You need to imagine the fuse on the alphachannel..
better still...
Open the alphachannel in the editor, and then make it so you have a outline of the fuse and wings, then colour in the bits you want in the right colour.

Remember to have the alpha the same size as the fuse when ure editing, then resize it to 256x256...

Regards,
Andrew Stokes
http://andrews.f2g.net

Thank you for your help 

One question:   what is PSP?

Will Pixia work? I dont have Paint shop pro.

Should work, but I don't think Pixia converts to Greyscale ???

Regards,
Stratobat

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I don't think there is any performance gain ???

I normally leave then the same size as the repainted texture

Regards,
Stratobat

Hi Batman,

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The Greyscale image IS the Alpha

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Either I'm just blind, or there isn't a Greyscale option in Pixia, but I think I have a workaround for it..

You'll need Pixia (With optional Plugins and Filters found on the Pixia Website installed), MS Paint, DXTBmp and Imagetool.

Take the repainted texture and back it up. Name this backup texture Tex_Backup or something like that. Take the Tex_Backup bitmap and open it in Pixia (Make sure it's 24 Bit and not 32 Bit - Pixia doesn't like 32 Bit). Once in Pixia, look for the Filter Icon (Red & Blue Circle icon in top right corner), press it and look through the Effects for Monotone. Select Monotone and press Execute. A little box will open up giving you a few options, select Black & White. This will convert your colour repainted texture into shades of Grey ranging from Pure White to Pure Black. Save the texture as Tex_Alpha or something like that. Now, take the Tex_Alpha bitmap and open it in Imagetool. Convert the texture into an 8 Bit image (Image... Format... 8 Bit). Now, open the texture in MS Paint and edit the bitmap using various shades of Grey until you think it looks right. Remember, the more White the texture, the more opaque the Alpha will be in the Sim. So Anti-Glare panels, wheels and bit's and pieces that you don't want to be shiny must be painted White or lighter shades of Grey on the Alpha bitmap. Once you have edited the Tex_Alpha bitmap and are satisfied with your work, open the REPAINTED texture in DXTBmp and import the Tex_Alpha bitmap using the Import Alpha Channel option (Alpha... Import Alpha Channel). Once the Alpha's imported, you should be able to see it displayed in the top right-hand box in DXTBmp. Click on Apply Alpha to Image (Alpha... Apply Alpha to Image), untick the Mip Maps - Include When Saving option located below the Alpha Preview window. Now save the texture in whatever format you choose (32 Bit, DXT... etc) and drop it into the Aircraft's Texture Folder.

That's it... You should now be able to see your repainted texture with the custom Alpha Channel in Flight Sim

I tried this method above on a repaint I did of a P-51H Mustang and it seemed to worked, but you might need to experiment with it... Just remember to make backup copies of your repainted texture in another folder on your PC so that if it doesn't work, you still have your repaint

You can always use the Alpha Channel bitmap that comes with the original aircraft, but most people just overpaint the whole bitmap with one shade of grey, so if you want to add details or more/less shine to certain areas, it can be a problem ???

Regards,
Stratobat

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Yip, the Alpha basically controls the shine on reflective textures. Alpha's can also render parts of a 3D model transparent if you paint the area on the textures Pure Black or Pure Green. So for example, if you had a Mirage F1 but wanted to do a repaint of one that didn't have an external In-Flight Refuelling Probe, you would paint over the probe using Pure Green and then tell DXTBmp to give the texture a Pure Green Alpha Channel. This part would now be rendered invisible in FS. The only drawback here is that you would still see the IFR Probe on the ground shadow cast by the aircraft

Regards,
Stratobat