A little Black Faery: an introductory tutorial to N-Sided Quidam

	Inthe last workshop, the Rendering one, you have simply to adjust thefinal parameters. The 2D image is either exported in Targa (.tga) fileformat or as Jpg. Photoshop file format is'nt allowed for now, so takethe Targa one and in Photoshop you shall convert the file to « .psd ».You have to choice the resolution, which has the document's windowproportions, unless you click on the small yellow dot situated betweenthe width and the height dimensions (in pixels) in the Image Size fieldof the adjustment window. It's also necessary to click on the optionsWrite to disk and Export layers, otherwise you shall'nt get the Alphachannel which is necessary to make an easy selection of Eburnea inPhotoshop.
	Finally,you have to deal with three separate files : QuidamImage.tga which isthe render itself, QuidamImage_gbuffer.tga which is a separate image ofthe Alpha channel, and QuidamImage_zbuffer which is a description ofthe model in depth. The latter one we shall'nt use here. Open therender and the Alpha files with Photoshop, select the Displacementtool, and transfer the contents of the latter into the first one. Checkthat in the View menu, Snap to > Document bounds is selected : thisshall attract the new Layer just in front to the default (i.e.Background Layer) one.
	Thenyou use the selection potential of the Alpha file. For that, you canduplicate one of the RGB Channels of the new Layer which appears whenyou've pasted the Alpha image on the picture. A window appears (bottomof this figure). Rename the new Channel as "Eburnea", or Black Faery),after which you discard the above-lying Layer. Finally you save thefile as ".psd" (do'nt forget in the Save window of Photoshop to keepthe precious Alpha channel by clicking on the adequate button).
	Hovever,as said earlier, even with the very good skinning quality of Quidam andusing its Drop tool, some postwork remains necessary, and this isespecially true when limbs (elbows, knees) are flexed at 80° or more.Even the thighs are'nt correctly curved, they show some angle atmid-length. Then you have to do some postwork into Photoshop, with theClone Stamp tool, the Eraser and the Brush. The Filter Liquify (towhich you access in Psd6 by Image > Liquify and in later versions byFilter > Liquify) may only help to correct some details, but youhave to choice a big diameter of tool and very small pressure,otherwise you will have very crude results. On this pict, I've markedby yellow arrows the details that have already been redrawn.
	Thisis an old trunk on which we shall sit down gentle Eburnea. In fact thephotograph was taken as Eburnea's pose was finished : either you haveto pose a model according to a photograph you've taken earlier, or youtake a photo that suits a peculiar pose of a model, anyway it'snecessary that the two match correctly. The lights come from the rightin Eburnea's render, so it's necessary to reverse the pict left-rightin Photoshop's Image menu.
	SelectEburnea from the modified render with the menu Select > Loadselection that recalls the Alpha Channel. Apply Select >Modify >Contract. Take 1 pixel in the window that appears. Then apply Select> Modify > Smooth, and take also 1 pixel : this value issufficient to greatly improve the quality of the final artwork,otherwise it would look like a child's cutting. Copy the contents ofthe selection and paste Eburnea onto the photo background, looking forthe best place for her back, hands and legs to rest comfortably. Closethe modified render without saving it.
	However,some adjustments are necessary to give quality results. First of all,normally, even a kind and lightweight faery such as Eburnea should castsome shadow. This is done with a Levels Adjustment Layer. Active theBackground level, which contains the trunk of the dead tree. MakeLayers > New adjustment layers > Levels, and in the window thatappears, reduce the general brightness of the scene to get some darkrender by tilting the Grey triangle to the left. Select the Layer Maskby clicking on its thumbnail ; notice that i) the Mask's icon is nowsurrounded by a double outline (partial double outline in PsdCS2 andlater versions) and ii) now the colours have been reset to default i.e.full Black and full White in either the Toolbar or the Colour palette.
	Paintin Black with a soft brush everything in the scene that you do'nt wantto be darkened. To help this operation, you can reduce the opacity ofthe Layer that contains Eburnea to see through what you're doingunderneath. If you make some mistake, it's quite easy to returnbackwards by painting in white what you've covered with black. Doing somakes that only Eburnea's shadow is darkened, the rest of thebackground image stays unchanged. I have'nt painted where thebackground image is already in shadow.
	Anotherpoint is that maybe you have'nt correctly adjusted Eburnea's lightswhen you made her render. So, you have to make specific AdjustmentLayers for her, I mean Layers that do'nt affect underlying pictureelements. Therefore, you have, either at the creation of the Layers byfilling the button « Group with previous layers » (Psd 6 and 7) or« Create a clipping mask from the previous layer » (Psd CS and laters),shortcut Apple/Ctrl G, to ensure that result. Otherwise, what you dowith Eburnea's Layer shall affect also the background photograph.That's finished, folks!