Alpha Matte
A grayscale transparency map where each pixel stores how much of the foreground it contains. The alpha channel concept was formalized by Thomas Porter and Tom Duff in 1984, and mattes make hair and glass composite smoothly.
Spot it
- 01Soft gray edge falloff
- 02Wispy hair detail
- 03White core, black outside
Why it happens
Models each pixel as a blend of foreground and background, with alpha between zero and one giving the foreground's share; matting solves for alpha from the image.
Recreate it in Pixio
Image edit prompt“Render this image as an alpha matte: the subject's solid interior pure white, the background pure black, and fine boundary details such as hair, fur, motion blur and semi-transparent edges shown as smooth gray transition values. Grayscale only, no color. Keep the original subject and composition recognizable.”
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