Alpha channel not showinf up, PLZ HELP!!!

Ok, ill tell u what i did step by step

Ok, i have the targa plugin for photoshop that fixes the channels

1. Extracted ogre skin as targa with Image extractor 2 and then opened in Photoshop.

2. Then, i selected an area, switched to the alpha channel and colored it black. It only showed as pure black on the Alpha layer, none of the others

3. So i saved it as a 32-bit targa

4. Opened in Image extractor 2, looked at image and it looked exactly the same -- i dont know if this is normal, if it doesnt show alphaing out something. And then i converted it to a .blp

5. Opened the wc3map imported it, changed the file path so that it matched the right one (believe me, i did this right).


6. Closed the editor and reopened, then started the map

7. And the alphaed out weapon doesnt dissapear.

Can someone plz tell me where i went wrong?



edit: oh and i cant like copy and paste a skin from photoshop to paint shop pro, because then IE2 says its not a supported file format

Which unit's weapon are you trying to alpha out?

the ogre's club, but i dont think that has anything to do with it

For one reason or another i've noticed not just anythingy can be alpha-ed out. I too had the same club problem. Youll just have to deal with it or use a new model

well i tried other skins and it didnt work

If your new here are a few newbie tips
Black=Invisible
White=Dark\ you can see it

Make sure Alpha channel is high lighted (when in photoshop when a channel is highlighted thats the one your currently editing)

You shouldnt see anything but black\white when on the alpha channel

If its not working try reviewing a tutorial

ya, it all looks like it should work but it doesnt, ive looked at plenty of tutorials and im sure im doing everything right, but the problem is in my photoshop or something. I can do it with paint shop pro

with alpha channels how the show up just black and white how are u suppposed to tell what your alphaing?(the exact areas because if u say alpha out the paladins book and u miss corner thats gonna look weird just a corner)

Well the actual alpha channel is just black and white. But photoshop has a feature to view mutiple channels (almost all editors similiar do this without you knowing it) there are 4 basic channels Red Blue Green and the alpha channel. What i do is view the alpha channel along with another color(s) but make sure that the alpha channel is highlighted under channels ( in photoshop the highlighted channel is the one you're editing. However to make sure your in the channel turn off all other colors RBG if its white and black thats it !

but i should get the same effect if i just select and area and then the alpha channel

Are you positive that you are scrolling down and actually selecting the alpha channel, and not just viewing it? Clicking the checkbox next to it only views it, not actually selects it. You have to click on the alpha chan itself and it will be highlighted.

Sounds like you have everything right otherwise. Nothing you edit in the alpha should show at all in image extractor, so somehow you are painting over the RBG channel.

the alpha is not showing in the image extractor 2, but i am positive i am actually editing the channel.

Hiten says:

If you're going to skin sumthing, use PSP and Photoshop simultaneously. Paintshop's strength is retouch tool and the ALPHA CHANNEL editing and Photoshop's is its 'intelligent' brush.
When you're done with Paintshop save the tga and close it. Open up the file in Photoshop and save it or save a copy. Open in WC image xtractor. bcoz when you go from Paintshop to Wc image xtractor, all youll gonna get is the 'dreaded' unsupported file format.

oh, and sumtimes alphaing parts of the skin is not enough. you'll have to do some model editing.