08 CF help

[yosifun]

I have a ton of CFs back from 07 and some new ones for 08. All of the 07 CFs I normalized to have the same Alpha channel, now I want to normalize all of the new 08 CF this way but the Alpha file isn't updated too.

This are my steps for normalizing a CF, correct me if anything is wrong:
1) open in Photoshop the .dds file of a normalized CF I already have (with the desired Alpha channel).
2) open the .dds file of a new CF (with another Alpha channel).
3) copy the contents of the new .dds file into the normalized .dds file (all channels except the Alpha one).
4) save the result and overwrite the unnormalized .dds file.

After all of this, when I import the new .dds file into the .fsh file, it shows that the Alpha channel is empty and not with the Alpha channel I intended it to have.

[yosifun]

No help? glen, cerv, KJ, anyone?

[Patr1ck]

What is normalizing?

Anyways, the dds plugin is tricky. Make sure you are saving in the DXT3 format. If I make an image from scratch and add an alpha to it and try to save it as DXT3, I get a "too many channels to export" error. I can solve this by removing the alpha channel, and then saving the file as DXT3. This creates an all white alpha channel. Then I open up that file in photoshop and paste the alpha channel contents and the RGB contents in their respective channels and save again.

You can also create a layer mask on your layer(with no alpha channel) and then paste the image that you want to be the alpha into the layer mask channel. Then I think you can save as DXT3 and it will create the alpha channel correctly.

[yosifun]

What is normalizing?

When you change objects to fit the same format (in my case fitting all the .dds files to have the same Alpha channel.

Anyways, the dds plugin is tricky. Make sure you are saving in the DXT3 format. If I make an image from scratch and add an alpha to it and try to save it as DXT3, I get a "too many channels to export" error. I can solve this by removing the alpha channel, and then saving the file as DXT3. This creates an all white alpha channel. Then I open up that file in photoshop and paste the alpha channel contents and the RGB contents in their respective channels and save again.

You can also create a layer mask on your layer(with no alpha channel) and then paste the image that you want to be the alpha into the layer mask channel. Then I think you can save as DXT3 and it will create the alpha channel correctly.

All I do is exporting a .dds file from a .fsh file of a CF a already have with the desired Alpha channel and .dds file from a .fsh file of a CF I want to change.
Than, in Photoshop, I open both .dds files and copy the desired Alpha channel to the second .dds file and save (this method worked last year ).
It shows that the Alpha channel is changed but when I close that .dds file and reopen it, the Alpha channel is suddenly all white..

I'm not familiar with the DXT3 format you are talking about.. the only format I'm using is this DDS format (D3D/DDS in Photoshop). Do I need to install any extra plugin? Why did this work for me last year and now it doesn't?

[Patr1ck]

When you try to save the dds file, a window should pop up that has a bunch of settings and buttons that you can change. There should be a small text box at the top that has a bunch of formats like DXT1, DXT3, DXT5, ARGB, etc, etc, etc. Maybe you need to reinstall the plugin.

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/phot ... ugins.html

[yosifun]

Thanks Pdub, I just saw that it's was on "No Alpha" in that text box now it works