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>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