Using Full-Perm Textures from SL in PS

I've been trying to post this for weeks, and have been unable to. In fact, I incorrectly assumed that I couldn't use the forums most of the time at all!

Now that I know that the "forbidden" error is caused by word combinations, I'm trying again. Please substitute an S for the 5 in the word "5elect". I had to do that to get around the new forum "rules".

I got a PM from someone who was confused, when opening a full-perm texture that she'd saved to her computer from SL, because it didn't appear to have any transparency.

I don't like answering PMs that deal with questions like that, because the answer only helps a single person instead of helping everyone, like it does if it's posted in the forums. I also was getting the same "Forbidden" message when posting this answer as a PM.

So I'm posting the answer here, since in my experience if one person is having a problem, it's very likely that plenty of others are struggling with the same thing.

At the bottom of her message, she mentioned that she didn't understand "alpha layers or that s***" Which, of course, was really the root of her whole problem. If she had, she would have known exactly what to do with the .tga file.

Once again, Alpha channels are not a difficult concept at all, and are well worth learning about. It's not wise to despise and dismiss something, or to consider it "too hard", just because you don't already know how to use it. Especially when it's something as basic, and as simple, as an Alpha channel.

But here is my answer to her.

Alphas aren't layers; they're channels. As such, you can find them in the Channels palette.

To make a .tga that you've brought in from SL look "normal" in PS, first open it (of course) then;

1. Hold down Option/alt and double click on the Background layer. That will turn it into a normal layer (sometimes called "floating" it.)

2. Go to 5elect > Load 5election, choose Alpha 1 and click the Invert checkbox. That will load the inverse of the Alpha channel as a selection.

3. Tap the Backspace/del key. That will remove the selection from the image.

You'll have the image just as you see it in SL, all ready to use in PS.

Hope this helps!

What are these new rules?

Welcome back, oh most revered guru of everything alpha!

Malia; LOL

Renee; lots of things you can't say, presumably to stop SQL injection. I can't, obviously, say what you can't say. But all the information is in a JIRA, and you can even vote on it, if you'd like the Lindens to fix it.

You'll find it at https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-917

While they're at it, I sure wish they'd make links clickable again. Sigh.

Hi Robin

Not sure if you use firefox or not, but I use to have the same frustration with the lack of clickable links. Then I finally loaded the firefox extension called "greasemonkey" which I was tipped off about here in the forums some time ago.

And I have'nt even had to think about it since.

Greasemonkey

Ah....but there IS a silly, non-obvious workaround to get workable links. All you have to do is be sure that your URL is bounded by "" tags (without the quotes), as if you were describing an image. It works, but is not robust, so the hot link breaks if you preview your post or if you go back to edit it. Still, it's better than not having hot links at all. See? >>> .

ahHA Rolig! So that's how you're doing it! Thanks!

Infiniview, I use Firefox and Safari, and I'm on a Mac. Thing is, I've had some problems with Firefox extensions breaking things, even when they were Mac usable, so I'm reluctant to use them to overcome what is, essentially, an inconvenience.

Besides, truly functional forums are something that's expected most places; and there is a lot of functional forum software out there. This is something that the Lindens could fix fairly easily; but they seem not to be interested in doing so.

Seriously, vBulletin costs what, $100 a year to keep current? I realize LL has probably modified it a little to suit their specific needs, but still, it can't be THAT difficult to make the thing fully functional while maintaining security. The whole situation is quite silly.