Render to Photoshop layers?

[Moonshine]

Hello,

 

Is there any way to render an image so that the background is transparent in Photoshop. For example, say I have a character, but I don't want the background to be rendered. When I render the image the background shows up as transparent after I bring the image into Photoshop. Or do you have to render the image and then clip out the character like any normal photo.

 

I was just wondering because I see cut out (clipped) 3D images and type used everywhere in graphic design layouts, but I don't know how they get those images into the layouts. I know Photoshop can simulate some 3D type effects, but the stuff I see seems more complicated than Photoshop simulated 3D.

 

Thanks for any ideas.

[zandoriastudios]

Render to a .tga or .png with the alpha buffer checked.

In Photoshop, that alpha channel will show up in the channels palette. Select the channel, click the load channel as selection, switch over to the layers palette and select the layer that your model/character is on and click the layer mask button at the bottom of the palette.

[Moonshine]

Thanks for the great tip!