Quick Photoshop Question

KeyserSoze

I think this should be pretty simple, but for some reason I can't figure it out. What I'm trying to do is take an image with an alpha channel and translate the transparency from the alpha channel to the actual photoshop layer (so you can see the layers below the transparent areas). I've tried selecting the transparent areas of the alpha channel with the magic wand tool (with various tolerance settings) and then deleting the selected area from the RGB channels, but the results aren't that great (the edges look more jaggy than I would like). Can anyone help me out?

poopinmymouth

Click on the alpha channel so you can see it in the main window. Select all, and copy it. Now add a mask to your current layer. Alt+click on it, and you will be viewing it. Now paste in the copied version of the alpha mask.

Also: http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/masks.htm

KeyserSoze

Awesome. Thanks for the speedy response . I thought layer masks would be the way to do it, but I never really use them so I had no idea how to paste a selection into the mask and just gave up on it. I knew there was a simple solution.