In this tutorial, you will learn how to add an alpha channel to your sculpt map to protect it from theft by screenshot and how to add a watermark to the alpha channel to let people easily tell that you made it.
A Thief! A Thief!
Many people don’t like to include modify permissions on their merchandise to protect themselves against theft, however, there is a way to protect your sculpties from theft and STILL include modify permissions.
The easiest way to steal an object’s sculpt map is the screenshot method. The thief opens up the edit window, clicks on the sculpt map, and then takes a screenshot. He’s then free to crop the sculpt map from the screenshot and re-upload it into Second Life.
However, there’s a cure.
The Theory
Any builders will probably be familiar with Alpha Channels in Second Life. If you’ve ever seen a wall texture with window cut out of the middle, this is done with an Alpha Channel. Second Life textures can use alpha channels to add transparency to an image – but the transparent parts can still retain their RGB values! So in theory, you can create a completely transparent sculpt map that still has the RBG data necessary to form your sculptie.
Only in theory?
Well … it really depends on your image editing software and the file format you choose to save in. In my experience, only Photoshop and GIMP can do EXACTLY this. Other applications can get close enough, though.
Application-Specific Guides
After trying to help my sister reproduce alpha channels in Paint Shop Pro and Gimp, I’ve come to the conclusion that every image editor does this so differently that I need to create a guide for each one.
Photoshop
Photoshop Elements
PaintShop Pro
The GIMP
Watermarking
You’ve probably seen sculpt maps that have a logo or other watermark cut into the map image. I’ll show you at least one method to do this in each application. To make this process easier, I have a 64 x 64 black and white version of my logo (without the text) that I use specifically to watermark sculpt maps. I’d recommend that you make one for yourself, as you can use this directly as an alpha channel, or to select an area to cut out of layer.
Alpha in Photoshop
To add alpha protection to your sculpt map in Photoshop, you have to use either the TGA or PNG file formats. How you add the protection depends on which file format you decide to use.
TGA Format
The TGA format in Photoshop is the most direct and (in my opinion) easiest method for adding an alpha channel to a sculpt map.
All we have to do is go into the channels menu (shown left) and hit the “New Channel” button on the bottom of the menu. (It looks exactly like the New Layer button in the layers menu.)
By default, Photoshop will make a solid black alpha channel. This will make your image completely transparent, which is fine. I, however, chose to paste a black and white version of my logo into the channel so it will show up on the sculpt map when I upload it to SL.
Now save the file as TGA. Photoshop will bring up a dialog, asking you a few things. Just make sure that it’s set to 32bit. Nothing else matters. Save and upload into Second Life.
PNG Format
As much as I prefer TGA alpha channels, there are people who swear by PNG format because.. well, you can see the transparency directly on the image, rather than having to interpret the alpha channel.
But NOTE to png users. In order to make the file size smaller, Photoshop does NOT save RGB values for completely transparent pixels in a PNG image. So if you use PNG, all of your pixels have to be at least slightly visible.
In the Layers menu, make the background layer into a normal layer. This can be done by double-clicking the background and hitting “OK” on the dialog that comes up.
Now change the opacity of the layer to 1% or higher. This will still keep your sculpt map from being stolen while forcing Photoshop to save the RGB information to the sculpt map image.
In order to get my logo on this one, I created a duplicate of the sculpt map layer, turned the opacity up to 100%, then cut my logo out of that top layer. Then hit CTRL-E to merge the two layers
Save as PNG with no interlace and upload to Second Life.
Alpha in Photoshop Elements
To add alpha protection to your sculpt map in Photoshop Elements, you have to use the PNG file format.
In the Layers menu, make the background layer into a normal layer. This can be done by double-clicking the background and hitting “OK” on the dialog that comes up.
In order to make the file size smaller, Photoshop does not save RGB values for completely transparent pixels in a PNG image. In order to retain the RGB data, all ot the pixels need to be at least slightly visible.
So change the opacity of the layer to about 1% – NOT 0%. This will still keep your sculpt map from being stolen while forcing Photoshop to save the RGB information to the sculpt map image.
In order to add my logo watermark, I created a duplicate of the sculpt map layer, turned the opacity up to 100%, then cut my logo out of that top layer. Then hit CTRL-E to merge the two layers.
Save as PNG with no interlace and upload to Second Life.
Alpha in PaintShop Pro
To add alpha protection to your sculpt map in Paint Shop Pro, you can use either PNG or TGA. How you do this is dependant on which file format you choose.
PNG Format
Open your sculpt map, then find the Layers palette on the right. Near the top, there’s an opacity slider for your background layer. PhotoShop will not save the RBG data for completely transparent pixels, so slide the opacity down to 2 (NOT 0!). (When you do this, your background layer will be changed to “Raster 1″ or something similar.)
You can leave the file as is now, or you can add a watermark. Duplicate the sculptmap layer, switch it to 100% opacity and cut out your logo or text.
