PS 6.0, what is wrong?

Hi,

I asked before about this and tryed to do what I was suggested to do.
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Now I have had some time to work with this, and now...instead of the white, ALL of it is transparent! UGH
What am I missing??
This is how I work with the template, texture and PS 6.0

1. Open template
2. Open texture/textures
3. Make layers and work with textures
4. Close overlay and background.
5. Merge visible.
6. Select/ Load selection= Document/Channel/Layer 2 (or more) transparency. Operation=new selection
7. Go to Channel, (bottom right on screen) click: save selection as alpha. (alpha shows black background and the texture/temp. is white)
If I instead pick: create new channel the image shows black.
Tryed to save as: name+ TGA / 32bits pixel Upload to game. When I do that, it only shows a Alpha channel, but at least no white.

I would be grateful for any help!

Kind regards and have a nice Sunday!

Juliah

On your Alpha channel:

White = completely opaque

Black = completely transparent

Gray = somewhere inbetween (translucent), darker = more transparent, lighter = more opaque

When you save your selection as Alpha, chances are you're saving to a grayscale image in your Alpha. That's not what you want. Make sure you paint everything that is to be opaque 100% white, and everything that is to be invisible 100% black. Your Alpha channel should not look detailed at all. It should look like a black field with a white splotch on it.

EDIT: In the attached example, you'll see that the beachball image has several different colors, gradient effects, etc. to make it a detailed image. The alpha however has none of this. It is simply a white circle on a black background. Were any of the details to have been included in the alpha, they would have had to have been shades of gray, which would have made them translucent. For the ball to be solid, the alpha must just be solid white, and the background must be solid black.

Ok. If I read this correctly:



Then you need to be sure that you select inverse before creating the alpha channel.

Here's the process I use:

1. Open template
2. Select work area from template, using selection tools
3. Create new layers, adding textures/colors/etc into the selection area
4. Merge all new layers into a single visible layer
5. Make original template layers invisible
6. Select areas that should be transparent
7. Select Inverse
8. Save Selection As... New Channel (alpha)
9. Clean up the new alpha channel -- add or remove pixels that should/shouldnt be transparent
10. Save As... Targa (.tga) 32-bit. Make sure the Alpha channel checkbox is checked on the save as screen.

That process works for me and I am also using Photoshop 6. It might not be as efficient as it could be, but like I said... works every time.

I edited my original post to show a couple example images. Take a look.

I can tell you exactly where you're going wrong in your workflow. Forget the "Save Selection As" step. Once you have the ares you want to be opaque selected, simply click on the channels tab, and press the button at the lower right for "Create New Channel." You'll see a new channel appear called "Alpha 1," which will be completely black by default. You should still be able to see the marching ants selection perimeter. Use the paint bucket to fill the selection with white. Save as 32bit TGA, and you're all set.

If you select all the pixels that will be opaque first (by whatever method you choose -- the method suggested by Robin Sojourner in your other thread is a great way) then Save selection As... a new channel, your opaque areas will already be white and the transparent areas will be black in the new alpha channel.

This saves you the paintbucket step.

Yes and no. Depending on how your image was intially painted, it's not uncommon to end up with some gray in your channel when you do it that way, usually at the borders where areas of differing color intersect, causing you to have to go back in and fine tune with the paintbrush. Using the paint-bucket method instead of the save-selection method ensures 100% white in all selected areas.

See the attachments for examples of what I mean.