| Step 1 |
Create your image in POV-Ray and make sure it has an
alpha channel. On the Mac, save it as a PICT format file. In Windows
save as a TIFF format file. GIF, JPEG, and PNG do not have alpha channels.
|
| Step 2 |
Open the file in Photoshop |
| Step 3 |
Open the Layer Palate (select the "Windows" menu and select
"Layers"). |
| Step 4 |
Open the channels Palate (select the "Windows" menu and
select "Channels"). |
| Step 5 |
Select the channel "Alpha 1", as shown in figure 4.
Figure 4: Selecting the "Alpha 1" channel |
| Step 6 |
Figure 5: Selecting the entire image
(Ctrl+a on Windows, Command-a on Mac) |
| Step 7 |
Copy the alpha channel (Ctrl+C on Windows, Command-c on Mac) |
| Step 8 |
Select the RGB channel by clicking on it and hide the alpha channel
by clicking on it's view button, as shown in figure 6.
Figure 6: Selecting the RGB channel |
| Step 9 |
Paste the alpha channel into a new layer that will be named "Layer
1" as shown in figure 7. (Ctrl+v on Windows, Command-v on Mac).
Figure 7: Pasting the alpha channel in a new layer |
| Step 10 |
Change the blending of "Layer 2" from "Normal"
to "Screen", as shown in figure 8.
--> 
Figure 8: Changing the blend of a layer |
| Step 11 |
Open your other background image, and copy it. |
| Step 12 |
Switch back to your original image and paste the background image
into a new layer, "Layer 2".
Figure 9: Copy & Pasting Background Image |
| Step 13 |
Move "Layer 2" below "Layer 1"
Figure 10: Moving layers |
| Step 14 |
Invert "Layer 2" (Ctrl+I on Windows, Command-I on Mac)
Figure 11: Inverting Layer 2 |
| Step 15 |
You should see an inverted blend of the background and the original
POV-Ray image, as shown in figure 12.
Figure 12: Invert blend background
If you are using an LCD, you may have to look at it at an angle to
see the white L3P over the inverse star background. If you don't have
this result, you may not have both "Layer 1" and "Layer 2" visible,
or you may have skipped changing "Layer 2" blending to "Screen". |
| Step 16 |
Select all (Ctrl+a on Windows, Command-a on Mac) |
| Step 17 |
Copy Merged (Shift+Ctrl+c on Windows, Shift-Command-c on Mac) |
| Step 18 |
Paste the clipboard into a new layer that will be named "Layer
3" (Ctrl+v on Windows, Command-v on Mac)
Figure 13: Layer 3 after the copy-merged operation
If the new layer doesn't contain the blend of "Layer 1" and "Layer
2", you may not have done a "Copy Merged". This is a common error
I make. |
| Step 19 |
Hide "Layer 1" and "Layer 2" as shown in figure
14.
Figure 14: Hiding "Layer 1" & "Layer 2" |
| Step 20 |
Invert "Layer 3" (Ctrl+i on Windows, Command-i on Mac)
as shown in figure 15.
Figure 15: Inverting "Layer 3" |
| Step 21 |
Change blending on "Layer 3" from "Normal"
to "Screen", as shown in figure 16.
--> 
Figure 16: Changing the blend of a layer |
| Step 22 |
Figure 17 shows the finished image.
Figure 17: The final image Click on the image to enlarge and notice the yellow
brick has the stars visible through it. |
