targa .tga textures

3DC will be changed, but there isn’t a release immenent.

Richard

this post is about targa .tga textures. i want to be able to use a targa file as a texture and have the transparency retained. the pic below is a cube that has been scaled to 0 on one axis, and a targa is the texture. the light white area is actually supposed to be fully transparent but it doesn’t seem to be that way. i want to use targas so i can map them onto flat cubes and produce a flat 2D look. any help or questions about this please ask.

-korben

Looks like it’s the wrong way round. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

I don’t know which paint program your using, I use Paint Shop Pro and it goes like this:-

1] Select the area you want to be transparent.

2] Invert the selection

3) Save selection to Alpha channel

4) Save Image

This works ok.
Looks like you missed out step 2.

Hope this helps.

Bazza

no i didn’t, i’m using photoshop cs. i selected the layer with the magic wand tool and set the selection as a new alpha channel. then saved it as a .tga with transparency. this makes a targa with an alpha channel and it works fine in other programs that read alpha channels. i.e. after effects and even back into photoshop. any other ideas would be great. i am also load the .tga straight into the main texture so it should work because it auto creates a transparency map as far as i know.

-korben

After you use the magic wand tool to set the selection can you then invert the selection.

I had exactly the same problem and have to INVERT the selection for it to work in 3DC.

Bazza

it worked,
thanks bazza.

-korben

Pleased it’s sorted. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
It’s also worth trying the .png format, you get the file compression as well as the alpha channel.

Bazza

i’m not worried about compression, i have more than enough storage. thanks again.

-korben

actually i found the source of my problem. you see i don’t usually make mistakes in photoshop and making a targa, so i started looking around for a reason. the specular option in the textures window has to be o. anything above this makes even the transparent section reflect the light, thus making it that transparent white/gray. i don’t know if this fault in 3dc is fixable

-korben

now i have another problem. in this pic there are two .tga textured flattened cubes. there is some distance between the two and i am getting this fringe edging that makes both layers transparent. any help or ideas would be great.

-korben

It could be a sorting issue. Translucency has to be sorted to ensure the ‘furthest’ translucent face is drawn first. If there are multiple layers of translucency and the faces are large there can definitely be faces that are draw in the wrong order since sorting is done per face rather than per pixel.

Can you show me a screen capture of 3DC from a more distant view that shows the problem?

Richard

sure, i guess

okay here is a more zoomed out screen capture. notice the transparent fringe. all the elements, like that mouth, are just flat cubes woth a targa painted on them.

here is another part of the scene. notice the fringe around the trees. there are two layers of trees. but as the pic below this one shows- there is quite a bit of distance between the two so the layers/shapes are not touching. also too, this problem seems like it only happens to certain elements, i don’t know why, but it seems like it is the Translucency sorting you were talking about. any help would be great.

-korben

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