Saving and Reusing Alpha Channels... How?

Hey there, I tried testing the alpha channel template Jinny had made for the template, tried following the instructions by changing the texture on the working layer, then saving the file as a *.tga and all I'm getting is a full covered area, not the alpha channel outline it says I should get. Any help on this one? thanks!

Have you looked at the alpha channel in the channels tab and confirmed your black and white alpha channel image is there. When you save make sure you check the save as 32 bit option as a tga file. As far as I remember, if it has worked you should see the transparent areas of your image in the upload preview window before you commit to the upload.

I haven't seen this alpha image of Jinny's but here are the two most common causes fro what you're describing:

First, did you paste Jinny's image of her alpha channel into a channel or into a layer? It's gotta be a channel for it to work. Open Jinny's image and copy it to clipboard (Select -> All, then Edit -> Copy). Now in your image file, go the Channels Palette and click on the little button at the bottom for "Create New Channel". It's the one that looks like a square sticker being peeled from its backing. When you click it, you'll get a new channel called "Alpha 1" and the canvas will turn black. Paste the copy from Jinny's image into Alpha 1 (Edit -> Paste). You should now see the grayscale image you copied from Jinny's image on your canvas. Notice you can only see it when Alpha 1 is visible. Click on the name of the RGB channel and you'll see Alpha 1 will turn off and your image will look normal. Click on the name of Alpha 1 and you'll see the RGB channels turn off and the grayscale alpha will be visible. Save your file as 32 bit TGA and you should be good to go.

Second, are you using Photoshop 7.0? If you are, download and install the fre 7.0.1 update from adobe.com right away. 7.0 has a flaw in the way it saves TGA files. It doesn't allow you to create your own alpha channel, but instead tries to auto-create it, which can lead to all kinds of problems. Adobe fixed the problem not long after 7.0 was released, but a lot of people seem to still be using it. Anyone who does will have white halos around their images. It's not good. If you've got 7.0, update ASAP.

Hopefully one of these two solutions soved your problem. If not, please outline exactly what you're doing, and then I can pinpoint where you're going wrong and tell you how to fix it.

I have read through Chips' thread about his templates. I recall someone else had uploaded a tutorial that had not only templates but examples. I cannot find that thread now. Perhaps Jinny is the person who did this? In any case does anyone remember a thread from a month or two ago that provided said tutorial?