saving with Alpha Channels

AE
Posted By
Amanda Etheridge
Nov 28, 2008
Views
801
Replies
5
Status
Closed
Hey I don’t know much about Alpha Channels but I’ve been working on a tutorial for Motion and they told me to save files from photoshop with alpha channels, but everytime I try to save my file as a psd with alpha channels the option is grayed out and I am unable to click it! Can anyone tell me how I’m supposed to make this work!? thanks in advance!

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FN
Ficholas_Norneris
Nov 28, 2008
are you sure you’re working with a document that has extra alpha channels/masks?
AE
Amanda Etheridge
Nov 28, 2008
ha. well no. To be honest Ive been watching hours of a motion tutorial and I am sick of using the pictures they provided.. I just remember her saying that they were psd files with alpha channels.. I will try to go back in the tutorial and listen to what was said again..

What exactly is an alpha channel? Is it something you can create?

thanks
FN
Ficholas_Norneris
Nov 28, 2008
< http://www.photoshop-training-course.co.uk/what-is-an-alpha- channel/>

basically, a mask, and yes you create them more often that you’d think
P
Phosphor
Nov 29, 2008
You can’t Save with an Alpha Channel unless there is one in the file. You usually make them yourself. An Alpha Channel is a saved selection or a Mask. In general, Channel=Mask=Selection. They are avatars of each other.

Look at the bottom of the Layers palette and the Channels palette. You’ll see a little circle in a dark square icon. In Layers, if you have an active selection and click that icon it makes a Layer Mask.

In the Channels palette that Layer mask is displayed as an Alpha Channel.

In the Channels Palette if you have an active selection and click that icon it meakes an Alpha Channel. The Alpha can be used to make the selection active again at a later time, among other things.
CC
Chris_Cox
Dec 2, 2008
Are you trying to save alpha channels, or transparency?
Those are 2 different things (that some video and 3D apps get confused).

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