This is a hard question to ask so I'll do my best
:blushing:  After I render a picture from Poser, I want to erase certain parts of the model within Photoshop CS 2 without erasing the background.  I have no clue how to do that.  I'm actually trying to follow a cool reflection TUT

http://www.uniquerenditions.com/ParadiseWaterTutorial/BatherTutorial.htm

by Linwhite but I get lost when trying to erase portions of just the model.  TIA.
Adrian

If I am not mistaken, I believe the author rendered the figure by itself without the background.  Then all you have to do is export that as TIFF or PNG and open it in photoshop and load only the figure.  Then you add your background as a separate layer underneath the figure.  So, if you erase any part of your rendered figure layer, it will only erase the figure only.

Chinnei
OH okay I get it now, thank you so much.  I have no clue and I'm such a newbie :biggrin:  Thanks again.
Adrian

I give up.  I don't know how to implement the figure into the background. 
Adrian

No problem Adrian.

I also consider myself a newb but there's nothing wrong with asking questions.  I guess, in this case, it's just another newb trying to help out another newb. :b_smile:

Quote - I give up.  I don't know how to implement the figure into the background. 
Adrian

Heh, another crosspost, I guess I spoke too soon.

Could you explain a little more what's stomping you.

Chinnei
Thanks for responding.  When you said:

"Then you add your background as a separate layer underneath the figure."

 How do I export the background picture in order to put the model into it?  That I don't get.  Thanks.
Adrian

Attached Link: Background

All you have to do is open that picture in photoshop along with the picture of your figure.  Then just do the drag and drop the background layer onto the figure layer.  Of course, you need to resize or crop one of the image as necessary to fit together, although you could just render the figure image in same size as the background.

OTOH, if you are creating your own, then you would need to do two renders.  One for the figure only and one for the background only.  Export each render from poser as TIFF, and open them in Photoshop and follow the above step.

Let me know if you got this far.

Chinnei
Thanks for your help.  I will definetly let you know how it goes.  Wish me luck
Adrian

Chinnei
I know this sounds really bad but I don't know how to drag and drop the figure into the background.  Thats what I'm stumped on.  I got both of them separate but that's it so far.
Adrian

going off in left feild (I'm left-handed, so I'm entitled..;), another possiblity is to just render using the background, find the parts  in Poser characters you don't want to display, double-click, and uncheck 'visible' from properties.. (I only have the Gimp, so I'm not much help with Photoshop..;) just an idea..;)

Pakled
So you are saying to put the figure within the background but to erase the parts I want and then render it?  I do have gimp myself but thats another story for me :lol:  Thanks for your help.
Adrian

Open up the figure image in PS, go to Select menu, click on Load Selection.  Once you get new menu, make sure that channel is set to Alpha, and click ok.  It'll then highlight the figure by itself.  Then go to Select menu again and click Inverse.  Then all you have to do is hit Delete and now all you have is image of figure by itself.

Now, as for drag and drop, first make sure you are using the background image window.  Then at the layer palette, as shown by the image above, click and hold the layer (here, indicated by "Layer 1"), then drag that layer across to the window of your figure image.  Once, you drop that layer, now you will see two different layers shown on the layer palette of you figures image.

Chinnei
Thanks.  I will try that and see what happens.  I will let you know.  You just tought me something :thumbupboth:
Adrian

Chinnei
OK everything worked until I got to the part of fliping the layer vertically.  It rotates the whole canvass, not just the layer by itself.
Adrian

Instead of flipping the whole canvas, go to Edit, Transform, and Flip Vertically.  This will flip only the selected layer.

Chinnei
OH man you are to good.  My biggest problem is I dont have a clue :lol:
Adrian

Well, glad I could help out but you did most of the work.

That came out great btw.

Personally, I would've done the reflection and the background all in the Poser, instead of PS, because I could never get the angles and lighting on the figure right if I do it separately.  Seems like you got a better handle of it than I do.

Don't know if it helps but saving as .png preserves transparency so you don't have to worry about alpha channels. I would render the image without the background and save as .png then render the background and save as whatever you prefer. Mix the 2 in your image editor of choice and you should be able to achieve the results you desire.

I can definetly use any good tips.  And I know I need to do some tweaking but at least I got the hang of it.  Thanks again.
Adrian

ok..it's obvious I didn't read the tut..;)
Actually, what I had in mind was to do the Poser pic, and if you want to hide parts of the body, etc., you double click on the area, and uncheck the 'visible' part, and it doesn't show up (at least in
Version 4, which is what I have). You can also unclick 'cast shadow', which can be useful at times..;)

You can then do all the other parts of the pic in Photoshop, set it the way you want, then 'Import, Background Picture', and do it that way. May not be what you want, but it was how I read it.

Pakleds are not known to be smart..;)

Pakleds
Coolies. I can try that too. Every little bit helps :tt2:
Adrian