Alpha Channel?

Stryfe01Stryfe01 Member Posts: 146
edited November -1 in Art, Graphics, Music and Sound
I am working on an app in xcode, and the images need to have the alpha channel set to 0. Is there a way to do this in Art Text, or do I have to use Photoshop. I'm still new to Photoshop, so if I have to do it there, can someone guide me please?

Comments

  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    Photoshop does it automatically when you export, any transparent areas stay that way. Don't know anything about Art Text, though.
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  • Stryfe01Stryfe01 Member Posts: 146
    cool. so if i make my user interface in PS then export to png, i'll be fine?
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    Yes indeed.
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  • apps4everyoneapps4everyone Member Posts: 103
    I don't think you can just save as/export a .png image in Photoshop and keep the transparency. I think you have to 'Save for Web' and check the transparency box.
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    Oh yeah, that is correct apps. Sorry. I set up and use Actions for everything. Mine is set up to do all that automatically.
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  • CaptFinnCaptFinn Member Posts: 1,828
    I thought in a earlier post someone said " Save as Web wasnt a good thing. cause it saves the image in Web only colors. reducing its crispness.
  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    Yes, it does convert to web safe colors. Doesn't reduce crispness, but it can shift the color away from what you wanted originally.
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  • Stryfe01Stryfe01 Member Posts: 146
    Ok. I'm a bit confused. I've been using PS for a few days now. So when I set a background as transparent, and create an image on a second layer, the whole "alpha channel" thing only pertains to the transparent layer?
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    Stryfe01 said:
    Ok. I'm a bit confused. I've been using PS for a few days now. So when I set a background as transparent, and create an image on a second layer, the whole "alpha channel" thing only pertains to the transparent layer?

    Correct,

    Basically imagine that a jpg has three colors (red,blue,green) which everything is made from a mixture of. A pixel can have a combination of these to make the color. Now a PNG file can have 4 colors, the 4th being the alpha channel (or transparency).

    If you have any image with transparency in photoshop and you save as a PNG it will retain this. You don't just have to choose 'save for web'. PNG files do not retain layer information, keep your files as PSD files until they are finished.

    In answer to your question, the PNG is flat and a single layer. So transparency on any layer will be kept in the final PNG file.
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    You can actually just save as .psd GameSalad will convert .psd to a .png when you drag it in. :)
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  • apps4everyoneapps4everyone Member Posts: 103
    Jeffnichols said:
    Save as Web ... saves the image in Web only colors. reducing its crispness.

    I didn't know that - good to know
    tenrdrmer said:
    You can actually just save as .psd GameSalad will convert .psd to a .png when you drag it in. :)

    I didn't know that either - that's really good to know.
  • Stryfe01Stryfe01 Member Posts: 146
    Ahh. Thanks guys. This is very useful information. I'm trying to design a UI Bar and I was told the images I used for buttons were not good because that. But I gave them in PNG, so i'm not sure what he meant. Should have it ironed out today though.
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