How to export 32float or 16bit integer alpha?

[kirill_7256]

Does anyone know a way to export 16bit  RGBA image   from Photoshop  to be then read well it in Substance Designer and Blender ?    Whatever I try Alpha is always 8 bit or something.    Same layer transparency in pngs.    Whatever Pixel depth I set in my document.    Tried  exr .   saved as stepped  8 bit nevertheless .     Alpha works fine with Tiffs  but RGB part goes somewhat  weird in Substance Designer . Like it read it with alpha transparency + some gray background.     

Chat GPT tells me Photoshop only respect set pixel depth in RGB  and A is always 8 bit when it saves exr or png . Is it really so or it's hallucinating ?  

[Michael Chow]

@kirill_7256  getting true 16-bit RGBA (meaning 16 bits per channel for Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha) out of Photoshop and into other 3D software can be tricky due to how different file formats and software interpret bit depth, especially for the alpha channel. Is ChatGPT hallucinating? That's too funny! You should ask ChatGPT that! 

While Photoshop's default PNG export often limits alpha to 8-bit, the PNG specification itself supports 16-bit alpha. For EXR, Photoshop can export 16-bit float alpha, but specific settings are crucial. The main issue is that Photoshop's export options aren't always intuitive for maintaining full 16-bit per channel for all channels in all formats, and the interpretation in other software matters.

Make your Photoshop document is actually set to 16 bits/channel before saving. Instead of 'Exporting,' try the "Save As" or "Save a Copy" which is often better for Photoshop for high bit-depth exports. It will likely take some experimentation with the specific export settings in Photoshop and import settings in Substance Designer and Blender to find the combination that works best for your workflow.

[kirkr5689 · Accepted solution]

Thank you Michael, I think I found a workaround:  ProEXR addon . It saves proper  pixel depth in all channels . As of chatGPT  looks like it's correct .