Apply Alpha Mask in BYOND Discussion

ID:133440
 
Aug 25 2008, 2:00 pm
OK, so this alpha channel stuff is great, but it would be even more powerful if we could draw a greyscale mask and apply it to an icon state as that state's alpha layer. This would let people draw an rgb blob of color and use the alpha mask to essentially carve the shape out with transparency. It's a ton easier to separate these two when dealing with more than a few colors, and then just merge the mask with the color layer to produce a fully colored and anti-aliased image without Photoshop or fancy tools.

In order for this to work, though, something should be done about altering the alpha only in the icon editor, because right now, it also alters the rgb values. I'm not sure if that's intended behavior or not, but if it is, maybe calling the setting "alpha only" is a bit misleading. :/

Also, we really really need some palette control, even if it is only the first 256 colors. DM likes to fill up the palette with colors however it feels like, which isn't very easy to work with when you're trying to find one shade of green off from 10 shades of similar values. In 3.5, we could organize the colors so we knew where they were and could easily find the colors we needed. Now it changes the positions of the colors almost every time you alter an icon, this is very frustrating, and adds a lot of unnecessary hunting to an already arduous task.
#1 Aug 26 2008, 10:24 am
Whenever I draw using the alpha only feature, it changes the alpha only. Pasting, however, doesn't support that feature.
#2 Aug 26 2008, 3:14 pm
In response to Jtgibson (#1)
Really? Because I tested it by drawing a white line in the alpha-only and switched back to the rgb+alpha mode to see that the line didn't just change the transparency, but also altered the existing colors I drew over with white. I'll try it out again later when I get home. It would be most excellent if it does alter only the alpha, since I can pixel push out really awesome icons with full anti-aliasing and such.
#3 Aug 26 2008, 4:56 pm
In response to Xooxer (#2)
Altering the alpha technically does alter the color, since it causes it to be merged with the color under it...
#4 Aug 26 2008, 9:34 pm
In response to Jtgibson (#1)
Jtgibson wrote:
Whenever I draw using the alpha only feature, it changes the alpha only. Pasting, however, doesn't support that feature.

I wonder if that behavior in pasting would be considered a bug. Guess I'll find out whenever I get to working on Dream Maker next.

Lummox JR
#5 Aug 26 2008, 9:51 pm
In response to Xooxer (#2)
Xooxer wrote:
Really? Because I tested it by drawing a white line in the alpha-only and switched back to the rgb+alpha mode to see that the line didn't just change the transparency, but also altered the existing colors I drew over with white.

That shouldn't be the case- the idea behind the alpha editing is to allow you to change the transparency of the icon after the fact. I could swear I had that working, but that may have been years ago!

Anyway, we'll check it out (I am not in a position at the moment, but tommorow), and the pasting too.
#6 Aug 26 2008, 10:32 pm
In response to Xooxer (#2)
S'truth! I just tested it just so I would be sure I wasn't hallucinating the other times I did it.

Here's what I did:

Draw a yellow rectangle.
Switch to Alpha only. The display now appears black and white.
Click on red in the palette, full opacity.
Draw on the rectangle.
Switch to RGB + alpha. The display still appears as a yellow rectangle.
Switch back to Alpha only.
Click on purple in the palette, 153/255 opacity.
Draw on the white rectangle. It appears to get darker where I drew.
Click on RGB + alpha.
The rectangle is still completely yellow, but now has a faded part where the grey shows through.
#7 Aug 26 2008, 10:44 pm
In response to Jtgibson (#6)
So it is. I must have been in some other world. >.>
#8 Aug 26 2008, 11:39 pm
In response to Xooxer (#7)
HA HA I GET IT.
#9 Aug 27 2008, 5:33 pm
In response to Lummox JR (#4)
Do you mean how it adds both colors together like Blend() when you paste a selection with alpha on top of another color? I actually like that and use it to my advantage >_<.
#10 Aug 28 2008, 7:21 am
In response to Jeff8500 (#9)
He means in Dream Maker...
#11 Aug 28 2008, 6:12 pm
In response to Naokohiro (#10)
Which is what I mean, too. I used the Blend() proc to describe what it's like in a sense.
#12 Aug 29 2008, 6:33 am
In response to Jeff8500 (#11)
Oh, so you meant he should make it mimic the Blend proc.
#13 Aug 29 2008, 12:16 pm
In response to Naokohiro (#12)
No, it already does mimic the blend proc (if the blend proc had alpha support), and I would like it to stay that way (or at least keep the option to do it).
#14 Aug 29 2008, 3:51 pm
In response to Jeff8500 (#13)
Jeff8500 wrote:
No, it already does mimic the blend proc (if the blend proc had alpha support), and I would like it to stay that way (or at least keep the option to do it).

It should not mimic the blend process when the "Alpha Only" option is selected.
#15 Aug 29 2008, 5:39 pm
In response to DarkCampainger (#14)
Uh... this has nothing to do with the topic. You're all way off base. :P Lummox JR was referring to pasting an alpha image into the icon editor in alpha-only mode, nothing to do with pasting over icons with alpha transparencies or the Blend() proc, which I must point out to you all dose not support semi-transparent blending, only full opacity or mask blending.
#16 Aug 29 2008, 5:56 pm
In response to Xooxer (#15)
Oops, haha. I was just saying it was like the Blend() proc by the way (if it supported alpha), and not talking directly about the Blend() proc.