AlphaChannel
From polycount
Revision as of 13:38, 18 August 2010 by BrandonPhoenix (Talk)
Alpha Channel
An optional channel in the texture file that usually defines the transparency of the texture’s pixels, but can also be used for other things like a height map or grey-scale specular map. The alpha can be anywhere from 1bit up to 8bits, depending on the amount of detail you need. Generally, the lower the bit depth you use, the more memory you save, but the lower the image quality of the transparency.