Transparency when saving to TGA

Is there any way to save or set transparency when saving to a tga file?

Example: import a photo, draw a shape on it, select both shape and photo, subtract shape, gives me a hole in the photo. Save as tga. Import the tga file back into Xara, the hole is white. I want it transparent.

This is easy with a png file, but I want to be able to do it with a tga file.

Reason for this: I want to modify a tga file that comes with Magix Movie Edit Pro/VPX and replace it. When the effect is used in the video editor, the image has transparency for part of it and I see the underlying video in the hole.

Thanks

TGA files do not support transparency in the same way ['natively'] as PNG - to get transparency in a TGaAfile you need to create an alpha channel using a mask - xara does not support channel editing so I doubt it can be done in xara

photoshop yes

Thanks for the reply. Disappointing.

I can do it and did it in PaintShop Pro, but I find anything to do with drawing in that program very difficult to comprehend. By comparison, Xara is quick and simple.

affinity photo does channels but I have never tried this sort of thing with it, I dont know if you would be able to manipulate the alpha channels with masking

yes it can be done in affinity photo - need to make a spare channel from your mask selection... [ie pixel selction]

check to see if this TGA has transparency where the window glass would be - zipped cos forum does not upload TGA

Attachment 125279

note you won't see this in xara it will look black - you will need to do it in a program that recognises the channel masking affinity/photoship/paintshop pro ....

not difficult, the issue whichever way you do it is to get the selection/masking right [mine is a bit rough and ready] and pay attention to antialiasing, ie if necesary save with a layer underneath coloured appropriately

Why not PNG True Color + Alpha. It is Xara's native file format.

Thanks for this.

The image worked fine in the video editor with the background video showing up in the window glass area.

I don't have Affinity, only PaintShop Pro. A couple of us on the Magix forum have been trying to adjust an image using PSP to get the effect that we want. I'm struggling to learn the nuances of PSP, in particular the alpha transparency (and drawing more than a line).

@Gary because its for video and that program uses TGA it's the industry standard - and the compression in PNG can cause issues with video, even though static wise it is lossless

actually it looks as if there is more work to be done on the TGA I posted, it may only look transparent in affinity, sorry

personally I wouls stick to PS....

ah good glad it worked in your program, just had a moment of doubt because it did not open correctly in CS2 PS, but that is old - I'll check in CC PS

which version of PSP are you using - the current version [2020] is a shadow of it's former self in the days before Jasc sold it to corel.. did you use channels [ I don't think the current version has channels] if not I'd be interested to know how you did it

Why not just use Paint.net?

It is free, simple and fast to use for something like that and I use it myself if I need to quickly make masks for textures. If you prefer working in Xara you could also save to PNG from Xara as was suggested, load it to Paint.net and just save to TGA to have your transparent TGA image.

Gary,
I missed your message as I was posting at about the same time.

The reason for the tga is to be able to replace the original tga with a modified one. Then in Movie Edit Pro, apply the template to a video or image and the tga has the transparent part landscape instead of portrait. It is very simple to do in Xara exporting as a png with alpha transparency, but we just wanted to modify part of the effect. I did another one with a green screen object where I wanted the transparency and then just clicked on Chromakey green in MEP, but, this adds a step to the effect.

Of course, we could just recompile the effect with a new name, which we'll probably do anyways.

All,
Here is a link to the message on the Magix MEP forum with a link to a video showing how to do it in PSP.

You can follow the thread.

I just upgraded to PSP2020 Ultimate by way of the excellent offer of PSP2020U, PhotoMirage (full version), Painter 2019, and PinnacleStudio 23U in a HumbleBundle. $25US for the whole thing, if anyone is interested; 7 days left. I wasn't going to upgrade PSP or Pinnacle, but the price was right.

As Paint.net, that would just add another level of complexity to my tired old brain. I will try importing the green screen png into PSP and creating an alpha mask using the green as a selection.

After some modifications in PSP, here is the result in Movie Edit Pro. It's not perfect. The dashed line shows the extremity of the background image that shows up in the transparent part of the foreground tga. Unfortunately, we have to recompile the effect anyways (with a new name) as the background image comes in at the wrong size and shape. Thus, we could use a png with alpha transparency or green screen done in Xara. This was an interesting exercise; I'll file this away for the next time.

Attachment 125281

thanks for the link John

in principle, allowing for UI differences, thats how I'd do it in PS [and affinity] but... it does not appear that PSP allows you to see the channels themselves ?

and talking of UI - that PSPX9 looks nothing like how I remember the new PSP2020 from when I got a quick look a while back...

Below is a screen shot of PSP2020 showing the alpha channel turned on - you can see the dashed line in the main window around the transparent checkerboard part, and the interface for loading/saving an alpha channel in the box at the lower right.

Attachment 125285

Note also the 2020 interface. Compared to PSPX9, there's not a lot of difference, but 2020 has a few more top menu items; Enhance photo and Palettes were moved up from the toolbar area, User Interface was added as far as I can tell. There have been many changes since X9 and there are long lists of changes on the PSP forum.

There are also 2 other interface workspace views - Photography and Essentials. What you see above is Complete.

Photography: this is a touch-friendly workspace
Attachment 125286

Essentials:
Attachment 125287

While I'm at it and as a follow along to another thread about using an external bitmap program, I use PSP as my external bitmap editor for Xara. Upon exiting PSP after making changes and saving, the image in Xara is automatically updated.

thanks again - I'm a bit of a junkie for this stuff - looks like I only saw the photography interface need to dig deeper if I get the chance...

I see the alpha mask [channel] dialog box - my query was whether you can access the red green blue channels.. in your screen shot [and the video] the program is set to layer not channel[s]

still I can look at that in due course now I know there is more to see - also youe are using the 'ultimate' version, not necessarily the one i saw...

Under Image, there is a selection to Split Channel and 3 choices: Split to RGB, Split to HSL, and Split to CMYK. Is this what you mean?
Splitting to RGB creates 3 tabs, one for each channel.

The Ultimate version is just PaintShop Pro + a bonus collection of software. There is nothing different in the program if you get Ultimate.

ok thanks again - when I get a chance to look again, because it is not installed on my computer, ~I will check this out

the split does sound like what I was looking for...