Texture with alpha gradient problem

[Pangaea]

Hi folks

having trouble doing something that i could do before.
The main problem is with ps i think, but perhaps someone knows a better way of doing this

I have made a texture here is ps, and the glass area is semi transparent (with a slight texture).. then as you can see in the window i have a shadow (i want to give the impression the window is set into the wall slightly).. anyway here the image in ps so u can see what i mean
http://www.fractalscapes.net/designs/btb/villa/003.jpg


now i saved this out initially as dxt3, and then dxt5
both result in this:
http://www.fractalscapes.net/designs/btb/villa/04.jpg
as you can see both these dds modes have killed that nice shadow gradient.

Now this isnt normally a problem since i have discovered that on dds export , choosing "pallet 256 color + alpha) works well for gradients.. I have used this mode before .. here is an experiment i did a while ago
http://www.fractalscapes.net/designs/btb/villa/05.jpg

now heres the problem.. photoshop often crashes or freezes when i try to export to pallet 256 color + alpha mode, so ive not been using it much latley. (but i have used it as you can clearly see in the last pic link).
Anyway, ps is now refusing to export my window texture (http://www.fractalscapes.net/designs/btb/villa/003.jpg) with that dds setting. it freezes.

Is there any other way i can do this?
ive tried a few other dds export settings but they either wont work at all, or that gradient is killed as i showed you in the 2nd pic link.

the pic is 256x256 image

anyway got any work arounds for this?

ps. i tried chroma on everything too.

 

[martinez]

It's very difficult to explain. I tried different things, this one seems to be the best of them:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hkm8vy
(there is your wall 256x256 as .psd and .dds)
I used Quick Mask and worked on alpha channel - in most cases I got results like you. It looks like some dds plugin or RBR engine issue that the gradiented alpha channel in dtx 5 not always shows the truth we want to see... I just apply the texture to some wall that I built quickly in BTB to check the results. The texture was saved as DTX 5, 4 mipmaps
Anyway, I think I know what you wanted to get. Still - for me - some paintings "in" the windows and no trasparency would work the best - smaller files and no guessing where is the limit of gradient

 

[Pangaea]

yes, martinez, dds alpha is quite fickle ..
ive also had lots of trouble with add and multiply.. takes a long long time to get right.. even scaling things with alpha, or add, multiply messes things up.

I may take your advice and do it without the alpha gradient or no transparency at all.



and as ever.. a big thanks