Build button help :(

posted on June 25th, 2013, 3:16 pm

So I have made a build button using the template in the modding guide and it shows up in game. My question is how do I do the following:

'After that, make a duplicate of the vessel image in the Alpha Channel of the button, except pure white with no detail.'

This is the last step (at the min my ship pic looks faded on the button. I suspect this step is what makes it bright on the background of the button.

Im using paint shop pro 7.

Cheers...

posted on June 25th, 2013, 9:04 pm

Any1? Thought this one would be easy.......

posted on June 26th, 2013, 2:22 am

I don't use paint shop pro, but I'm guessing that it lets you edit the alpha/transparency channel separately from the RGB colour channels. When you paste the ship picture into the template, you did not "paste" any transparency information into the alpha channel. Ie, the colour changed after pasting, but the transparency stayed the same as the template.

Most likely, you need to select the ship (just the ship, excluding any background) Use the lasso tool for this. The copy the selection and paste into the alpha channel. I think the way to do this in PSP is Selection --> Save to Alpha Channel.

Hope this helps. I use Paint.NET, which I've always found to be far more intuitive for editing transparent images.

posted on June 26th, 2013, 12:09 pm

Cant fig it out in psp. Is the program u use free? any good? Or, if I were to send u the buttons would u be willing to make the alterations to the alpha channel?

posted on June 26th, 2013, 12:33 pm

I use Paint.NET, which I've always found to be far more intuitive for editing transparent images.

You can sent me the buttons. However, do try to figure this out in one program or another. Editing transparency is extremely useful for many many texture editing applicationg. Plus you get results a lot quicker and to your liking

You can attach the files here or send to tpankov ( at ) (yahoo) ( dot ) (ca). Send me a screenshot of the ship(s) and the button template, if different from the fleetops template.

posted on June 26th, 2013, 4:39 pm

ok,

I have downloaded that program. Now, is it possible for u to pm me a step by step guid for adding the ship image to the alpha or is it to long?

posted on June 27th, 2013, 3:23 pm

Very easy to do

1. Open the template buttons with the program.

2. Create a new layer (plus sign in the layers window)

3. Move the layer up, if not already at the top.

4. Paste your new picture into the new layer

5. Resize and position accordingly. (Click+drag to move, drag corners to resize. Right-click to rotate)

6a. If there is any background along with the picture, use the wand tool to select the background and delete. You may need to lower the tolerance percent (tolerance bar in the upper toolbar). Alternatively, use the lasso select.

6b. You may want to use Shift+click with the wand tool to select all areas of that colour. Ie, if you have many little areas that are cut off from the rest of the background like girders or trusses in a shipyard.

7. Use the eraser tool to clean up edges around the ship if necessary.

8. Save as TGA with auto-detect bit depth, and RLE Compression OFF.

9. You may want to find a plugin called "feather". Do a quick google search. This lets you very quickly clean up edges after deleting the background.

Hope this helps. I had to write the above very quickly and without proofreading I'll check back in a few hours.

Cheers