i have a image in dds format (im sure it doesnt matter) but it has 4 channels, RGB and alpha basically the alpha is displayed as black and i want to remove it. when i fill alpha with white it does remove the black and it leaves me with the image i want but when i click on something else alpha layer is hidden and everything goes back to black. when i asked someone how they did a similar thing they replied Use the alpha channel as a layer mask. and im really not sure how to do this :S can someone please tell me how this is achieved? thanks in advance
Go to your channels, select the alpha channel, CTRL + CLICK on the alpha channel. Go back to your layers palette, click on the layer with the image that had the alpha channel, and click the mask button at the bottom. It will apply the alpha channel as a mask, making certain areas transparent.
wow! thanks! that works very very very well! now i can put a image under it and everything! just another question... i dont really understand the concept of layer masking, care to explain it? also... what does the ctrl click do? thanks a lot!
1 more question to add to the last few ^^ is there anyway i can split a image up? i have a file 256 by 128 and i want to split into 32 by 32 sections... sounds complicated and i have no idea where to start :S thanks in advance for those who can help!
CTRL + CLICK basically selects what's on that layer. It makes a selection based on the information on the layer. Layer masking is one of the most important aspects of Photoshop. It's basically non-destructive editing. When you apply a layer mask to a layer, the mask comes out as white. White means that everything in that layer will be shown. If you take a brush and set the color to Black, and paint in the layer mask (Not the layer, but select the actual mask and paint) it will basically erase or hide what ever you're going over. By doing this this way, you can always go back and change anything. Since the history in Photoshop can only hold so many history states, this makes it easier to go back to if you want to restart or you messed up. I hope that made sense.
yes thanks very much, i just need to get practising it and using it more... cliping masks are also something ive used. im still wondering if you can use "snap to.." by 32 pixels by 32 pixels? the only way i hav thought of doing it is by using the ruler zoomed in and selecting each part which will take forever and isnt very accurate.
