Alpha Map Explained

[Remlap]

Alpha Maps

Ok so I just opened the buttons because they had an easy alpha map to show.

Here is it on the normal maps


now we go to the channels tab and it will appear like this



select the view alpha channel



the image looks like this now



the red is area that will not show up in game.

Here is what the Alpha map looks like viewed on its own



to edit it make sure that you have the alpha channel highlighted.



on a side note it is possible to edit it while the normal map is viewed, but the alpha map must be selected to edit it.

Hope this helps

[hannibalcaesar]

Very nice, thanks remlap.

[Remlap]

Your welcome

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

yes ,i have a problem with the alpha channel, the unit banners are coloured in stead of the background (i'm working with gimp) but how do i change it?

[Remlap]

Can you give me a screenshot of what your talking about? I'm afraid I can't completely understand.

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

you say, the black is what is not being showed in the game when you only open the alpha but at my file it's otherwise ,the flag is black and teh background is transparant:

[Remlap]

Yes it's different for gimp. If you look to the right at your layers that one is shown in the same format as photoshop. So in your case the black is what will be shown.

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

but still ,my banners are white in the game

[Remlap]

change the color to white if you can. If that doesn't work I will find a gimp expert for you.

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

the colour of the alpha map or just the banner?

[Remlap]

the color of the alpha map

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

nope

[Killerbee]

You don't need to mess around with the alpha channels in GIMP. Delete the Alpha Channel, work the RGB channels (the normal ones), go to Layer > Add Alpha Channel, and then just select what you don't want, and then press delete

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

it looks like this now ,but still my banners are just white. maybe its the form of the modle ,because i just took the julii banner

[Bull3pr00f de Bodemloze]

Battlemap banners, right?
If they show up as white it could also be a wrong reference in a text folder (i.e., you gave up the wrong name of the file. The game can't find it, so it shows white banners).

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

this is what i have:
in my_mod/data/descr_banners.txt:
faction romans_julii
standard_texture my_mod/models/textures/standard_julii.tga.dds
rebels_texture models/textures/standard_slave.tga
routing_texture models/textures/standard_routing.tga
ally_texture models/textures/standard_julii_ally.tga

the name of the dds file is exactly the same as in descr_banners ,also the directory is good ,but there's still no effect

[Remlap]

Ahh I know what your issue is, you saved it as the wrong kind of .dds Wish I could have seen that earlier. The format you need to save it as is: DXT5 ARGB 8 bpp interpolated alpha

[IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS CAESAR]

what kind of extension is that ? how do i convert my tga file to that?

[Remlap]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=143321

this is a link to a tool you can use to do it with gimp It operates outside of gimp but it will work.

[Ussaid the Hashshashin]

Any link for Ifranview????