can you post a picture of what you have so that we can get a better mental image?

Attached Link: http://www.geocities.com/scottspringer78/info/information.html

i made a quick step by step tutorial in pdf format covering the process of making transparent gifs in photoshop using embedded alpha channels. you can download it from the above link. make sure you view it at 100% in acrobat, or the screen captures will look wonky.

in addition, i posted a comparison between jpg and gif. both images were compressed using photoshop 6's save for web feature. the gif shows some banding but i think it is pretty minimal. if your image has lots of texture, like your arrow, you might not even notice the diffusion. it shows up on this image because the objects are so smooth.

well i hope all this helps. feel free to ask if you have any photoshop questions.

-scott

hello wufnir,

welcome to the forum.
don't worry, these fools make sense when you ask them a question about 3-D. : )

-scott

hi vern,

this is how i would solve the problem...

1.) render in carrara with whatever background color you want it
doesn't matter. set the file type to photoshop, and enable
"mask" in the g-buffer section.

2.) open the file in photoshop, and go to: SELECT: LOAD
SELECTION. load the selection named "mask." your arrow
should now have marching ants.

3.) copy and paste this selection (pasting creates a new layer.)
delete the background layer by dragging it to the trash can in
the layer pallete. now you should have your arrow surrounded
by grey and white checker boxes. the document should only
contain one layer now.

4.) now save for web. (FILE: SAVE FOR WEB) select GIF as the
file format and make sure the "Transparency" check box is
checked. all other settings are up to you.

also, looking at your arrow, it is not so complex that it needs to be done in 3D. you could use the same T-Map for the arrow... define it as a pattern and fill it into an arrow shape. then use the type tool for the word back and use the drop shadow or bevel and emboss layer effect to create the same exact look. just a thought.

well i hope all of this has been helpful.

good luck,
-scott

bones and soft surfaces aside, knightdrake brings up a good question.

i will begin animating my project soon, and it is my first animation work ever.
(i made my character a robot to get around the bones issue), but does
anyone have good advice for how to create a constraint hierarchy that works
really well for animation?

in my tests, i've found that the way you group and link model elements makes
a big difference. are there any experts out there who have advice?

thanks.
-scott

well at this point i'm done yapping about my work. if there are any questions, feel free to ask. thanks for your interest / patience.

-scott

this was the first thing i modeled for the scene. all the parts are modeled. i tell myself it is good to spend... waste so much time making models because i can always use them in subsequent scenes.

i hope this is the case.

if you look closely, you can see the spilt coffee in the middle of the floor. it is just a big metaball object that a stuck halfway into the floor. hey, time was running out.

i really like what's going on with the lighting on the winow frame. the moonlight is mixing with the neighbor's window light and with the fluorescent.

i also began to fall in love with the refrigerator, so i wanted to find some way to work it into the composition. it is one spline object plus the spline handles, but i would like to go back into it and model it completely. like all the other objects, it has nice radii on the edges.

the neighbors apartment, visible through the window is an actual photo of my neighbors apartment, modified in photoshop and applied to a vertex wall. i made a luminosity map for the glow channel and faked emitted light with a spot coming from behind the neighbors window. logically, the vertex wall was set to not cast shadows.