Tutorial the skinny on skinning / *multi.dds alpha channels

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Tutorial the skinny on skinning / *multi.dds alpha channels
photoshop or the game
photoshop has all sorts of transparencies
layer
opacity
fill
mask
gray out
exporting an image
alpha channel depending on the format
gif it mattes out 1 specific color
tiff uses a alpha channel
dds used in the game uses all the cannels r,g,b,a the alpha channel is used to mask out r,g,b depending on the shader

the game however uses 2 textures somtimes( 3 for bumpmaps if im not mistaken)
1st image is the texture
the second texture is the alpha channel usually named the same as the texture except with the word multi at the end of it.
and the alpha channel is determined by the shader you use.
the shader determines how r,g,b,a channels will be used

green = glow effect when there are no lights on usually / shader specific
red = glossy surface or will change the hue of the texture depends on the shader / shader specific
blue = glossy surface or and i cant remember / same as above shader specific
alpha = will usually mask one of the channels r,g,b / shader specific

the shader model is probably what you want to look for in hmt3 pick one you know is transparent then cut n paste the meta to the meta of the texture you are working on

ex...
powerups\active camoflage\shaders\powerup glass
meta = 5859E98
or try
levels\a10\shaders\cryo glass
meta = 5717A50
replace the shader meta of the texture you are working on with one of the above
lets say
vehicles\warthog\shaders\warthog hull
meta = 56C05F0
replace the meta with 5717A50
so now when you return to
vehicles\warthog\shaders\warthog hull
the meta should = 5717A50

go to the game and check it out now if it works go to the multi and mess around with the r,g,b,a channels to see what you can change

i personally haven