Quantum Destiny

I needz halp!

I need to create a 2X2 version (4 copies tiled on one canvas) of a texture which has an alpha channel, but I'm not sure how I go about it since the alpha channel doesn't copy with the layer. How do I do eet? Is there a way to lock the alpha channel to the layer so that it will copy with the layer? Or a way to add 4 alpha layers together in a simliar way to regular layers? Or perhaps another way? I'm using CS3.

Halp!

infiniview Merit

Is the purpose of the alpha channel for a transparency?

If so you can skip the difficulty of working with channels and just go ahead and put everything where you want it.

Make sure you do not have a background layer.
Arrange your layers as you want them.
Then "merge layers".
Then save as a .PNG file.

This last step is very important as it goes to the abilities of the file format.
The .png file format will preserve your transparency just as it appears in your editor.
And it is a lossless format.
Which in my opinion is just as good as .tng just easier to work with.
If your channel is not for the purpose of transparency....nm.

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Quantum Destiny

Thanks for your reply infiniview.

Yes I need the transparency - I don't just need to duplicate the ordinary layer info, I also need to duplicate the transparency information which needs to tie up with the RGB channel info.

Perhaps if I explain exactly what I am trying to do it will be easier to picture what I am trying to do: I have a glass texture which was created for one square pain of glass. I want to use this to create a new texture for a leaded light window



So in the example above I would need to create a texture from 3X5 copies of the original single pain texture. I can't simply get around it by setting the number of repeats of the original texture to 3X5 because the repeats need to be slightly separated to allow for the lead struts (which have been created with a sculpty), and because unlike the above example, not all of the pains within the window I need are the same size as each other.

Zii

Something like that.

You can select the portion of the alpha layer that you want to copy, and then alt + drag it while using the move tool to place a copy wherever you like on the same layer, just the same as you would with a normal layer's data. Use shift to constrain it to a direction if you need to.
Since the alpha is flat, you can't duplicate it and place as if the black is transparent, like you can with your normal layers.

How did you make your alpha initially? Are the windows hand-painted? If they have their own layers with their own transparency, set up for masking when you paint them, it would be easier to make the alpha all in one go after you've duplicated the windows. Select transparency (ctrl + click layer thumbnail) for all of them and then use fill on your alpha channel.

Does that make sense?

infiniview Merit

As much as I hate to admit it. I have procrastinated learning all the ins and outs of channels thus far.
So I am not exactly sure what you mean by this:

"I also need to duplicate the transparency information which needs to tie up with the RGB channel info."

If you have your transparent glass the way you want it visually you should be fine.

Since the lead framing is sculpted then would I assume you have a separate texture for it.
Then will the glass just need to be behind it?
Or if the sculpted portion is thick enough you could just slip the glass inside of it?
In either of those cases you would not need separate textures for each pane. You could just have one texture for the glass that is visible inside the frame divisions. Then you might want to have
the visibility of the glass texture end at the edges of the whole window.

You could do that by assembling the frame and lead portions sculpts inworld and take a snapshot of it and remove all the background except for the framing and then use what is left over as a selection mask around the edges to show a more precise area of what to keep. Then make all areas around the edges of your window completely transparent so that the glass only shows within the framed area. If the window is to be completely surrounded by walls you may not even need to do that. But it would be a cleaner if you did.
Or if this is for selling separate windows you definately would want to do that in the event your glass texture extends beyond the edges of your framing.
Again I do not understand why you want the portions covered by the sculpt framing to be clear if the framing is going to occlude it anyway.

Or perhaps I missed something?

Quantum Destiny

The glass texture in question is not uniformly transparent across the texture - the alpha channel has a kind of chaotic radial gradient going on, with maximum transparency in the centre. It's to create a 'dirty window' effect, with the glass being cleanest in the centre of each square. So I want to use one prim for the glass, but I want this 'radial' glass texture to appear in every square of the window.

Quantum Destiny

Ugh. I don't know why I didn't try the alt-drag thing - I can now see it's the intuitive/obvious thing to do.

Thanks Zii!

infiniview Merit

Echo!

Very cool tip. I did not know that one.

Parker McTeague

What I usually do is keep a hidden layer with any transparency channel stuff in it. That way it's easier to manipulate later, especially when I'm doing things like multiple versions of an alpha channel for different opacities.

Easy thing to do is copy the alpha channel into a layer, and move it around with your visible pixels, then when you have it duplicated, copy it back to the channel.

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