In another thread it was brought up that panels created with alpha channels (i.e. *.tga etc.) are better for panels because the edges can be anti-aliased from within the image itself.

Sounds reasonable, and I'd like to really dig into this one, except I have been having a heck of a time finding some solid tut's for manipulating *.tga's (specifically alpha channels) in PaintShop Pro!

Anyone point me in the right direction?

I don't know about PaintShop Pro but I use Micrografx Picture Publisher 8 and 10. You can pick PP8 up in a bundle for $19.95. I've been using it since PP3 and it is an awesome product. Does just about everything Photoshop does for alot less (and supports Photoshop plugins like Kai's).

Mask(alpha) editing is 1 click away and is exactly like editing a regular grayscale image.

See:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/softwarebyte/alwebphotstu.html

and

http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=picture+publisher+8&hc=0&hs=1

Or you can pick up the PP10 demo here:

http://www.micrografx.com/resources/evalsoftware.asp

Thanks for the tip.