Issues editing DDS file

[Doon1]

I've been using Paint for quite some time but never for anything like this.

I have a dds file that has a hidden layer (alpha?). I am trying to edit the layer I can see without changing the hidden layer. Is there a way to display these two layers separately so that I may do this with Paint?

Thanks .

John 

[toe_head2001]

Modifications only happen to the layer that is currently selected. So, just don't select your other layer, and you should be fine.

[Doon1]

The issue is that the other (background) layer is hidden. It doesn't show up as a layer but if I save the file in the wrong format it saves with both "layers" showing. Any editing I do to the layer I can see affects the hidden layer. 

[toe_head2001]

Oh, I see now.  I think you are confusing Layers with RGBA Values.

 

The first three are colors: Red, Green, Blue.

The fourth is Alpha.

 

99.9% of the time, the Alpha value is for opacity, but in some cases (like with your game) the Alpha value is used for other things.

 

So, your question really is: How can you make edits while ensuring the Alpha values don't change?

 

I'm not sure. Let's see what other people have to say...

[BoltBait]

If you have my plugin pack installed, you can do it this way:

 

Open the graphic

Select all, copy

Make your edits

Effects > Object > Paste alpha (clipboard alpha)

 

Now you have applied your original alpha to your new image. 

[Doon1]

Hello and thank you for sharing your input. Your method did the exact opposite of what I am trying to do. Which is a step in the right direction in my book. 

Let me try to better explain what I'm attempting because reading what I originally wrote  looks a little unclear.

I'm working on making the writing that is on panels and buttons in a cockpit more visible in VR. So I'm enlarging the font and cleaning up the lettering. When it is dark (night) in the game this lettering will illuminate (green) so it can be seen in the dark. 

When I open the dds file it displays as the checkerboard (translucent?) with the lettering described above visible. The panels that the lettering are on is in the dds file but I can not see them as they are hidden from view for some reason. So if I erase a letter to replace it, I am also erasing the underlying graphics of the panel. 

I also tried a variation of what you suggested by copying the translucent (alpha?) to another file. Then did a select all > delete on the original file. Then select all > copy on the second file and then do the Effects > Object > Paste alpha (clipboard alpha) onto the original file. This moved the alpha back to the original file. When I fired up the game all the lettering was there but panel graphics were gone.

I thinking what I need to do is be able to lift off the alpha from the underlying graphics like I did in the variation. Then be able to just delete the alpha from the original file. Then edit the second file and re-apply it to the first one. 

Wow. this was long. I hope I didn't make it more confusing. 

Thanks again for your time. I'm going to play with this to see if I can figure anything out.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1 hour ago, Doon1 said:

The panels that the lettering are on is in the dds file but I can not see them as they are hidden from view for some reason. So if I erase a letter to replace it, I am also erasing the underlying graphics of the panel. 

 

Sounds like the panels are not part of the same DDS file. Can you confirm part of the panel is removed or was that speculation?

[Doon1]

They are. When I save in the BC6H format the underlying graphics are visible. unfortunately the whole panel illuminates at night in  game instead of just the lettering when I save in this format. 

I think I'm getting closer now. I did the select all > copy. Then made a new image and did the Effects > Object > Paste alpha into the new image. The I removed some of the lettering from the new image. Then did select all > copy of the new image. Then did the Effects > Object > Paste alpha into the original file. All seemed well. So I saved the original image in both the BC6H and BC7H formats. All looked right in the BC7H save but the BC6H save shows all the element of the image. The letters that I removed in the new image are still in the BC6H image so they must also be part of the underlying graphics and the alpha layer is just there for the lighting effect. 

So I will have to edit the graphics layer as well as the alpha layer independent of each other, yet the edit has to be identical. Lets see if I can figure this one out. My brain's starting to hurt.

Should it be possible to save the original file in a format that the alpha layer isn't recognized? Then I could edit the graphic file. Add all the lettering in a new layer, flatten the new layer into the original graphics and also use it as an alpha layer?

Edited December 27, 2019 by Doon1