Creating Aion Renders

[Daemon]

I noticed lots of people on here enjoy creating signatures and the like. As Aion isn't yet released you might be struggling to find pre-cut renders. I will give you a small tutorial on how to create your own. Aion has a fan-site development kit this has a few renders in there, but they are being commonly used now and you might want to make some of your own. I've read in several threads people amazed at others creating their own renders. Well it really isn't that hard and I'll show you a small tutorial I made on how to cut out a render, I'll be cutting out one of my favourite Aion renders.

I am presuming you already know your way around the Photoshop interface.

Tutorial

First start of with you're render, I'll be using my favourite Aion render, found on this very site:
View Image

You might be tempted to shrink the render and have something a little easier to work with, in most cases I wouldn't recommend this, the larger the resolution, the more control you have over the render.

Now there are many ways to cut out a render, some people simply erase all the background using the Erasor, some use the selection tools, others create a path using the pen tool. I however create a Layer Mask and omit the unwanted background.

The reasons I do this are simple, it gives me a lot of control because Layer Masks allow me to add opacity (this can be difficult using the pen tool method). It also allow me to append any "over erasing" later without having to stop and undo my last action (this could happen a lot using the erasor method). You can also revise problem areas (you cannot do this with the selection tool method)

To begin, select the layer with your render in, now at the Toolbar at the top go to "Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All". Now Create a new layer directly beneath the layer with the render. Now fill this entire layer with a colour that contrasts with the foreground of your render layer. For my example I will be using a light blue. Doing this allows us to make out any mistakes a lot easier, this isn't an essential step.

Now with black as your foreground colour, and with a medium solid brush (opacity and flow on 100% for this bit folks) select the white box that should now be next to our render layer in the Layer Panels. You now have your Layer Mask selected, this Layer Mask simply controls the opacity on the layer (like an alpha mask). By default Black (#00000) is 100% transparent, whilst White (#FFFFFF) is 100% opaque. Greys control translucency (semi-opacity).

I've provided a screenshot on selecting the Layer Mask after it has been created.



Now begin to fill in the render with a black brush, you don't need to be too neat at this stage, but avoid any intrecate parts and any parts which require more care or tweaking of opacity.

You should finish with something similar to this.



Now to begind the slightly more intrecate parts.

I advise you duplicate thte current layer, and disable the Layer Mask on this duplicated layer, to do this simply right click on your duplicated layer in the Layers Panel and click "Disable Layer Mask", your original render should appear. Now lower the opacity of this layer to around 35%. This layer is used as a marker for accuracy.

Now select our original Render Layer, select the Layer mask and resume filling in the rest of the Layer Mask using smaller brushes to easily fill those hard to get edges. The layer on top should help as a marker to see if you are going outside the edge or not filling in enough.

Tips: I often use the straight line selection tool for straight edgest, and fill them black in the Layer Mask. I used this often on the staff of the Axe.

Tips: Know your hotkeys, you will mainly be using black and white, use the "x" key to switch between both black and white, this can save time selecting the two.

Tips: For the small details in the hair I used a soft 1px brush on 80% opacity, I then lightly blured any problem areas that got jaggys to try and anti-alias the hair.

This is what your render should look like when done.



Finally with your Layer Mask selected, invert the colours, to do this press ctrl + i, or "Image > Adjustments > Invert". Now delete the layer above your render that we previously created as a "Marker" (the one with 35% opacity). You should now have your final render. If you see any problems, this is the brilliant bit about the Layer Mask, you can simply reselect it and correct where needed.



You can view the full version of the final render here, I've also provided the PSD including the additional marker layers for reference in a rar, the rar also has a HTML file with all the tutorial and its images included for easier reading and offline use.

I hope I've helped someone!

Download the PSD and offline Tutorial.
(File size: Over 25MB due to very high resolution PSD [2965x3426])

[HunterX]

Cool, Thx for the tut. I use the same method aswell it hasn't failed me yet.

[Daemon]

Yeah, you'll find a lot of people just using the new selection tool thats replaced the Magic Wand, but on renders that are in a busy image, this can prove a very inaffective method often getting a lot of unwanted background selected.

[Fleiva]

Ive always used the poligonal lasso tool and the pen tool for selections, works quite well for complicated renders.

[Daemon]

I use the polygonal lasso tool in conjunction with this method sometimes, I select the parts of the render using the polygonal lasso tool then fill the selection in the Layer Mask.

[Zanaionic]

i tried and failed miserably. I suppose this method doesnt work with Heavily detailed Peices with lots of background inside peices of the actual render.

[Daemon]

Zanaionic, It's the best method to use in the situation you just described. I'm guessing you would be considered a begginer at Photoshop? The tutorial is aimed at a more intermediate user who is comfortable with Photoshop already and I just describe the method in detail to people who may not have though of it or know of it.

[Zanaionic]

yes im a beginner so i suppose that explains it.......are you using a tablet?

[Anuxinamoon]

Layer masks are my best friend. I use them a lot during texturing as it is non destructive to my texture layer. I usually do a loose tight cut with polygon lasso, then go in and refine with a brush. Depending on what I am doing I use textured brushes (mostly for making custom brushes or cutting out a nice texture) more than hard round brushes. Polygon lasso tool works great on low poly model renders as there are a lot of hard edges with corners on them

[Dynasty]

good tut. cheers.

[Haubix]

Nice tutorial. Me approves.

[Rosalie]

wow thanks a bunch for this~!

now i just gotta get photoshop xD

[TheCox]

Link no longer works.. Anyone have this downloaded?

[Beulves]

Originally Posted by Rosalie

wow thanks a bunch for this~!

now i just gotta get photoshop xD

Originally Posted by TheCox

Link no longer works.. Anyone have this downloaded?

Just couldn't let the nyerking thread die, even though it's over a year old...?

[TheCox]

Originally Posted by Beulves

Just couldn't let the nyerking thread die, even though it's over a year old...?

Just couldn't stop being a troll could you?