when i use photoshop to make sprites for a game i always use the ugly magenta color as the color that should be transparent in the game. i paint the pic and then use the bucket to fill the rest with magenta. but the bucket affects the borders of my sprite :/ they will blend with the magenta and lose the original color. my question is now: how can i make half transparent borders of a sprite? because when i use a layer over a magenta background and then paint a half transparent border of the sprite i will always get this (assuming i have a gray object) gray-magenta bordered object in my game. i dont know if this is a graphics issue or more a programming issue but someone will know... thx BiGF00T

If your game doesn''t support an alpha layer, then you''re screwed if you want to do fading transparent edges.

I''m not exactly sure what you are trying to accomplish here. Do you WANT your sprites to have blended edges? If so, you can''t do this if your engine doesn''t support, say, PNGs with an alpha layer.

However, if all you are trying to do is get sprites with a perfect magenta background so you can do standard one-level transparency -- Well, the fastest way I''ve found is to put my sprite against a black background (or whatever color you want the edges to matte into). Then, merge the layers into one and do a paint fill in the black border areas using zero tolerance and turn off antialiasing. You might have to fill in parts that get isolated.

---
- 2D/Pixel Artist - 3D Artist - Game Programmer - Ulfr Fenris
[[ Gaping Wolf Software ]] [[ GameGenesis Forums ]]

When using the paint bucket to fill large areas, turn off antialiasing if you just want a transparent background w/ no edge blending.

Otherwise, do what FenrirWolf is saying, and use .PNGS if you want blended edges, and do NOT blend into 255,255,0, blend into a color that''s similar to your background color (or the same as the border color on your sprites) and use an alpha channel to control the transparency/translucency.

Do a search on Google, there are many tutorials that explain how to do this.

And, as always, RTFM - unless of course you''re using pirated software, in which case, go away.

-Nick "digisoap" Robalik
Web & Print Design, 2D & 3D Illustration and Animation, Game Design
http://www.digital-soapbox.com
nick@digital-soabox.com

Sounds like you've got anti-aliasing problems...

When you use the paint bucket tool make sure you've unchecked the "Anti-Aliased" box in the top bar, and also make sure that "Contiguous" remaines checked. If you don't uncheck that box, photoshop thinks it's making you picture look nicer by blending colours in the adjacent pixels to a mid-tone, which plays havok when you try to use the sprites in a game.

*edit* heh, never mind..Digisoap beat me to it..I type too slow

[edited by - nvision on June 3, 2004 5:36:12 PM]