Change in EXR open from CS2 to CS3 can this be fixed?

Chris-Why doesn't the file format allow for the option? It seems like you did it in CS2 and CS3 Standard so why won't it work in CS3 Extended. Isn't the file format the same in both? It seems the only thing different is the import code, not the file format.

Where's the other "existing" thread where you explained it all? Do you mean the rest of this one?

Cliffton - Photoshop does not discard anything. We read the transparency channel just like the file format says we are supposed to. The A/tranparency/opacity channel is right there in your document, doing what it is supposed to do.

Yes, ProEXR is wrong for allowing you to open the A channel as anything other than transparency (especially if they fail to handle the premultiplication).

It sounds like you really don't understand the terms and technologies involved, and you also need to go read the existing posts in this topic.

David - we can't have the option, because the file format does not allow the option, and the specifics of the file format make the option pointless in the first place.

PLEASE go read the existing thread. We've been over this. Your questions have already been answered, multiple times, in excruciating detail.

And no, we haven't implemented all features of the OpenEXR file format yet. Most people aren't demanding all the extras, some of the extras don't fit in Photoshop, and they're adding more niche stuff all the time.

Chris,

I second everything progress, jonah and David Parisi are saying.

How can discarding the A channel possibly be the correct way of opening an EXR file? And if discarding the A channel is correct according to ILM, then AE, Combustion, Nuke, Fusion are all wrong?

And in a file format that allows one to save multiple channels as described by David Parisi, how does discarding the A channel make any sense? If the proEXR plugin allows one to access multiple additional channels, including the alpha channel, are the proEXR guys doing it wrong as well?

AE has now adopted portions of the proEXR plugin which allow access to additional channels in the EXR format. Why would Photoshop refuse to accomodate such added functionality? What if Photoshop adds multiple channel access in future releases? Will they still discard the alpha channel?

Also, since you seem so intent on adhering to the openEXR spec, where's the support for the rest of the file format features:

-alpha; luminance and sub-sampled chroma channels; depth, surface normal
directions, or motion vectors

-Multiple versions of a tiled image, each with a different resolution, can be stored in a single multiresolution OpenEXR file

-color timing information, process tracking data, or camera position and view direction. OpenEXR allows storing of an arbitrary number of extra attributes, of arbitrary type, in an image file.

Whatever Chris. I'm not an engineer/programmer but I don't see why you still can't have an option when opening exr's to open them using the CS2 convention of RGBA rather than transparent RGB. Is it that hard?

Florian, thank you for the link! Finally someone who brought the "bug" back so I can edit my images "illegal" again.

jonah - I have. I've also discussed it with the folks who wrote OpenEXR (the spec. and the code). Photoshop has it right.

David - you're so unclear on the concepts I don't even know where to start.
That entire post is a non-starter.

SIgh - just when I got the original folks to understand....

Please, go read the rest of the thread.

Here is the summary:
RGBA *is* RGB+transparency in the case of OpenEXR - the file format says that it must be that way. The file format does not allow you to use the A channel for anything other than transparency. And the file format says that the RGB values are premultiplied (that happens when you write the file) -- so if you have zero in the A channel, you must also have zero in the RGB channels.

Most likely you misunderstand something about the concepts involved, or you are just using the wrong file format for your work. But, as far as anyone has been able to determine, Photoshop CS3 and CS4 are working perfectly correctly for the OpenEXR file format.