: How to put a layer into one of the RGB channels? I'm making a texture for a game and it needs to have Metall in the RED channel, Glossiness in the GREEN channel and Ambient occlusion in

@Samaraweera207

Your own answer is really close, but there is a better way...

You can use ADJUSTMENT LAYERS to strip the unwanted channels out of each layer rather than deleting them by hand. This is non destructive so your file can stay layered and 'live' and it will be easy and quick to implement additions and changes. There are a couple of different adjustment layers that can be used for this; I've gone with CHANNEL MIXER, but CURVES would work just as well, for example. Whichever you use, you just need to remove (make black) the two channels that you don't want in each case. As you found, the layers need to be set to sccreen.The key is to make sure that the adjustment layer is only acting on the layer directly below it by selecting the 'clip to layer' option.

Below is a screenshot showing the set up in layers and the resulting channels. I'm using CC so the appearance of the palettes and the wording of the options might be slightly different to those that you see, but hopefully this will be enough to guide you to the solution.



If you create a template PSD file with the appropriate adjustment layers then you can just drop your components in to the appropriate locations in the layer stack each time for a quick and easy workflow.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Odierno310

I think I figure it out.


Show only "red" layer
Go to channels and select Green and paint it black
Go to channels and select Blue and paint it black
Show only "green" layer
Go to channels and select Red and paint it black
Go to channels and select Blue and paint it black
Show only "Blue" layer
Go to channels and select Red and paint it black
Go to channels and select Green and paint it black


Maybe there is an easier way, but this did the trick.

EDIT:
No this didn't work either. Overlapping areas doesn't mix.
So after editing the channels as described above I went back and changed all layer modes to "Screen", now the colors mix correctly.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Nimeshi706

A greyscale image is not RGB, so if the grey image is truly RGB, convert the mode to greyscale.

Copy the greyscale image, start a new RGB document (this will auto-set the size in the dialog to match to the size of the clipboard) go to a the channels palette, select the correct color channel, and then paste.

Copy and paste from the other two greyscale documents into the correct channel on the new rgb document.

Vote Up Vote Down

@Debbie163

Try:

Make a new RGB file of the same size as your original grayscale source images.

Open your chanels panel, turn on only the desired channel and paste the corresponding grayscale image on it.

Vote Up Vote Down