Help with photoshop and alpha layers

[gnasr74]

I used to be able to make the icons easily but lately have had no luck ever since I started using CS4. I am going to go thru what I am doing step by step and please let me know what I am doing wrong. I will use the house icon as an example. I also attached a screen shot of the photoshop file.

1. first i open the house icon file select the background then the inverse so the house is only selected.

2. the i open a new file and create a background and paint bucket it black.

3. then i paste the house icon into the background as a new layer.

4. I then select the background once more and select the inverse so only the house is selected.

5. then i choose the channels tab and at the buttom I hit the save selection as channel button and a new alpha layer 1 shows up under the default channels with a black background and the house whited out.

Then i save it with the alpha layers checked and as a 24 bit, but it still doesn't work. Please help me what am I doing wrong.

Thanks

[andreasr]

I think you must save the BMP as a 32 bit file.

 

Andreasr

[abb1]

Yes, that is exactly what you are doing wrong. Alpha layers can only be present in 16-bit or 32-bit images. An alpha layer does NOT exist in 24-bit

[gnasr74]

i always thought that the avic doesn't work with 32 bit and the highest you can use is 24 bit. Is this only valid for the image.res bitmaps?

[abb1]

i always thought that the avic doesn't work with 32 bit and the highest you can use is 24 bit. Is this only valid for the image.res bitmaps?

That is incorrect, and no, it is not only valid for the image.res bmp's

[gnasr74]

i always thought that the avic doesn't work with 32 bit and the highest you can use is 24 bit. Is this only valid for the image.res bitmaps?

That is incorrect, and no, it is not only valid for the image.res bmp's

 

So it sounds like I need to save these images in 16 bit then. Does that mean that when i create bitmaps with alpha layers, they have to be saved in 16 bit. And when i create bitmaps without alpha layers then i should save them in 24 bit.

[abb1]

 

So it sounds like I need to save these images in 16 bit then. Does that mean that when i create bitmaps with alpha layers, they have to be saved in 16 bit. And when i create bitmaps without alpha layers then i should save them in 24 bit.

Images with layers = 32 bit

Images without layers = 24 bit

If in doubt, just look at what the Bit Depth is of the original object

[gnasr74]

 

So it sounds like I need to save these images in 16 bit then. Does that mean that when i create bitmaps with alpha layers, they have to be saved in 16 bit. And when i create bitmaps without alpha layers then i should save them in 24 bit.

Images with layers = 32 bit

Images without layers = 24 bit

If in doubt, just look at what the Bit Depth is of the original object

 

That is exactly what I was looking for. And this goes for both the data.zip and the images.res?

[abb1]

 

That is exactly what I was looking for. And this goes for both the data.zip and the images.res?

yes!

[gnasr74]

 

That is exactly what I was looking for. And this goes for both the data.zip and the images.res?

yes!

 

Thanks a lot, that cleared up a ton of confusion on my end.