TGA files... why can't I edit these?

from Stardock Forums
I have been attempting to edit (using PhotoImpact 4.2) the TGA files for the control and toolbar buttons in Pix Office. What I want to do is recreate these files so that they do not show a button image until they are mouseovered or clicked. From what I understand, the first of five images in these files is supposed to be the one that I want to get rid of. I simply selected that area and used the clear function to eliminate the first image, then resaved it as a TGA file with the same name. When the skin is run in WB6, it displays none of the images for the buttons. When I looked at the skin in SkinStudio6, it does not recognize the existance of the image files I edited.

What fundemental misunderstanding am I operating under that prevents me from making this work?

soundpackager
11,071 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When I looked at the skin in SkinStudio6, it does not recognize the existance of the image files I edited.


Certainly cause SKS do not recognize the file.

before resave the png to tga did you selected the trans of the image and created an alpha chanel? Cause if you have save a png as tga without create an alpha chanel maybe (depends of your graphic editor) you have created a totally trans image.

a tutorial really helpful to understand how to create TGA and their alpha chanel:
A Complete Guide to the Start Panel: Pt 1

Other thing, when you open a tga as png with SKS it change the name to "name.tga .png" and create the png in an other folder in the WB folder. So you should change the name in deleting the .png at the end and save it in the WB skin folder or in an other but import it again in SKS.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok. So what do I do if I am attempting to edit an already created TGA file? Do I have to convert it to a PNG file first? Also, I don't see an alpha layer option availble in my editor. When I open the file in PhotoImpact, I can see two overlapping images. If I just clear the leftmost image in each layer and resave as a TGA should that not work?

Failing that, are there any editors (free or very inexpensive) that I could use that will do that?
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
GIMP is a great editor, and it's totally free. It also allows you to save images in .psd files (photoshop) which is cool if you want to do Xion skins.....
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Paint.net is a good program also. New plugins are being written almost on a daily basis. And this is also free!
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If I just clear the leftmost image in each layer and resave as a TGA should that not work?


I don't know photoimpact, basicly if you can access to the alpha chanel layer yes that's possible but you need to know that in alpha chanel trans is black #000000 and white is plain. So if you can access to it and clear the 2 layers normal and alpha chanel and resave it as TGA in 32bits yes that could be possible.
Well i think you should give a try to Paint.net and The Gimp they are free and maybe more easier to use to create TGA.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Skinstudio will convert the images for you. Save your image as a .png and when you import it into skinstudio it will get converted automatically as long as you have skinstudio set that way.

No need to mess with alpha channels. Work with .png's only.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Quentin94: You should not remove the .png extension when editing TGAs from SKS6.  Just save the file and then press the button in SKS to reimport all the images.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Skinstudio will convert the images for you. Save your image as a .png and when you import it into skinstudio it will get converted automatically as long as you have skinstudio set that way.

No need to mess with alpha channels. Work with .png's only.


Hummmm I'll have to try that.  :HOT: