Graphics Program Questions

[stljeffbb1]

Hi everybody......

OK, I've now gone through five different graphics programs.....

Here are my issues:

1) When using the Chessmaster .tga extractor, many of the programs change aruond the parameters of the files so that I cannot put them back into the .dat file (ex. JU87_Stuka.tga comes out as 16 bit, but when I save, depending on the program, it will change it to a 24 bit image, and Chessmaster won't recognize it)

2) Alpha Channels.....I've only found one of the five to my liking when saving alpha channels.....why are the other programs so *stoopid* when it comes to alpha channels?

Here are the programs I've tried:

Microsoft PhotoDraw V2 (I own)
Adobe Photoshop CS2 (trial version, consumer version)
Jasc - Corel Paint Shop Pro 9 (trial)
Saint Paint Studio (trial)
Irfan View (freeware)

My possible solution.....there are two programs that seem to work failry well:

Saint Paint Studio: Originally "designed for game design," its the only program of the five that save and even allow editing of alpha channels (to my knowledge), but doesn't allow bit size difference

Jasc - Corel Paint Shop Pro 9: This is the only program that allows me to choose what bit (8, 16, 24) level I want to save my .tga files, but it doesn't seem to recognize the different layers of alpha channels, and when I attempt to save a file that MUST be 32 bit, I only get the three previous options.

So far, I've used the above two programs in combination, along with a little use of Microsoft PhotoDraw V2.....OK, you've read this far, here is the BIG QUESTION.....

Is there a program that will allow me to save and edit alpha channels (and recognize them as a different layer like Saint Paint Studio) AND also allow me to specify the bit size like Paint Shop Pro 9?

I could buy both Saint Paint and PSP, but that would set me back about $110 US....not too bad, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.

Thanks for any replies,

-Jeff