when life's not absolute shit... it's pretty good.

 the project was a sign - a real sign.
seems a bit too hard - 
may as well scrap the request...
computer kicked the bucket .. sorry  can't exhibbit much :(

I assume the CD case has dimensions, so... if i had to, I'd measure it, (Google it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_packaging

says: Most slim jewel cases sold for burned CD-ROM use the measure 142 mm × 125 mm ** or 5.59 in x 4.92 in (multiply it by the DPi and you got how many pixels u need)

when you make a new photo shop document you can simply CHOOSE your dpi  300, 600 whatever dpi -then also   type in the correct measurement for the dimensions /

there are drop down menu's beside "width" and height" of the document  the unit of measure use Millimeters, or inches for choosing both.. so when you print it it will fit

I prefer to trim the artwork (from a printout) and i like no white showing, so i make the image area lager so it over flows a tiny bit - (it's called bleed) - then use the real life cropping tool - after it's printed

Is the resolution of the image supplied the same as thee destination? I seem to have fun dragging one image from one file onto another to manipulate it, only to find it is smaller or larger,  if the image is 10,000 pixels across, resolution seems to come into play after printing/output 300, 150 or even 72 dpi for web, those 10,000 pixels cover more space at lower rez. (300 dpi would be 3 times smaller than 100dpi) so templates are usually more helpful if they are at the correct size and resolution as what you are attempting to place an image into them.. they may even have white space/ trasparent areas - or maybe be UN -trimmed

i'm 50 / 50 about it.
I haven't been lurking, or photoshopping since the last comp...

lol

 try this on for size.

put element "A" on a layer    
put element "A+B" on another

change the blending mode of one of them to "difference"

flatten, invert the colours.  

note sig.

layer merging works well if you can master tranparency, i like to use the background layer as a Matte (yeah it may be a gradient, not solid white). I tend to go to the history pallete and make a new document from current state, which i can flatten, knowing i can go back edit the layers of the orginal document.

with the selection active, go ahead and flatten it, go on, don't fret though - the selection remains active after the flattening? yes?
do the ol' duplicate layer, (control+j = pc? - command+j =mac). Navigate over to the layers pallette, throw the baground layer in the bin , yeah the tiny trash can icon in the layers pallette, and prepare to say boo-yaaa.

.deselect the selection if u want.

save you image as .png  .gif. .or whatever from there

I would also try to avoid having exactly the same (duplicate/clone) gradient effecting another try shifing the effect a pixel or two across, this might reduce funky colour intereaction.

See if you can add little noise to the gradient, or have a look also in the render options in the  3D program, a bit of difusion in the sky could work wonders.

I guess you could take a screenshot, of the website and use it as a guide for slicing it up.

turn the brush dynamics on... i think the bruh size can be set to fade from 100% size to 0% size to scale.. a simple two point line , last time i tried to do this - started thin, thickend up in the middle and thinned toward the end.  it may be possible to achieve the effect you want  by adjucting a frew settings..  oh   "stroke  path" is  under  one of the menu's.. tired sleepy...
Zzzzzzz

"I'm in your image, lol, pushing it's pixels"

I'll try a to attempt an action like you sugest it sounds chalenging... in the meantime..

the main issue here is "how to get the action to inteacrt between files.  I think a .tiff . file format  for export would  work better.

If the program you mentioned  can out-put frames as a tiff  I presume it can save the alpha mask. put simply  you have a RGb colour image  ( three channels Red green blue) and the alpha channel... running the  action would be alot simpler with all actions being run within the same  image file... saved as. and re-run  and re-run

the font i sneak in when i can - it's a 1 in 3 chance to promote one of my designs   ... snicker  snicker.
but i'm glad the
Issue is Resolved!

i'm in your  image  pushing it's pixels

Whats funny is when I make a new file and I start clicking new file  button mouthing 'hurry up" randomly, I just  paint around with a red paint brush, only to dab on  grey, not exaclty what i wanted.
... To find out whats going on, I just qukcly have a look at my colour space (dragging mouse up near up near the file menu stuff) dropp that "image" menu down and set the "mode" to what you want.
... Usually when one wants to make new PS  files one can make a choice of the image mode like  Greyscale, rgb ... Perhaps PS just made a new file and decided on it's own: I'll use the colour space of the file you accessed last muhahahha.
.. changing the colour space changes the amount of channels available and the name of the channels, and often the appearance of colours.

... has this helped?

I used  about 4  layers.

top layer is a FIlter>sketch>photocopy of the original image....  layer blending mode Multiply.
middle layer(a).  Image> adjust> poterize> 7 levels.. layer blending normal   opacity 30%
middle layer(b).  Image> adjust> poterize> 5 levels.. layer blending normal   opacity 50%
Background layer, original image...

 cheap nasty but somewhat effective, it won't look like a flash re-trace but meh...