[Feature Request] Toggle for using Alpha as Transparency

[EV3RGR33N]

Hello,

I'm using Icaros 3.3.3 Beta 3 on Windows 11 24H2.

I'm working on a project that involves large amounts of game textures that use the Alpha channel to store a Specularity map. Since it is not a "proper" transparency mask, it makes previewing those extremely difficult in Windows Explorer:

I removed the alpha channel on this .dds file for the sake of example - it is much easier to see:

I remember SageThumbs being able to do this, so I thought I would ask for a toggle for using Alpha as Transparency or not, perhaps below the "Enable black/white frame detection" setting?

Thanks for all your work on this program, and have a nice day :)

[Xanashi]

This sounds like a good feature.
Could you send me one of the transparent DDS files for testing?

[EV3RGR33N]

Certainly - although, I'd like to point out that this is not specific to the .DDS format. For CGI purposes, it's very common to use the Alpha Channel to store a texture map that isn't meant to be used for transparency. We store our "source" assets in .TGA, .TIF or even .PNG sometimes. Therefore, I believe that a toggle for using Alpha as Transparency on all formats would be ideal.
There is no program that's able to do this that still works on W11 afaik, so it would be extremely helpful for CGI artists :)

Attached to this message: a texture w/a specular map stored in the Alpha Channel, in .dds, .tga, .tif and .png. The results when it comes to previews are the same however - it's really hard to see what they are at a glance.

Thanks for taking the time to consider this feature request, and a happy new year!
Samples_AlphaIsNotTransparency.zip

[Xanashi]

Thank you for the samples, and happy new year to you too!

I'm thinking, I'll make it possible for the user to determine which filetypes should ignore the alpha channel, when thumbnails are generated.