Now re-save your sculpt map in PNG format. Upload into Second Life.
TGA Format
Typically, in Photoshop, I like working with TGA alpha channels, just because you can retain all the color information in your image, even when pixels are completely transparent. The problem is that, in PSP, I have yet to find an easy way of viewing the alpha channel once one has been created, which makes things frustrating.
However, if you’d still like to use the TGA file format, here’s how.
Open your sculpt map. In order for this method to work, you need to select at least one pixel in your image. Do this however you want. The area you select will be visible in SL, so don’t select everything. A neat idea would be to select an area shaped like your logo.
Next, go to the top menu and click on Selections > Load/Save Selection > Save Selection to Alpha Channel. PSP will give you a dialog, but the default settings should be fine. Hit Save.
Now go to File > Save As and save the sculpt map in TrueVision Targe (TGA) format. You may get a warning about only saving one alpha channel. Click Okay.
Now upload the sculpt map into Second Life. Part of the sculpt map will still be visible (the area you selected), but it won’t be enough information for anyone to steal your sculpt by the screenshot method.
Alpha in The GIMP
To add alpha protection to your sculpt map in GIMP, you can use the TGA or PNG formats. Both formats work nearly the same.
PNG and TGA Formats
Open you sculpt map in Gimp, then open the Layers and Channels dialogs by going to the image menu and selecting Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Layers and Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Channels.
Now select Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask. You’ll get a dialog that asks what you want the layer mask to look like. For now, tell it to give you a completely black mask. Hit Add. Now you’re layers dialog will look something like the image on the left
This new mask is completely black, which will make our sculpt map completely transparent. If you’d like, you can use this mask as-is, but I’ll run you through an optional step to add a watermark to the sculpt map.
Open up your logo or watermark file, select it (CTRL-A) and copy it (CTRL-C). Now in your layers dialog select the layer mask (NOT the layer itself!) and paste your logo (CTRL-V).
At this point, you will see the watermark on the sculpt map in the image window, but the selection will still be ‘floating’ in the layer dialog.
Right-click on this floating selection and select “Anchor Layer”. This will de-float the selection, and you should see your watermark as the layer’s mask.
Finally, right click the layer mask and select “Apply Layer Mask.” Your layer mask will disappear from the layer dialog, and be added as a fourth channel called Alpha, which you will see in the channels dialog.
Now you’re ready to save your sculpt map as either a TGA or a PNG file. Oddly enough, this is the only step that’s different for the two file types.
For TGA files, you only have to save the image. It will bring up a small dialog, but it doesn’t matter whether or not you use RLE compression, as SL will re-compress the image anyway.
For PNG files, you’ll be presented with a larger dialog. There are two options that you should pay attention to.
Find “Save Background Color” and un-check it.
Find “Save color values from transparent pixels.” This is usually checked by default, but just make sure that it is.
The rest of the default values should work fine. Press Save.
You’re finished! Upload your protected sculpt map into Second Life.
[...] Hier gibts ein Mini-Tut dazu: Add Alpha Protection to Sculpt Maps Sculpt Blender [...]
doesn’t work. are alpha channels really that difficult. can’t someone make an easy tutorial that works?
thx
I went through all of these myself, so I know they do work. What program are you using, and what, specifically, are you having trouble with?
Wow, this was SO incredibly helpful as I’m using Elements and not much SL help is out there for it. However, I was hoping to find layered protection for textures
I want to be able to make my prim skirts modifiable but uncopiable by screen shot. I played with all the layers, but the way SL reads the alpha layers in textures vs sculpt mapping just makes adding logo protection like this impossible. Hopefully, I’ll stumble across a way to make it possible soon! THANKS for a great tutorial! I needed just a wee bit more guidance in making the logo, but overall, this is very helpful.
Yeah. You won’t be able to use alpha protection for regular surface textures. For me, I just trust that 99% of people who buy my products aren’t out to steal from me. In fact, a fair number of my regular customers have informed me whenever they saw anything that they thought was stolen.
The BEST way to prevent theft is not any technical method, but rather by developing strong customer loyalty. Provide good customer support, be nice and understanding, even with people that you think are being silly, and try to give your customers the best work that you can offer.
A even easyer way in photoshop is set the Fill to 1%.
You can duplicate that layer and cut out a logo or some text from the layer and set that layer to 100% Fill.
Yeah. That’s the PNG method that I explained. In the tutorial. *points* I just prefer the TGA method because for me it’s one step instead of three.
[...] http://robynhuffaker.com/sculptblender/2010/03/25/alpha-protection/ [...]
[...] Protecting your Sculptmaps with a Transparency. Posted on September 10, 2010 by Sandry Need to make a protect a sculptmap? Wondering how to make it transparent or water mark it? Try this: http://robynhuffaker.com/sculptblender/2010/03/25/alpha-protection/ [...]
