Posted by Frank DaCosta on June 28, 2001 at 06:04:17:If you are a DesignWorkshop Windows user and you want to create textures with transparency, that transparency information is kept in the alpha channel of a 32-bit-per-pixel PICT file.
You may have found it difficult (as I did) to find an inexpensive Windows tool that creates PICTs with an alpha channel. PaintShop Pro, for instance, can read 32-bit PICTs (they give PICTs a .PCT extension), but they only save to a 24-bit PICT, losing the alpha channel.
I have authored a small Windows application named DePict. It takes a 24-bit .BMP file and converts it to a 32-bit PICT file. It lets you select a single color of that .BMP file to be the "transparency color", and sets the alpha channel to "transparent" for any pixel with that color.
If anyone needs this application, drop me an email and I'll send it to you.
I have used it to create some interesting texture effects. For instance, I create a door with glass of some color, then spray-paint the glass with random black pixels. I save the file as a BMP, then run DePict to create a PICT file from it, choosing black as the transparency color. The resultant PICT, as a texture, looks something like translucent glass.