain everything you've done in more detail and I'm sure one of us can spot your mistake.

Have you used Paint Shop Pro, Chosen?

The maks system in PSP is really messed up... it's complicated and badly needs a re-vamping.

Swafette: in short, there is a feature under the Layers menu that lets you load and save alpha masks to layer masks. That's what you need to fiddle with

thanks chosen and wraith - someone else talked me through the whole process tonight lol theirs worked mine didnt - but I think wraith is on the right lines
I cant save to 32b in psp anyway I think that option is only in photoshop - apparently you get round this by using masks which make up the other 8b from the 24 bits but Im still not getting anywhere lol

If anyone has psp8 and has managed this I would be really pleased to hear from you

PSP uses what it calls the alpha channel for all sorts of stuff. You can really confuse it by saving multipe masks into the alpha channel, because only one gets saved in .tga format, and you don't get to chose which one.

So, in PSP8, under Image menu, select Delete Alpha Channel, to start off clean.

Create your mask, then Layers -> Load/Save Mask -> Save Mask to Alpha Channel.

Then when you export in .tga format (perhaps others, tga is only one I've used so far) save as 24 bit. You get a message saying layers will be merged and only one alpha will be saved.

I must admit it would a lot neater if it did it automatically as it does for .gif files.

Hope this helps

yes thanks alot indigo!! a friend also talked this through with me and you were right it was the multiple alphas that were the problem when i made a new mask now Im checking each time by trying the load mask from alpha button to make sure Ive only got one showing.
Id just like to take this opportunity to thank all the helpful people in second life who go out of their way to share their knowledge - much appreciated!!