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

Chris,

Please open an EXR in CS2, to see what we are talking about.

or After Effects, any version. go to Interpret Footage and choose ignore alpha.

In a 3d app like 3ds Max or any other, it is common to render an object against an environment or background image. By default the 3d geometry has a value of 1.0 in the Alpha channel and the environment 0.0. But this does not mean we ALWAYS want the environment to be transparent. Often we want to see the sky or keep the background color whatever it may be. Many other file formats retain the Alpha RGB values. As did EXR in Photoshop CS2. I'm sure you're aware of the Alpha present in Targa, Tiff, RLA, PNG, etc.

All we want is the option to keep the RGB of the Alpha. Just like it was in CS2 and is in After Effects, Combustion, Fusion, Nuke.... etc.

Small change to your plugin has a huge impact on our workflow.

Ditto to what progress and jonah have said...openEXR simply does not work in it's current implementation in CS3 (& CS4) for most workflows. I've read through the EXR description on ILM's site and I don't see anywhere that it requires the RGB to be made transparent due to the alpha. Yes, they do describe the pixel as being transparent, but this is in relation to performing any compositing actions, not opening it for editing.

Regardless, can you just add a tickbox option somewhere to allow photoshop to open OpenEXR's as RGBA rather than a transparent RGB?

Just to chime in here and back up what progress is saying. CS3 and CS4 have ruined EXR Alpha functionality. We had to buy ProEXR from Fnord in order to keep the RGB values of the black Alpha pixels.

In the ProEXR installation instructions they have you rename the Adobe OpenEXR.8bi to OpenEXR.WTF

I think that says it all.

If this discussion were a tech support call, this is the point where I would give up and ask to speak to the manager.

i Where the opacity was zero, the information is *gone* after it gets written into the file

But it isn't ! If I open the original EXR up in CS2 it's there. Along with the alpha. IT HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED ! :D

Only if i throw it into CS3 then out again and open it in CS2, is it removed. So that must mean? That must mean PS is changing the file... ta dah...! See the problem?

i which Photoshop doesn't let you do easily.

which should read ;

which Photoshop did let you do easily, but has been broken.

Premultiplied color/alpha/transparency means file_color = color * opacity
Where the opacity was zero, the information is *gone* after it gets written into the file, not recoverable, pining for the fjords... (er, wrong sketch, sorry).

The problem is that you are trying to use a file format that doesn't support what you're trying to do, plus you're trying to edit transparency/opacity - which Photoshop doesn't let you do easily.

But it isn't "gone"! Because if I open it up in CS2 it's there! Along with an intact A. That's my whole point. Arghhhhh! It's still transparency, because I can invoke that when I choose, without losing data...

It wasn't gone on save. It's not gone on open in anything else but CS3e. It's only gone because of the way just CS3e handles it. It's only "gone" because CS3e hides it, and it's effectively deleted as you can't unhide it. Actually, it's still very much there, except that CS3e stops you getting to it. You can even save it out and find it again in CS2!

It's not anywhere just where A=0, it's anywhere where A doesn't = 255 because it's pm'd the value will remove a proportion of the colour data based on it's 0-255 value.

Do you not see what the problem is?

Now, if you can reverse or "ungone" the info, then great...

Or is there a way to downgrade an install of CS3e to CS3 (to avoid hoop jumps elsewhere..?)

In OpenEXR "A" is defined as transparency/opacity. And OpenEXR is premultiplied - so anywhere you had "A" set to zero -- the matching color data is gone.

If the last post isn't sarcastic, then that would be a very useful solution to a number of scenarios where transparency is embedded and prevents RGB editing of data hidden by a transparency which is not editable.

I still maintain that A isn't transparency, but a representation of transparency... but i'm willing to drop the pedantry if it gets us somewhere.

Note to self - go write a plugin to copy data out of transparency and into a layer mask. The reverse is already available with "apply layer mask".

Progress - The extended and standard behavior is just a switch in the code, not different code. It just does slightly different assignments based on the host licensing.

And again-- Photoshop is not deleting any data. Your only problem here is that you want to edit the transparency/opacity data directly, and Photoshop does not let you do that easily. Opening the transparency as a layer mask adds some serious problems with roundtripping and compatibility with other file formats (because most of them do not support layer masks).

"A" in OpenEXR _is_ transparency. That is the way it is defined, that is what it must be. Using that channel for anything else breaks workflows (which is why I hate putting it in an alpha channel in standard).