Attached Link: http://www.gardenhose.com

Hi We're offering free tree and foliage textures in support of our "Get Painter 5.5 Free with Jungle 3D" promotion. These textures show how Jungle 3D can add highly realistic plants and foliage to 3D scenes and architectural renderings. The tree textures are used on the site and referenced in our Painter and Paint Shop Pro tutorials. The foliage textures are designed for mapping to actual terrain models so see the referenced landscape examples. All of the textures have antialiased alpha channel masks for transparency mapping. We've also made one of the new tubes/nozzles available for download. Since Carrara looks for a separate mask file, you'll need split and save the mask channel as a separate B&W file using Photoshop or some other image editor. Once you have two files (image/mask), you can map with transparency using Multi Channel in Top Shader and Multiply in Color. Choose Texture Map for Source 1 & Source 2 in Color. Load the tree image in 1 and the mask image in 2. Then load the same mask image in Transparancy and select Invert Color. We'll be pulling the files once the promotion is over so don't wait too long in you're interested. Use the "Get Painter 5.5 Free" link or the "Free Textures" link on the front page. Have fun. Dennis@DigArts

Dennis, Thanks for providing this information to our community! I checked it out a week or so ago. Looks awsome. Regards, Clint Carrara and Ray Dream Add-Ons Hawkin-Z GraF-X 3D Models for the Abnormal Abnormal Creations

Thanks Clint. I should add that the mapping solution came from an example posted by another Carrara user. I would have never guessed to use Multiply in Color, but without it I kept getting a white halo (from the Transparency mask). Thanks Patrick :) Dennis

Attached Link: http://brenthomer.tripod.com/tutorials.html

I have a quick Alpha Suggestion that will apply mainly to photoshop users. As an editor I use alpha's all the time for graphics. When I first started using them I ALWAYS had halo's around the objects. I found the little secret to get rid of them in photoshop. 1)Put the object you want masked on its own layer. 2) Load Selection (dont use majic wand...it is not very accurate) and then save selection. You should see the alpha in in the channels window now! 3) Your not done yet...make sure the background layer (make sure it says background, not layer 1, in photoshop this makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.) is selected and then make it black. This will work now 90% of the time. However sometimes you have fuzz's or transparency on the object you wish to blur. Lets say it is a drop shadow. Make sure the background color is exactly the same as this fuzz, frindge, shadow, etc. Photoshop takes a bit of the background layer so if the colors wont match then you WILL get a halo effect. This is my super fast tutorial and looking it over I can see that it sucks :) Here is a link to the page a made awhile ago b/c I was sick of explaining this: http://brenthomer.tripod.com/tutorials.html

Thanks for the info, I've been useing (at least have had) the Garden Hose nozzles since V1.5, the Jungle 3D set is a big improvement.

Attached Link: http://www.gardenhose.com

>make sure the background layer (make sure it says >background, not layer 1, in photoshop this makes >ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.) is selected and >then make it black. Hi, What's going on with Carrara is something different. The tree textures on our site already have the adjusted background color so halos shouldn't be a problem. It has to do with the way Carrara looks at transparency. I don't know enough about Carrara to comment. Maybe one of the experts here can inform me/us. You make a very good point about masks and blending colors from antialiased edges. However, there's a lot going on with PS layers and the effect you mention can change based on choices involving New file setup (White, Background, or Transparent) as well as Background Color (from Color Picker). I think what you're identifying is the default white background present "in" most transparent layers. It applies to Painter 6 much the same as it does to Photoshop (and PSP 6/7 too as I recall). We address this issue in our Painter tutorials as well. Once you change the image background color in Painter 6, new layers will use that background color. Photoshop does this too, and with even more variables since changing the Background Color on the tools palette can have similar effect (P6 may as well, I haven't tested). In other words, new "transparent" layers draw color information from the Background image (though you cannot see it). You can even change this color information in existing layers by altering the value of Background Color using the Color Picker. To test this in PS, make two new layers, one while the "Background" layer is white and one after filling it with black. Paint on each new layer with an antialiased brush using a color other than black or white. Now Load and Save a layer mask. It doesn't matter which layer you use to create the mask. Okay, here's the test. Merge the white layer with the black background, then Load the Selection and Cut to make the selection a layer. Now move the layer. You'll see the white cut-out on the Background image. Now do the same with the image painted on the black layer (merge, load selection and cut a new layer). When you move this cut layer, there is no white cut-out. That tells you the default color of that layer was the same as the background, black. That makes the cut-out space indistinguishable from the background. You'll see a similar result if you change the Background Color Picker to black with the white layer active. It's like making a layer from a black Background image. What's more, if you choose Transparent when creating the new file you'll notice the file opens without a "Background," but with a Layer instead. In that case, it doesn't appear to make much difference what you do with colors, though I haven't looked closely at this effect. It's challenging to see how many different methods can be used to eliminate halos on 2D images mapped with transparency. The idea, of course, it to control the color blend that occurs between the antialiased edges. What confuses most people (IMO) is that there actually is a color hidden in transparent layers, at least in most cases. :) Hope this helps. Dennis@DigArts