Is there a way to have the alpha channel of an image drive the transparency?  For example, lets say you have a TIFF image in the diffuse node and that TIFF image has an alpha channel, is there a way to use the images alpha for transparency.  Or do you have to make a seperate image and attach it to the mterials transparency node?

Attached Link: V3 Alpha Garments

You need a Blender between the Alpha and the Diffuse Nodes.

Why do you ask?

Hmmm.  I admit Poser is not my area of expertise, so take my comments as being from a non-expert.  It seems to me a blender material would mix the 2 nodes so that you would have both materials  present to some degree.  Like in your example, you have some skin and some lace. So that beneath the lace, you can still see the  skin.  Everyplace you have lace, you still have skin to some degree or another.

Staying with your example, my questions was could you have all lace(no skin beneath) in some areas of the image and all skin in other areas.  More precisely I was asking if you could have certain parts of an image appear as totaly opaqe and other parts totaly transparent.  In  some apps (3ds max for example)  you could use one image (usually a tiff) that drives the diffuse node and the transparency node.  This is done by using the TIFF's alpha chanel to tell the pgm which parts of the image are to be transparent and which parts are to be opaque.

I hope I am making myself clear, but it might be hard to conceptualize if you've never seen.

Again, my apologies if I am misunderstanding you.  If so, it is probably because you know much more about poser than I  do.

Thank you very much for your time.

Oh, you'd like to actually make her invisible, but only in some spots?

If that is the case then, yes, you could plug your alpha into the Transparency node, not Diffuse, and then set the Transparency Value to "1".  Then the %100 white areas of the Alpha would make Transparent spots on on the Figure/Object.

Thank you for your time.

Poser isn't able to use the alpha channel from any image to use for transparency. You will have to use Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro/etc to extract the alpha channel and convert to a greyscale image, and then save that as a separate image to use for a transparency map.

Are'nt Photoshop Alpha Channels refered to as such becasue they are Black and White?

http://www.mediamacros.com/howto/arch/0035.shtml
Ignore the 404 Object Not Found nonsense, the actual article is right below on the page.

Yes, Angel.  Alpha channels are bw.  I think what R_hatch was referring to is the fact that the channel is part of an RGB image, hence the need for extraction and conversion.

Gosh.   I got out of here so fast that I forgot to thank you R_hatch.  Thank you.

Wrong.  Alpha channels can be greyscale.  Don't know how Poser reacts to that - but it is not incorrect to use greyscale images for alpha maps in other applications.  If I misinterpret, I make a clear distinction between B&W (0 and 1 only on 'brightness) and greyscale (any monochromatic change in brightness between 0 and 1).

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.

 -- Bjarne Stroustrup

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We meant grayscale,  As in a BW photo.