Moho Forum

how can I import a matte or alpha channel...into moho....can I save it as a targe with the matte???

thanks

You can save images with an alpha channel as PNG and import them into Moho. Works like a charm. You can't import just the alpha channel - for something like this you need a pixel-based compositing program like After Effects.

Or import it as a simple black and white image and use it as a mask. I think Myles posted a good masking tutorial recently, look it up.

has png mask the same quality alpha has?
i always have thought about this. my png images never are so good as they are in photoshop (or corel photopaint).

selgin wrote:has png mask the same quality alpha has?

Yes. Same principle, same quality (but see below)

selgin wrote:i always have thought about this. my png images never are so good as they are in photoshop (or corel photopaint).

PNG should be the same as in Photoshop, assuming you are using 32-bit PNG (or 24-bit with 8-bit alpha). GIF and JPEG both lose quality.

A frequent problem is that alpha comes in 2 variations - standard and pre-multiplied.
Some programs only export in one variation. Some programs expect input in only one variation.
This can give a dark edge if the 2 programs don't match in the variation they use.

The best explanation I've seen for the problem is shown on this page.

However, PNG only uses standard alpha for better compositing - I'm not sure about the latest Photoshop, but earlier versions also only supported standard alpha, so there shouldn't be a difference.

Another problem to watch out for in PNG is the ability to export to an 8-bit (256-colour) version PNG. Otherwise, PNG quality should be the same as Photoshop quality.

The only other reason (that I can think of) for work in Photoshop working images to look worse when exported to PNG would be if you are working in 16-bit display mode and Photoshop is using a different on-screen dithering technique to your image viewing program.

Regards, Myles.

Here's the easiest way to work with Photoshop and Moho. I whipped up a little export script for Photoshop that generates a PNG file for each layer, and a .moho file to tie them all together. You can get it here:

http://www.lostmarble.com/downloads/Exp ... 20Moho.jsx

Put the file in Photoshop's .../Presets/Scripts folder, and you'll see a new "Export to Moho" command in the file menu. Run the script and you'll get a new Moho file ready to use.

Here's a tip: if you create a layer group in Photoshop that has several layers in it, but only one layer is visible, that group will be exported to Moho as a switch layer.

Enjoy!

wow.
LM you are great!
i think you should put this script in the page.

LM:
does this script work with photoshop 7.0?
maybe i'm doing something wrong. well, first, i don't found the folder you said (my photoshop is in spanish, could be beacuse of this?)
however, i put the script in all the folders of photoshop.
was a giant work (around 5 minutes). but this didn't work either.

what can i do?
i'm sad, the script look so great...

Selgin,

Adobe added a really cool scripting ability to photoshop. It is based on Javascript I believe.

This is for Photoshop CS only... I am not sure which version of CS scripting was implemented.

I haven't updated photoshop yet either (v7) but I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Sorry you wasted so much time... I was going to post about the version issue sooner... but figured everyone knew already.

-vern

Hi all,
Just downloaded the scrip file. I have PScs2. Placed text file in Adobe Photoshop CS2-Presets-Scripts-(it appears as text document 14 KB) all the other scripts appear as Adobe JavaScrip file)
Sooo, I'm lost, stumped, confused ah, help!

If you downloaded the script windows may have changed the extension.

Make sure it has the same extension as the other scripts (.jsx).

Since I don't have PScs I can't really test it... but... that sounds like it might be something to check...


p.s. What the heck does "CS" stand for anyway?

Corporate Stooge?
Can't Sing?
Counter Strike?
Christian Science?
Clive Staples?



-vern

Creative Suite creative,eh?
Vern, I tried to change extensions and it doesn't work.
This scripting looks like what I would love in my workflow but how in **** do I get it to work.
Tried to e-mail support but got it bounced back!
Now I'm like a kid at a candyshop window with no money!

Ingie01,

Do any of the PScs scripts work? I think there should be scripts that came with Photoshop CS... do those work?

There are some scripts out there on the web that others have created... maybe try some others to see if it works at all.

Maybe the file got zapped on the download... or it got... edited in someway to make it not work.

Maybe your PS install got messed up.

Unless we hear from someone who did get it this script to work... I don't know. I would think LM would have tested it.

-vern

yep, all other scrips work as they should. Photoshop is not recognizing the download. Go the the link as posted by blue marble, when clicked what comes up is text, it is in the html format. I put this in the correct folder and the app does not recognize it. What am I missing here. I even tried to put it into adobe extend script toolkit. It appears as "export layers to moho_jsx.htm*" As Sergent Shultz said "I know nossing!" I don't know the toolkit app enough to do any thing with it.
It appears that it should do something with the file.......

ingie01 wrote:... It appears as "export layers to moho_jsx.htm*"...
It appears that it should do something with the file.......

The file should have the .jsx extension... not htm!

If you click on the script in the post here on the forum it loads into a browser window. If you just save this text... I think windows might tag the wrong extension... after the .jsx.

We have the exact same problem on the Animation:Master forum. A:M files are text with different extensions ... if people save these from a link Windows tags them as text and sometimes they don't load properly.

Or if you edit them in a text editor and save... Windows sticks .txt on the end.

I may have misunderstood your post so forgive me if this is not the problem. Look at the file and make sure it ends with .jsx (dot jay ess exx) and doesn't have any other "dots" in it... just in case Photoshop chokes on that.

-vern