11-08-2020, 10:50 PM
Hello, all. I've been a user of PhotoShop Elements for, like, 15 years, and am coming to GIMP for this particular issue, seeing as PhotoShop Elements does not have this capability and I do not have money to upgrade to a full version. So... while I am no newbie to photo editing programs, GIMP is new and confusing to me, as is this issue I'm posting which is a whole 'nother mess. Lol
I will start by saying I am a The Sims modder and that's what this is for.
Christmas/the holidays are coming up and I want to create some cute holiday light stuff for my game. In order to do so, I need to understand alpha layers and light maps. I asked another modder for help a year ago, and I have a firm understanding of how to do everything related to coding and all, I just don't understand the photo editing alpha layer part of it.
In the modding program, the DDS file is considered a light map, and the light map appears black with bright areas where things light up.
That seemed simple enough, BUT it is achieved through alpha layers, and I never could quite figure this out. The modder in question gave me this advice, but I couldn't make sense of it:
"If you're in the channel panel, click add or new channel and it will automatically add Alpha. Red, Blue, Green channels should already be there. After that, copy your blue channel to the alpha channel, so that your alpha channel is NOT all black."
I think her advice was referring to PS, but GIMP has an alpha feature, so I wonder if anyone here could make sense of it? I don't understand alpha layers at all. I have never worked with them. I've only been modding for a year, as well.
I will start by saying I am a The Sims modder and that's what this is for.
Christmas/the holidays are coming up and I want to create some cute holiday light stuff for my game. In order to do so, I need to understand alpha layers and light maps. I asked another modder for help a year ago, and I have a firm understanding of how to do everything related to coding and all, I just don't understand the photo editing alpha layer part of it.
In the modding program, the DDS file is considered a light map, and the light map appears black with bright areas where things light up.
That seemed simple enough, BUT it is achieved through alpha layers, and I never could quite figure this out. The modder in question gave me this advice, but I couldn't make sense of it:
"If you're in the channel panel, click add or new channel and it will automatically add Alpha. Red, Blue, Green channels should already be there. After that, copy your blue channel to the alpha channel, so that your alpha channel is NOT all black."
I think her advice was referring to PS, but GIMP has an alpha feature, so I wonder if anyone here could make sense of it? I don't understand alpha layers at all. I have never worked with them. I've only been modding for a year, as well.