Man you rock your description is the only one that has made sence tysm you are the best. you have saved me 2550L in sl. as gonna buy the hanko program but they don’t support viewer 2 and that is all I use. I can’t thank you enough. Do you take donations in sl please let me knowcause i owe you a big one . you’ve made my year.
Hugs for that hope you have a awesome year your self love and i can’t say ty enough.
Heya. I’m glad that you found the tutorials useful. I don’t have any tip points or anything like that in world. There is the donation button on this site, but if you’d rather do a $L transaction, I guess you could just do a search for me in world and make a direct payment.
This doesn’t work. In gimp it says TGA plugin doesn’t handle layers.
Waist of time
Don’t be so quick to judge something as a waste of time when you don’t bother to do any digging. TGA doesn’t handle layers, sure, which means you have to merge your layers. When you save your image it should ask you to either Flatten the Image or Merge Visible Layers. Then you click “Export”.
That isn’t difficult.
I have got the non-watermarked version of this tutorial for .tga to work in GIMP without a hitch. And actually I always have “Merge Visible Layers” selected. When I tried it with “Flatten Image” and the alpha it does not work so use the Merge Visible Layers option!
However, I am having issues getting the watermark version of this to work. Again I am using GIMP, but when I do the same steps you have mentioned above upon upload into SL the sculpt is messed up (seems to be only showing the watermarked portions of the alpha that show). I followed your steps exactly as written. I created a black and white version of my logo in 64×64 to use as my watermark. Then in GIMP just as I had done before – added a layer mask to the sculpt map image, copied my watermark to the added layer mask, anchored the watermark onto the layer mask, then finally applied the layer mask to the sculpt map image. It appears as if I did it correctly as compared to your samples and then the other sculpts I own that are protected thusly but when uploaded the sculpt is a frightful mess. I tried several times and even tried to “Flatten Image on the .tga I was saving just to see if that made a difference – that was worse. Anyhow it is not working. Is there another step missing for GIMP when adding the watermark??
I’ve been having some trouble with alpha channels with Gimp lately, making me think they’ve changed the program a bit since I wrote this tutorial. I’ll try try walking through this in GIMP again and see if I can figure out what’s been changed and how to fix it.
I have been using Corel Photo paint as it has an option to load a mask that can be any image, but will go on as a grayscale. I tried using PNG but lost the transparent color info and presumed that it was using 24 bit instead of 32 bit that tga uses. On examination the PNG establishes a single color (you can choose which one) and calls that as transparent, If that color is on the image it will appear transparent even if it was not a part of the mask, and also anti-alias bits will show up as a line or halo around the image- not a good thing unless it is close to the color of what it is around.
I have not seen a way to do real 32bit Pngs and did not know it was possible, I will have to look deeper.
This really has nothing to do with the bit rate of the png file. With TGA, 24 or 32 bit determines whether or not there will be an alpha channel at all. Not whether color data will be saved. The difference is in the actual formatting of the image.
PNG files are most often used in web and game design. People who use the format are usually trying to get the lowest possible file-size to conserve space and speed up load time. One way to do this is to erase all of the color information where it isn’t needed, and in most cases, transparent pixels don’t need color information.
In order to store color information in a PNG file, you need to find some way to override this default function. Some programs, like GIMP, have this option in a menu. With other programs like PSP and Photoshop, you have to fool the program into thinking that the color information is needed by making those pixels slightly visible.
Great tutorials, everything working for me.
BIG thanks!
I am pretty good with photoshop and I honestly cannot get any of these to work. Maybe I need more detailed explanation or images for tutorial maybe not showing something important? I am using ps7. I have been trying for ages to make my maps show a logo instead like you are doing, however to no avail. I tried the TGA and PNG, but I must be doing something wrong. This is also my name in sl. TY
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1544
Try this.
Omg, I’m able to do it with TGA, but need in PNG, but I didn’t understand… I tryx it to get a watermark on a digital drawing. tga, perfect, put png, still not able to. how did I can do? And where do I find UV maps x_X…. Use Photoshop CS5, in french, so again + lvl of dificulty to apply :S
heeelp meeee, please D:
This blog is specifically for sculpt maps for Second Life. UV maps are specific to 3D modeling.
I would recommend looking for a diffenent tutorial, but here’s a basic rundown. To add a watermark to a picture, just put the text or icon for your watermark on a new layer and lower the opacity. You might try setting the layer blend type to either multiply or screen, depending on how your watermark is set up.
This is what I usually do, but I tryed with TGA and the result that I love is that the watermark i’s invisble, but when we do “invert color” it appear really clear. I’ve been searching a tutorial for do something like this, because art thiefts are more and more there, and it’s sad to put a huge ugly thing that detroy the visibility of the drawing under. I don’t know if you know any toturial for that kind of things for PNG, jpeg or bmp? D8.
Thankies.