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FPSC Classic Models and Media / Alpha Maps question

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Disturbing 13
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 11:45
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OK, I know it's been covered before and someone even posted a picture with step by step(pictures mind you, no explaination) on how to do an alpha map for a tga.(I did the search) OK, I don't want mine seethrough i just want holes in it, like a fence would have. I have PaintShopPro, but bareley use it so I'm not really familiar with it. Can anyone give me a step by step on what I'm trying to do(detailed)? The sad thing is I' did it before and didn't document what I did that was different from the semi seethrough version. I've been at it for hours and am just frustrateing myself. Please help!!!!

JEEZ!You people just STFU! You waste more space complaining about people wasting space than the people your bashing! Man, I thought I had no life.
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Joh
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 11:53
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Im not familiar with Paintshop. Alpha maps work as greyscale values. So anything pure black is transparent, white is opaque and all the grey inbetween is translucent. The amount depends on wether it has more black or white.

!
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Zilla
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 13:06
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http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=62957&b=24

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=71336&b=24
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Disturbing 13
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 17:41
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@Zilla- I know about that already and as I said it's not exactly explained. It would probbably help but the version of PSP they are useing is different from mine so it doesn't look the same. This is for a model, not an hud. I don't want the whole model transparent, just a few holes. I also refuse to use .jpg, due to the artifacts produced, ruining the look; That second method is fine, but what if you have areas that need solid black? I need a "detailed" instruction so that I may be able to find the tools needed. Thanks anyway.

JEEZ!You people just STFU! You waste more space complaining about people wasting space than the people your bashing! Man, I thought I had no life.
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bond1
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 18:09 Edited at: 20th Feb 2006 18:28
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Although I don't use PSP (I use photoshop), I wouldn't recommend using the second method. It's just not an elegant way to get transparency, plus you have to set a tranparency property in the FPE file using that method.

Forget that method at all, use a 32 bit image with an alpha channel instead. The alpha determines the transparency, a totally black alpha channel would make your model invisible, white would make it opaque, and shades of gray would make it translucent.

So, if you want to punch holes in your texture, your alpha channel would be white with black holes corresponding to the holes in your texture that you want to see through. In photoshop for example, you would make a selection around the opaque areas of your texture, create a new channel, and fill the selection with pure white. Everything else would be left pure black, and hence totally transparent.

From what I've read in several CG magazines that I get, PSP has pretty sucky alpha channel support compared with Photoshop, although I hear the latest version has improved things a bit. I'd do a Google search for "Paint Shop Pro alpha channel" and see what turns up.

Oh, and you can't use jpeg even if you wanted to, the format doesn't save alpha channel info, use .tga or .png instead.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My FPSC stuff at http://hyrumark.zftp.com/FPSC/hyrumarkfpsc.htm
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Lon
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 19:13 Edited at: 20th Feb 2006 19:17
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George, If you use a jpg image file, FPSC will make absolute black invisible, just like the GCS did. In FPSC you can use bmp, png, jpg in addition to TGA. the 'black hole' trick with a jpg wont work with segments however, only entities (as far as I can tell). If you make a fence panel, make it a skinned entity instead and place them by eye as static.

Lon

[url=http://www.chiselbrain.com]
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Disturbing 13
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 19:53 Edited at: 20th Feb 2006 19:56
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Greetings Lon-it accually does work as segments too. In fact i used the FPS Model of a fence to create a segment so my fence would be set perfectly. My main problem with .jps is the artifacts left in the image distorting my work. I found a round about way of doing it. In PSP, so problem solved ...sort of. Now I have a new one, but I won't get into it yet till I do some more searching.

JEEZ!You people just STFU! You waste more space complaining about people wasting space than the people your bashing! Man, I thought I had no life.
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gps
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Posted: 20th Feb 2006 21:30
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This is how I do it using PSP7

Open your base texture.

Make a copy. PSP calls this Image2 (assuming you don't have any other images open).

Working on Image2, select the area(s) that you want to be transparent, and fill them with solid black. Invert the selection (Shift+Crtl+I) and make everything else white. Deselect (Ctrl+D)

Go back to you base texture and select 'Mask' from the main menu.

Select New> From Image

Source window: Image2

Choose to create mask from 'any non-zero value' (in other words, anything that's not pure 0,0,0 white)

Click on 'OK' and you should see a part of your texture disappear, revealing grey and white checkers.

Congratulations - your texture now has a mask. However, it doesn't have an alpha layer yet. This is the bit that caught me out for several frustrating hours.

Go back to 'Mask' on the main menu. Now that your image actually has a mask, some of the previously greyed-out option have become available. Select 'Save To Alpha Channel', keep the default settings and hit 'OK'.

Your texture now has an alpha channel!

Save it as a .TGA file

Admittedly, this is a bit of a bare-bones tutorial, but I hope it helps.

Cheers

- Graham

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Disturbing 13
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Posted: 21st Feb 2006 05:17
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that's eventually what I did, but thanks for confirming that it was the correct way to do it.

JEEZ!You people just STFU! You waste more space complaining about people wasting space than the people your bashing! Man, I thought I had no life.
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