Combatting the White

Sorry to raise a topic that I see discussed again and again, but my search didn't reveal any solutions as such.

What I'm talking about is the white outline issue - fuzzy edges. Specifically rescuing several photosourced textures I spent a long time erasing, and selecting and deleting the background areas from

Is there any way I can be certain of producing a hard edge with no semi-transparent pixels which end up white when added to the alpha? (I'm assuming that's what's caused the outline?) Is there any way I can change my existing .psds to perhaps merge the image layer with a layer beneath and make all those pixels solid opacity? Trouble is, I can't see the problem areas until I upload them and the alpha comes into play - add a dark background layer to the file in PS and any semi-transparent parts naturally just appear dark.

So, for future reference, what's the best way to remove areas from an image leaving a hard edge, or at least a dark one if that isn't the cause of the outline? I used both select and delete and a hard-edged brush, and as far as I can tell both left this 'outline'.

And secondly (a more pressing concern), does anyone have any tips on how I might save the textures I'm working on? It would be ideal if it didn't involve the words 'start again'...

De-haloing is very simple process. It should take you about 1-2 seconds per image to remove the halo, once you know how.

Check out the Transparency Guide, stickied at the top of this forum. In the FAQ (first post) is a section on what causes haloing, and how to eliminate it. Also, every tutorial in the entire guide includes a basic de-haloing step. Once you've read through the guide, if there's anythng you don't understand or need further help with, let me know.

Never, ever use the magic wand.

The following example assumes your entire shape to cut out is one 1 layer.

1. CTRL+A to select all.
2. Have the move tool active and using the arrow keys on your keyboard, click the up arrow once and then the down arrow once.

This has the effect of selecting your area and you will see the "marching ants" around your shape.
(The reason to press the up arrow key is to move your area back to where it was).
3. Go to "select/save selection" and save it in a new channel.

Thats your alpha made with no possible halos ever.

If your overall shape is on multiple layers, merge them, copy the layer, undo the merge and then paste your layer - then follow the instructions above.

Not exactly. You can have the alpha down pixel by pixel and it will still leave a halo. It's a product of the engine... go figure. What I do is bleed the texture out of the alpha boundary little bit. No white halo... and no -what I call- compensation halos either.

Even if you're 100% careful, sometimes SL will put a little bit of white on the edge of your textures. To avoid that you should leave a small border of transparent pixels around your image, and then reduce the coverage to 0.95 or so rather than 1.0.

Open the piccie in Photoshop.

Go to channels.
Select the Alpha Channel.
Magic wand the black area or areas.
"Select/Modify/Expand" and choose 1 pixel.
Brush tool
Paint around the edges in black.
Deselect.
Save.

End of story. No Halo.

Yeah.. um.. what he said

I've posted this a whole bunch of times, but not recently; so it appears it's time to post it again.

To eliminate the halo, once you've made your alpha, all you have to do is run the free Flaming Pear Solidify plug-in (available about half way down this page as part of the Free Plugins pack.)

There are 3 Solidify Filters, which use different algorithms to fill the image with the colors of the edge pixels. So, unlike anti-aliasing with black, which gives you a black halo, you'll have a true anti-aliased edge, that just makes the transparent portion look smooth (not jagged.)

I suggest duplicating your image and running the filter on the duplicate (either a separate document or a duplicate layer,) and leaving the original transparency untouched. That will not only allow you to tweak it later, if you need to, but having the layered Photoshop (or PSP, or GIMP, or whatever) file can help prove ownership if it's ever necessary to do that.

By the way, this filter is included in an Action that I made for Photoshop, that allows people to make their alphas, without halos, in a single click. If you want, you can download the Action using the Floating Pear filter here, or a similar Action without the third-pary plug in here. (Those links aren't to a page, by the way, but to the file itself, so downloading will start as soon as you click. Just so you're aware of that.)

Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone, that looks like more than enough information to get a result I'll sit down and take a proper look later on and see what I come up with. And, uh, post back here when I realise I'm too dim to interpret instructions!

Nah, thanks for the great response though. It's good to know it's a common enough issue that people have found solutions. Like I said, I did search before posting, but not knowing the technicalities I couldn't find any answers that made sense to me, or that I thought answered my problem specifically. So sorry to add to the heaps of repeat topics, but thanks for taking the time to reply again ;D

Has anyone here used the Flaming Pear Solidify plug-in with the GIMP? The Flaming Pear FAQ page says they make "plug-ins that work with your paint software" but only Photoshop and Paint Shop are mentioned by name. Robin's post mentions GIMP files, but I just want to double check that this plug-in will indeed work with the GIMP before I download it.

(Sorry I can't help with that - could just download it and find out!)

Thanks again for all the replies. I gave Robin's instructions a shot and they were wonderful, fixed everything. And the action is a great time-saver, you're a star!

*goes off to make exciting textures*

I have tried things from robin and have used photoshop and cs3 but i still cant get the white border out of my little design to put on my clothing can anyone help me?

Like Robin said. I have found the Flaming Pear Solidifies to be easy, fast and versatile. Liberating! Thanks bunches, Robin. I make my selection for the alpha channel edge wherever works best for that item. Then I apply a single pixel feather with gives a clean smooth realistic looking edge. I make the alpha channel from the feathered selection and then run the Solidify on the art. I have even used the Solidify creatively to make satiny fabric with gathered smocking. I also found another use for Solidify. When I am trying to cleanly cut away a contrasting background color away from the edge of something, I run the soldiify to see how much of the background color is stll lurking in the edge pixels.

For a sample of satin smocking see 2nd and 4th outfits in this image:

http://www.throughlinedesign.com/secondlife/clubWearPic.jpg

Flaming Pear rocks!

Jason, if you could show us your image, we might be able to help you.

Without seeing your problem, it's difficult to tell what's going on.

(And that's a great use of the filter, Sylvia.)

My tip...

Create your alpha, as normal. However, before saving it to your harddrive for upload, create a new layer behind your design & fill it with the same colour as your edges. It wont effect the alpha at all.

eg if you're making a white ball with a black edge, the under layer should be black. If you're making a black ball with white edges, the underlayer should be white.

Very simple, very effective.

That's the way I avoid the white edges. Make my transparent layer, make the alpha channel from it, and then put a layer underneathe my colour layer filled with the same as the predominant colour as the transparent layer. In the case of hair textures, I make the whole colour layer the hair texture colour, then I just put in the alpha channel and don't bother with a transparent layer at all. There is no chance of a white halo that way.

Butch and Siddean, this is exactly what the Flaming Pear filter does; except it will match the edge pixels even if they are many different colors.

Obviously, this gives you much better results, unless the edge pixels are really all a single color.

Even so, it's so simple to run the filter that I just do that, since it will catch any trimming errors. (The off color pixels are obvious when they have a stream of off color pixels leading to them.)

If you run the Flaming Pear filter, there is also no chance of a white halo, unless you are doing something odd. (For instance, selecting part of your image, running the filter, and then making the transparency from that selection, which will cause the selection to be flattened onto white, resulting in a white halo. The selection should be made first, the layer duplicated (just in case,) and then the Flaming Pear filter run with no active selections, so it fills in the entire document.)

Which is why I asked to see Jason's image.

Because, if he is following the directions accurately, there is absolutely no chance of a white halo. Therefore, he's not following them accurately.

But I can't know where they weren't clear enough for him without seeing his image.

Jason?