Some (probably basic) Skinning Questions

Sorry 'bout the thread title, it's kinda retarded (like most of my other thread titles, lol)

I was wondering if it is possible to remove parts of weapons by skinning them. For example: I want to remove the bottom part of the Spell Breaker's retarded double sword (well, I don't think it's that retarded, but my friend is the one who wants it removed b/c HE thinks it's retarded...... what a retard. lol.). Could I simply erase the part I don't want, or is there more to it? (such as alpha channels? the most I can make of those are that that's where your team colour is displayed.)

I was also wondering if you can paint over alpha channels and make them disappear, or if I have to go and remove them manually. I want to remove a very large part of a very large alpha channel on my reverant skin.

Also, does anybody have any ideas on how to make a 'whitish metal'? I know about the burn/dodge stuff, and can make regular metals (with grey bases) but I kind of wanted to make a 'white' metal. I dunno how else to explain it really. I guess we could say that I don't want a grey base for it, but then, how could I dodge on white? Maybe I could use an off-white, but I wouldn't really know what kind of off-white...

And, could somebody tell me how to make [little] feathers? I'm doing some white/golden re-skinned wings (I intend on doing a little more than re-colour my reverant, you know), and I wanted to make some good wings and feathers on the shield (where the horns would be, for those of you who are familiar with the reverant.)

And lastly, there are 'blue waves' under the .blp file along with the reverant. Could these be the blue/purple connecting 'waves' that holds the reverant together? And, if so, what's a fairly quick way to turn them gold/white. (plz, no PSP or PS exclusive tricks, I'm using The GIMP).

Thanks for reading this absurdly long post :P.

Well, maybe i could you with removing part of the model. What you need it using the "Alpha Channel", and make them invinsible...

But it depends what kind of program of using, Paint Shop pro is rather easy... just select "Alpha Channel", and put the parts you don't want in black...


If you don't understand, I will explain it to you more in detail.


Be careful though, some part may not be edited.

I don't quite understand you. What I want to do is simply cut down the size of the alpha channel that makes up almost the entire robe into a small strip along the bottom. Unfortunately, I'm using the GIMP program, although I do believe that the alpha channels are easy to find, and probably to edit. I just want to know if it's possible to basically take an eraser and get rid of some of them. Then I can go back to the regular channel (I think that's how it works) and basically make the area that I removed white. Correct me if I'm wrong.