When you save source art as a 3DO cel, you can use additional channels in Photoshop for certain special effects that the 3DO hardware can create. This chapter gives step-by-step examples for creating irregularly shaped cels and for using special effects. Here's an overview of what you can do:
Create an irregularly shaped cel by first creating a mask that indicates the region you want transparent. Then assign the channel of that mask to the Transparency channel of the cel.
Make parts of your cel bright or translucent by specifying those parts in a mask. If the cel type permits, you can use one mask for transparency, the other mask to indicate the special effects region.
Enhance the red, green, or blue channel to highlight that color only, copy that channel into a separate channel and save it as a mask with a special pixel mode.
Make the whole cel translucent or dark for ghost or shadow effects.
Note: For more information, see "Introduction to 3DO Graphics" in this volume.
Which channels can I use?
The cel type and the number of bits per pixel determine whether additional channels are available for a given cel. The CelWriter dialog makes certain options unavailable for certain cel types. If a channel does not make sense for a certain kind of cel, it is dimmed in the dialog.