Hello All, hope everyone is having a great weekend..... I'm stuck.... again :) I know when I want to use a mapped picture in a scene, I need two files, the color file and an alpha channel file. When working in Photoshop I'm not able to save my alpha channel as anything other than a PSD(Photoshop) format.... Then when I get to Vue, I can't seem to import a PSD format. When I go to load the image I can find JPEGS and BITMAPS but can't get to the PSD files..... Does anyone know of another way to save just the alpha channel (as JPEG maybe)? Or perhaps an other way to create an alpha channel in Photoshop. The alpha channel I'm using is the one created from the original color channels. Thanks for your time, John

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Have a look at my tutorials for beginners. There you fnd exactly "how to use pictures (bitmaps) in Vue". This goes for Vue 2, 3 and 4. This will not be any problem in photoshop (I'm working with Corel).

I couldn't tell you one way or the other how to convert a PSD file's alpha channel into something Vue can use, since I don't have Photoshop. I think .tiff or .tga files support alpha channels somehow, but I don't know how it works. You might want to ask in the Photoshop forum here, or maybe run a web search for some more info on the various formats.

If you have 3Dexploration, you can convert your file into BMP or JPG. If you don't find any solution, you can send me the file and I will convert it for you. But maybe, like in Corel, instead of saving your file you can export it as a BMP or JPG ? Did you have a look ? Guitta

If you are using Photoshop do this... Click the Channels tab of the layers palette. Highlight the alpha channel. That should make the alpha channel only show in your main picture window. Go to File and select "Save As" and save it as your trans channel (click okay to any warnings you may get, they are nothing)...name it descriptively and as a bitmap (.bmp in the drop down menu of file types when saving). Just remember that if you don't invert your transmap (your alpha channel) in Photoshop, you will have to do it in Vue in the material editor. Laurie

heyas; save as to save only the alpha channel? what version of 'shop is that? i usually just grab the channel, select all, copy, and paste it as a layer instead of a channel. (or as a new image, etc etc.)

damn...bloodsong's right. I forgot a couple things (I should open it up when I'm explaining things...LOL). When you get to your channels palette, delete all the channels but the alpha, change the mode of the image to "Grayscale" then do a "save as". Don't save your original file or you'll overwrite it. Laurie

Vue now automatically reads alpha channels within TIFF files if you use the Alpha Plane. Save the the PSD within Phatoshop as a Tiff, and make sure you retain the alpha channel, and you should be OK :) Cheers

 

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Here's a big question: What if I take a plain old .bmp and convert it to TIFF? Does that mean it has an alpha channel planted into it? How about JPEG?

No Mike...there has to be an alpha channel there in the first place. :( Laurie

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful tips.... Here's what I did. I re-saved my file in a Tiff format. (and Mike, by the way I had to add an alpha channel, seems only the Photoshop default format automatically has an alpha, Jpeg doesn't let me save the alpha) I then added an Alpha Plane to the scene and it worked..... However..... :) (one question leads to another lol) The object is way too transparent. How do I correct this? Not global transparency? Thanks all!! John

Yep, jpegs and bitmaps don't support alpha channels. I know targa does, but I don't know if Vue supports those. Laurie

John, take a look again at Guitta's tutorial (link above). The portions you want solid need to be completely black (RGB 0,0,0) The portions you want transparent need to be absolutely white (RGB 255,255,255). In Vue, make sure your Transparency is set to 100%. Then your black areas will be completely opaque. :)

The black and white I'm referring to is the black and white of the alpha/transparency mask. :)

Thanks very much Varian!.... What I was doing wrong was, I assumed that since I was using an Alpha Plane and a file that contained an Alpha Channel, Vue would pick out the Alpha Channel on it's own. Now I realize I have to load a separate file of just the alpha channel to get the correct results. It's finally working! Thanks again, John

Good news, John! :)

And targa's and tiffs need to be 32bit (that is 8bit red 8bit blue 8bit green and 8bit alpha) A 16bit targa or tiff can't contain alpha-information! Can't you copy'n paste the alpha channel in PhotoShop? I work with Corel PhotoPAINT and that allows me to work with the alpha channels easily.