Hi everyone, I've recently got sucked into Poser and am already getting stuck. :(

I'm having some trouble with the rendering and "removing" of the blank backgrounds created by poser.
I have a figure I want to add to a background in photoshop. I've tried redering onto a blue/green background (a-la hollywood) and colour wanding the bacground away but either get a jagged edge or an outline.

Should I do all this by hand?
Should I not use antialiasing?

Uh, ideas?

render using antialias and if you have rendered it in the same window, then go to Export/Image and save it as a tif file...if you rendered it in a separate window, then go to Save as and save it as a tif file...then open your tif file in your paint program and load the alpha chanel selection...then you can copy and paste it without the background...:>)

Exporting the image as a Photoshop file will also create an alpha channel for you to use in masking your image and getting rid of the background.

Thanks for the quick reply! I've managed to do all that, but I don't see how using the alpha channel gets rid of the background. (I have the b+w image like in your preview) - Is it used like a template? In my pic, I want the figure to be separate, with no surroundings (no colour - nothing - like the image on the left) so layers can be used underneath. Sorry, guess I wasn't too clear.

Ahh Ignore my last post! hehe Duh, forgot masking Thanks people.

If you render with props even as elaborate as a gazebo, render against black and you will still be able to separate the black out in the alpha channel. Just choose the channel, hit the ctrl button the dotted lines will appear and then save as a New layer via copy. The latter is for those, like me, who didn't know the exact procedure of working with alphas. Emily

save the final rendered image as a png and photoshop will read the background as blank.

If you are using Poser5 - suggest using PNG format - and using background color as that is how I create my animation characters into sprites for FlashMX and DirectorMX... Png format was only one that was happy in creating sprites with no background (not photoshop). If I need to take it to Illustrator - I use the middle man Image Ready. Then I can cut out the background in Illustrator. The PNG format also works (transparent wise) with Jasc PaintshopPro and the Animator program that comes with it.

Alpha channels in Poser account for transparency very well. You can render something like gauze or feathers against a black background, save as a .tif or .psd, and the transparency of the gauze or feathrs will be preserved. That is, if you later drop these elements on top of others, you'll be able to see through the semi-transparent bits to the background elements. I'm not sure I fully understand the issues ShawnieBoy is dealing with, but the problem may be caused by that "Hollywood" background. If you don't want a background behind your figures and props, don't use one. Simply render against black, then save your image as a .tif or .psd. In Photoshop, you can select > load selection > alpha. Everything which isn't "background" will be selected. Copy the selected elements, then paste. The paste action will put them into a new channel with a transparent background. You can then drag and drop this channel by itself to another picture (your background) or fill the original "background" channel with black. When you drag and drop your intended background onto this file, it'll go behind the foreground elements. (This can be done in Paint Shop Pro, too.) If I'm not being clear, please check Syyd Raven's "introduction to post-work" tutorial at DAZ Arcana. There really shouldn't be any need to erase a background...simply render without one in the first place, save to an format that includes alpha channel, and from there you'll have lots of control. Once you master this simple technique, issues like RAM limitations can be worked around effectively. No reason why you shouldn't be able to have 20 Vickies in your temple. :-)

Darn it! Syyd's tute is getting me a '404' error each time I try to access it :( And it sounds like just what I've been searching for, too..... Do you know of any other tutes that address beginning postwork in Photoshop? Until I read this thread, I couldn't even make masks work reliably. (And the Photoshop 6 manual gives me a migraine every time I crack it!)

I had the same problem at Arcana yesterday, hm. As I recall Syyd's tutorial had the same info I posted about alpha planes. It was specifically geared towards simple Poser portraits, a great way to practice techniques. She also suggested making small selections (using the lasso tool) and applying gaussian blur (at about 1.0, I think,) before adding the background. I agree but I'd be careful about that, her tute is rather liberal with the blur. As to other beginner tutes, not sure, but I assume they're out there. There's a postwork forum at RuntimeDNA. It doesn't seem to get much traffic, but if you ask questions, people will definitely respond. That might be another good place to request links to newbie tutes. Otherwise, specific questions to this and the Photoshop forums should yield some help. There's a fantastic Photoshop newsgroup on Usenet, too...can't remember the name, but a search will bring it up. Very helpful information there. Sorry if this is obvious, but your best starting place is to learn what all the tools do, and to not try to bite off more than you can chew at once. The mighty Photoshop has a significant learning curve.

Ooops, I meant to say that she suggested making lasso selections around the edge of the figure and applying Gaussian blur to help the edges blend with the background. In my experience that works best on "hard" edges. I wouldn't recommend it for hair or fine details.

A wealth of knowledge. Thanks. My latest projects is thanks to this, see my gallery.

I usually use the blur brush and lightly touch up the edges of the figures-- sometimes I forget. When you are dropping in another pic as a background, you'll probably want to do some color correction as well and maybe fool a bit with contrast, levels or the curve tool. Sometimes a bit of desaturate on the incoming background helps as everything seems to be brighter and more heavily colored than Poser. Emily