Hidden colour in PS CS4

#1

If I render (with Maya) an image as a tif with an alpha, then open it in PS CS4, it will display the alpha as transparency instead of a channel.

The transparent area still has colour data I want to use, but I don’t know how to access it in PS. I know the colour is there because when I open the image in xnview, or another app capable of showing tifs/alphas/transparency I can choose whether the transparency is shown, or the colour.

How do I, or can I, access this hidden colour information?

(I can open the image in Xnview, then save it as a tif r6, open it with PS CS4 and it works fine, colour’s there and alpha)

Here’s a link to an image from the sequence - have a try, open it in a decent viewer that supports alphas so you can see both the colour or the transparency, then see if you can get that colour to show in CS4 :slight_smile:

#2

Open the image in the Maya FCheck viewer and from there re-save it, again as a .tif

When you load the new .tif, it works.

#3

Added: I’m near certain that your “slightly broken” .tif, is breaking upon import when Photoshop loads it. Meaning that unless you can adjust the way Photoshop is handling the file before it loads it, that you will loose the color information (aka it’s not hidden at this point, it’s actually gone because of the way Photoshop handled the file), and will also loose the alpha channel upon opening and you won’t be able to get it back at that point. Maya’s Fcheck can load and re-save multiple images, just go that route.

#4

Thanks. Yes, I can do that from within fcheck, it’s almost an identical process as I described but using Xnview. In fact, I can batch process whole sequences using Xnview which is what I have done.

I think maybe my question wasn’t as clear as it could be:

How do I, if at all possible, access this hidden colour information in PS CS4?

#5

Ah, I see what you’re saying (Wrote my reply before I saw your second post). So the tif file is somehow corrupt? I have a few sequences of these, and the same with PNGs output via Maya 8.5 and Maya 10

If you’re right, then it would seem that Maya is generating bad files.

I mainly wanted to know if there was something I was not doing in PS that could salvage the colour information that is obviously present.

#6

I wouldn’t say it’s corrupt per say, but that without re-saving it, Photoshop doesn’t know what to do with it properly.

For example if you load the file in Photoshop and then save it out again, you destroy the image. Which leads me to believe that Photoshop is destroying the file while it opens it. Also, if you look at your preview icon in the layer editor, you can see that there are no pixels where there should be pixels, which means they are gone.

I could be wrong, but I’m close to sure, hows that.

#7

You’re making the gods of Latin weep ;_;

CurtJ, I took a look at your file and I don’t think there is any way to salvage information from it. I’ve never seen this before and can only imagine there’s a weird issue with the tif itself, which Photoshop is then handling weirdly. Perhaps there is something dodgy happening in the file’s writing. Does this happen with other bit depths?

#8

CurtJ, i’m not sure i understand what you want to do…

…so please take a look at this file and tell me if that’s the outcome you’re looking for
http://www.box.net/shared/pd3nbjbld9

cheers

#9

@Leigh
Yes, this has happened with quite a few files almost without fail, previously, when writing PNGs. This was back when I used Maya8.5, generating 8 Bit images. I’ve not tried to replicate it using Maya2010 or increasing the bit depth. I’ll have a go at it next chance. Thanks for your input.

@Jettatore
I reckon you’re right about PS destroying the data when it imports the file - makes sense if there’s something wrong with it. PS is a cruel master :slight_smile:

@Arek
I’m not sure I understand what you don’t understand, but that’s ok. I’m not actually trying to acheive an outcome for a specific image, more for a specific recurring problem, as explained earlier. Thanks for taking the time to download and assess my demo image. If you did that in PS CS4 then I’d love to know how you did it!

#10

first i simply converted the image to TGA and it all works just fine in PS. including the alpha channel

if you don’t have this application, get it
http://djv.sourceforge.net/

it will help you quite a lot if you work often with rendered images. it’s awesome for sequence playback and other things as well

edit

couldn’t resist :arteest:

#11

Thanks Arek. As I was saying, I have no problem converting the file into a working one with software other than PS, but no worries, the paint job makes up for everything. Very raggare. :wink:

DJV feels like a nice lightweight sequence viewer - thanks for the link.

#12

hehe, you made me smile…i guess it is a bit raggare style

anyway, good luck with your work :slight_smile:

#13

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