Photoshop Question

[Baggio]

Hey , I'm pretty new to photoshop and i'm still trying to make a transistion from corel photpaint to photoshop..

I came across this tutorial

http://www.phong.com/tutorials/flash/transparent/

But where it says select the alpha 1 channel.. I don't have that channel available in PS7 (he used PS 5.5) the tutorial says that you should only have 1 layer and 1 channel where as I have 1 layer and the r,g,b channels :-/

[DDD]

Hmmm.....the only thing I can think of is for you to create your alpha channel yourself. The cntrl+click or cmd+click (if you have a mac) the layer that contains your .png. This will put a selection around your graphic. The go to the channels panel and click the new channel button this will give you your Alpha 1 channel then proceed with the tut.

Maybe there is something diff with channels in PS 5.5

[Baggio]

hmm when i do that I do get the alpha chennel but it just shows a marquee no pixels are actually selected :(

[.soulty]

There is another way to select alpha channels, go to Select /Load Selection, and you will have a menu where you can select your channel.

hope this helps.

[Baggio]

Wel.. :-/

the only channel it lets me choose is layer 0 when i select that I still have the rgb channels but no alpha channel :-/

[.soulty]

then you havent created a alpha channel yet. :h:

[DDD]

hmmm.....when I do it I see a reversal of my image in the alpha channel pallette named alpha 1. If you follow what I said exactly above you should at least end up with the alpha channel you need. for that tut you may have to work around some of the other directions also.

make sure you cntrl + click the layer that has the transparent png on it. That should put a selection around your image. Then go to the channels tab and clck the new channel button at the bottom. It works for me :( I am on PS 7

[Baggio]

Hmm I followed the step by step but then the tutorial assumes that the only channel available is the alpha channel went it is not since there are the rgb channels...

I'm just going by the tutorial..

[Baggio]

Originally posted by 3d-iva
hmmm.....when I do it I see a reversal of my image in the alpha channel pallette named alpha 1. If you follow what I said exactly above you should at least end up with the alpha channel you need. for that tut you may have to work around some of the other directions also.

Yeah i get an alpha chanel but it only has a marquee in the shape of the letter e, no pixels are actually 'present'

[DDD]

dont worry about the rgb channels. when you click the alpha 1 channel they will not be visible

[.soulty]

I think the intro to the tutorial was just explaing what is made up of a PNG file.

[DDD]

maybe I should read the tut. That is the alpha channel and it can be loaded to create masks or whatever. SO it is there and useable what is the next step in the tut that you are stuck on?

[.soulty]

if you have just downloaded that E file supplied on the site, then you will be seeing RGB channels, not until you save the document with a transparent background , and as a PNG you will get 1 alpha channel.

[.soulty]

4. Now, open the .png file you just exported in Photoshop. It will have only one layer, and one channel.


close down the document after you save as PNG then you reopen that PNG file, to finish the tutorial.

[Baggio]

ok the alpha channel is there then in the tut


Go to the Channels palette, and select the Alpha 1 channel. Right now the e alpha channel is just anti-aliased around the edges. To make the center look transparent, drag Alpha 1 onto the Load channel as selection button.


Now when i drag the channel onto the load selection button it says warning: no pixels were selected o.O

:(

[Baggio]

Originally posted by Soulty
close down the document after you save as PNG then you reopen that PNG file, to finish the tutorial.

Ok i just did it from the start I exported the .png then closed PS started it again and opened the .png file and let with the same problem.. is that what you meant?

[.soulty]

not close photoshop all together, just the .psd (photoshop file) you were working with, open the png you just saved then go to select / load selection, and you will see you can select layer 0 transparency. then continue with the tutorial.

[Baggio]

I did but it still gives me the same channels as before(?)

[.soulty]

ok , his tutorial seems a bit off, when you save a PNG it still gives you RGB channels, what you have to do is create this alpha channel, basically follow the step i said before, when you have the selection, go to the channel pallette, and select the button at the bottom of the pallette with the solid background and white circle, this will create a alpha of your selection, use that alpha for the rest of the tutorial.

[Baggio]

Yeah but when i try to do anything with that chennel it says Warning : No pixels were selected.. I'll try again though

[Baggio]

ahh ok it seems to work now
thanks for all your efforts :)

[DDD]

I think you were deselecting b4 you were doing what ever. But either soulty's or my way should have worked. Glad you got it tho

[.soulty]

this tutorial is pretty confusing, ill try to find a better one based on this topic.

[Baggio]

yeah thanks basically all I am after is to have a transparent LCD type effect which can be imported into flash with the trasparency preserved (as ween in winamp skins etc)

[.soulty]

heres one for glassy pills ,

http://biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=30

basically run through the tutorial with your shape. might need to change a few of the amounts to better suit your shape.

[Baggio]

Cool thanks

[.soulty]

heres my final one

LCD interface tutorial

http://biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=2

:smirk:

[Baggio]

would the transparenciy be preserved if saved as a png and ecported to flash?

[.soulty]

yep. as long as it is tranparent in photoshop (no background) and saved as a png with transparency ticked.

[Baggio]

Cool thanks for all your help guys

[.soulty]

glad to help :thumb: