From: Ollj Oh
The alpha layer must be 32-bit to be transparent, otherwise there will be no transparency inside of sl.
First, there's no such thing as an "alpha layer". It's an alpha CHANNEL. Layers and channels are entirely different things.
Second, you can't have an individual layer "be 32-bit" or not. The image as a whole has one bit depth, determined by the number of channels in the image. You can't just have one layer have its own bit depth, independent from that of the rest of the image. For more on what bit depth means, see the transparency guide at the top of the forum.
I would rewrite your sentence to say "An alpha channel must be present, meaning the image must be 32-bit, for the image to have transparency; otherwise there will be no transparency inside of SL".
From: FD Spark
I am using older version of CS Adobe 7.01. Oops it says it is Adobe Photoshop Version: 8.0 (8.0x11
It was working. I swear I knew where I was putting it when I look for it in SL yet recently I ran into issues similar with png files then only to realize I had put it elsewhere.
I told my friend about it went through the steps with the missing png files only to realized the above. She is very knowledge about computers and said somethings SL can't mess up so the issue I have been having is either my human error or something with Adobe.
I'm not really sure what you mean here, FD. Sorry.
From: FD Spark
I have been doing everything in world as png because I am just tired of looking for tga.
I would agree with you that PNG is probably a better format for you to use than TGA. You've been having difficulty wrapping your head around the TGA work flow for a good long time now. I think you're awesome, though, for continuing to try as you keep doing, despite your challenges.
I'd say PNG is a great alternative for you. It can be lot more immediately intuitive than TGA. I would suggest you leave TGA alone, and just work with PNG from this point on.
From: FD Spark
My friend also told me 24mb tga files are for non-transparent while transparent tgas need to be 32mb.
One point of correction here, if I may. I notice you've repeatedly used the letters "mb" throughout this thread, as in "24mb" or "32mb". What you should be using is not "mb" but "bit". TGA images are saved as 24-bit or 32-bit, not "24mb" or "32mb".
So you know, the lowercase letters "mb", if taken literally, would stand for "millibit", a fictitious term, meaning a thousandth of a bit. Practically speaking, a bit is the smallest unit of measure in computing. There's no such thing really as a fraction of a bit, so there can be no such thing as a "millibit".
Everyone who responded here, of course, was able to discern your meaning from the context, so the mistake didn't really affect them. However, for the sake of newbies, who might well be confused, it's important to speak in correct terminology. Once again, it's 24-bit or 32-bit, not "24mb" or "32mb".
In any case, your friend is correct. 24-bit TGA images do not have transparency; 32-bit TGA's do. The way it works is each channel in the image has 8 bits (per pixel). Color images without transparency have 3 channels (red, green, and blue). 3 channels times 8 bits in each equals a total of 24 bits. Color images with transparency have an additional fourth channel, called Alpha. 4 channels times 8 bits in each equals a total of 32 bits. Make sense?
