BMP to TGA

Want to update old wb skins to wb5

from WinCustomize Forums
Hi All,

I think I understand how to achieve translucent taskbar,start panel etc under wb5 (using SkinStudio). However, I do not know how to take a bitmap and make a TGA
formatted graphic that will work properly with wb5. I have read Adam,s articles on this subject and even tried using his converter, but there is
no real effect. I also understand that there has to be an alpha channel, but I am not sure what should be in there. Should it just be a transparent
mask or what.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
9,006 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
SkS can't convert BMP to TGA. BMP has no alpha channel. PNG is what you want to use. SkS converts transluncent PNG's to TGA perfectly.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks for that. Do you mind giving a simple run down of how I
make a translucent PNG from the BMP image. Many thanks.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
There's no easy answer to that. A lot depends on the original image, what program you're using, how you intend to use the image, etc... and in my experience, the final product isn't going to look very good.

Why not start over, and create the PNG from scratch, on a transparent background?

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you can try a program called "Irfanview", but you wont get the fully transparent effect (at least i dont think so)
you cen get irfanview here:
http://www.irfanview.com/
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the alpha chanel works by useing a gray scale to control the amount of transparency with white being solid and black being transparent. the best way to create a tga from a bmp is to use a program like photoshop or something like it. i have used photoshop for a while and can say i have no need for any other program and if you do a lot of work with digital images its worth the investment.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Create the .bmp. Then open a new image, size it for the .bmp, add transparent alpha channel,copy and paste the .bmp into another layer, either save as .png or export as .tga. Right? At least the exporting is working for me...