-
jeez, just when I thought I had this brush thing down…
Why, suddenly, do my brushes come out with a white square around them?
I checked the tools pallette, and the background color is set to black and the foreground to white.
Just a few days ago, I could cut out a brush (MyLoadedImage/filter/extract) and save it out as a .bmp file. Then, when I loaded it into another proggy, like Flash, it would come in as just the brush, with no background.
Now, it’s got a white background square around it.
What in the world have I done?
-
4 Replies
-
This depends on how the receiving program handles transparency and how the file format handles transparency. I think a BMP needs to have an alpha channel in order to define transparency, and then the program you’re importing it into needs to be able to read the alpha. I would recommend considering a different file format. A layered TIFF will retain transparency without an alpha, as will a PNG.
For a BMP or a TGA to retain Alpha information you need to save it at 32-bit (8 for each RGB channel and 8 for the Alpha), which should be the default if you have an alpha channel in your PSD.
However, if a program will accept PSDs that might be the preferred method.
-
Omagod, this is fabulous.
Realized that all the brushes I’d created last week and saved as .bmp’s were by your “Channels, new alpha–Layer Mask/Hide Selection” method.
Loaded into FlashMX, their backgrounds were transparent as desired.
Yesterday, when I did a simple Filter/Extract brush and tried to save it as a .bmp or .psd, there was no transparency.
Saving it as a .tif, transparency data was available for saving–and it worked!
And now I’ll know where to look for transparency info, in the save options for given formats.
(A pending deadline, so you really saved me on this one, wurz).
Thanx a meg,
M -
Yeah, sometimes it’s a little strange working with transparency in Photoshop. Photoshop handles transparency independently of alpha channels. I like this because it allows you to use the alpha channel for other purposes, such as controlling effects like Lens Blur, Lighting Effects and Glass.
However, many programs look at the alpha channel exclusively for transparency, which may or may not be there (or may not be the desired transparency information) in a file produced in Photoshop.
-
And now, thanx to your informative nudge, I am paying attention to all those options in the save window that I never even glanced at before.
Prior to this, you wouldn’t believe all the hoops I had to jump through to creat a brush with a transparent background.
It is kinda funny, how tedious this in in pShop compared to other programs like ImageFX and DogWaffle–but I s’pose that is kinda like comparing a battleship to a p-shooter.
(Can’t just jump in and take off–but, once you get it running, its power is a bit awesome).
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up