How to make alpha channels

[LordRevan999]

I am trying to make alpha channels using the tutorial made by svösh but I m not able to make an alpha channel.Can Any one give me step by step instruction and one more question do I have to make alpha channel on texture which doesn't have it or it must have a alpha channel.Please help.And how will I notice that the alpha channel is working in the game.And what is the main purpose of alpha channels is it to make textures shine or there is some other purpose too.

[Quanon]

I am trying to make alpha channels using the tutorial made by svösh but I m not able to make an alpha channel.Can Any one give me step by step instruction and one more question do I have to make alpha channel on texture which doesn't have it or it must have a alpha channel.Please help.And how will I notice that the alpha channel is working in the game.And what is the main purpose of alpha channels is it to make textures shine or there is some other purpose too.

 

Alpha channels are used to apply "effects" , like you mentioned the nice chrome armor chine , but this could be the saber effect aswell ! Or CM_Bright for instance to give something a blue bright hue .

 

What programe are you using ? If its Photoshop I can tell you where to click to create that channel , it's not that difficult .

 

Plus you'll need your texture/skin_name.txi aswell for the effect to takeplace.

[LordRevan999]

Hey,Quanon I use photoshop I know how to make channels but I don't know whether to use white color or to use black color and what do they do and I need to know how to make the txi's and what to write in them.I also tried working with alpha channels in which I used the blue texture of mandlorian armor I saw there was a alpha channel already so I selected the whole texture and made another alpha channel It was whole black then I saved as .tga but it didn't work and when I saved in options I am not allowed to click the alpha channel check box.Does that have to do anything with the texture.And also please please explain the difference of white color and black color in an alpha channel.Also I opened the saved tga of the armor and there was only one alpha channel and that was white while I had made a black alpha channel

[Quanon]

Okay ,

 

White is ZERO effects , if you paint a total white Alpha channel you won't see anything take effect on your texture .

 

Black on the other hand is a 100% effects , if for example you use CM_BareMetal it will cover up your texture totally , you won't see anything of your texture .

 

So if you want for example just the torso to be shine , you need to select it , copy it and paste ( should be automatically in a new layer ) .

 

Now , go to Image => Adjustments => BlackandWhite .

This turns the Torso in Black/White and grays inbetween .

 

Then again go to Image => Adjustments => Brightness/Contrast and Image => Adjustments => Levels are great to experiment with your Black and White values .

 

 

Go for really light grays , unless you want a very Shiny armor .

 

Now select that Black/White Torso , copy it. Then delete that layer , you won't need it anymore or Hide it by clicking on the eye ( perhaps you want to alter it slightly ). Next go to the Channels , if there's already an Alpha , click on it to activate and Paste .

 

Hide the RGB channels to see the Black/White in the Alpha Channel , if the other Channels are "on" , you should have a red hue . The stronger the red the more effect the Shine will have .

 

This is how my Alpha channel looks like for my Ghost Terantanak .

Its a copy of the orginal , turned into Black/White , copyed again and

pasted into the Alpha Channel .

 

 

Well , you have your channel set , so go to File => Save as ... => In the list pick Targa ( TGA ) . It should look something like this :

 

 

Then another window comes up , set it to 32 bits and hit OK

 

 

 

Voila , your TGA is ready

 

Now open Textpad / notepad .

 

Here what you need to type for the CM_BareMetal .

 

envmaptexture CM_BareMetal

 

You could also fill in :

 

envmaptexture CM_Bright or anyother CM_stuff thats out there , though its not that long a list .

 

Then go to File => Save As

Type in the name of the texture with .txi after it and set it to save as any file.

 

 

 

If you now dumb everything into the override folder , you should see the effects take place .

 

Hope this helped a bit .

[LordRevan999]

Hey,Quanon I am not able to find the black/white option in the adjustment menu.Please help.And If I make my selection very light gray it does it means that in game it would shine very less or not.

[Inyri]

Control + Shift + U will do the same thing in the post recent Photoshop release.

[LordRevan999]

Hey,it worked,finally I could move on.Thanks Quanon and InyriForge.By the way where can I find the list of CM_stuff.

[Quanon]

Hey,it worked,finally I could move on.Thanks Quanon and InyriForge.By the way where can I find the list of CM_stuff.

 

Héh , I just recently discovered this for myself , there's a list of CM's in KotorTool in ERF => TexturePacks => Tex_tpa(b, c) => C

 

Now most of the list contains, what I think are the Lightmaps for the levels , you'll find names of Manaan and all ... THough here and there you'll notice the names like the famous CM_BareMetal .

 

 

You can extract it as well I guess , so I think , haven't tried it out myself , that it might be possible to adjust/ edit the CM's aswell .

 

Though thats just me speculating , I've no idea if you save it with an altered name and all if it will still count as an "effect".