When using alpha in tiff and your background is gone in PS

[Robert V.]

Hi,

I came across the following problem. I made a tiff render with alpha enabled.
When I loaded this into Photoshop, my background was gone. Only the object itself remained.

This was PS CS5

To solve this:
go to > Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency.

Then go to the layers on the right, and disable the mask (right-click on mask > disable Layer Mask)

good luck!

(this is because it's not really an alpha channel, but more a transparency to tiff)

[sergov]

Thanks for that one, was wondering how to work around this.

[w.wolf]

Thanks for clearing that ... I had to render the background separately, it takes only seconds but it's still annoying ...
How can I do this in other softwares, I use Pain.NET but any other software should be fine ...
I appreciate your help ...

[Chad Holton]

Hi w.wolf,

You can uncheck "Include alpha" under the render tab to have the background show up in any software.

[w.wolf]

Thanks Chad, but that isn't what I am looking for, I want the transparency and the background, in other words how do I turn off the mask, that's why they use tiff ...

[lillusaur]

I am after this functionality aswell.

The Alpha Channel disappears when you open it in Photoshop CS5

Is there a workaround for this?

[Robb63]

Yep, like Robert V said...go to > Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency
This will show the layer mask, but also if you go into channels the alpha channel is now visible.

This is a PS CS5 thing and not a Keyshot. I recorded this move as an action (including adjusting the alpha channel to be true white and black so I get a solid selection), so now I just quick-key it every time I open a tiff. Works like a charm.