How does Photoshop acheive opacity?

Q
Posted By
QVCL
May 6, 2008
Views
251
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Hello there,

I am part of a research lab that is putting together experiments relating to visual cognition, and I was wondering how exactly Photoshop CS3 achieves opacity. Is it through pixel amount or another method?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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JM
J_Maloney
May 6, 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency_(graphic)>

Is it through pixel amount or another method?

Yes? "Pixel amount" doesn’t seem to be a research term…
Q
QVCL
May 6, 2008
Haha…no, no it isn’t. Thats just me making up vague terms.

Anyway, thanks so much…I didn’t think wikipedia would be that helpful.
RB
Rudy Benner
May 6, 2008
wrote in message
Hello there,

I am part of a research lab that is putting together experiments relating to visual cognition, and I was wondering how exactly Photoshop CS3 achieves opacity. Is it through pixel amount or another method?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Layers. Imagine a clear gel, it is neither white nor black. On top of that layer, you can stack other layers, each with their own properties.
C
Curvemeister
May 6, 2008
On Tue, 6 May 2008 07:07:30 -0700, wrote:

Hello there,

I am part of a research lab that is putting together experiments relating to visual cognition, and I was wondering how exactly Photoshop CS3 achieves opacity. Is it through pixel amount or another method? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Photoshop uses alpha blending internally to support transparency. The technique is credited to Alvy Ray Smith, and was developed at ILM as a digital substite for film-based matting. The original paper on this was by Porter and Duff, Siggraph 84. Look for the term alpha blending and you’ll find that paper, and others.

Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com
JM
J_Maloney
May 6, 2008
Now those are some research terms. 😉 Thanks, Mike!
DM
dave_milbut
May 8, 2008
nice. go ILM!!!

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