[Guide] Rendering from Wow Model Viewer in Photoshop

[Wise]

Originally posted by Exactly


This is a guide on (what ive found to be the best method) on how to render a wow character in photoshop
also for this you do not need any knowledge of photoshop, simply follow my instructions
Dont be afraid to click on image links! they show you exactly what to do

programs Ive used:
Adobe Photoshop CS5
Wow Model Viewer

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png
Step 1. Settings
Get a working version of WoW Model Viewer (I use r462) and set it up however you like

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut1.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 2. Choose a Character
Once your done messing around with settings, choose your character's race and edit gear/features/animation.

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut2.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 3. Making sure you will render with ease
Make sure that before you import your character into photoshop that all armor glows/particle effects are off. To do this set animations to "pause" and open up the equipment editor then select the same piece of gear and you will notice that the particle effects disappear.
Note that if you select another Animation it will automaticly play again and you will have to redo the above step to get rid of the effects again.

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut14.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 4. Capturing your Character
When you finish editing your character press the PrintScreen (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/keyboard.jpg) button on your keyboard and open photoshop

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut3.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 5. Photoshop Project Settings
Open a new Project make sure that the background is set Transparent

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/new.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 6. Crop out
Now go to Edit->Paste (or press ctrl+v) to paste your Print Screen and crop so only a the solid color and your character are left

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut4.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 7. Magic Wand tool settings
Select the Magic Wand tool and change the Tolerance to 1

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut5.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 8. Selecting the background
Using the Magic Wand tool click and select all the solid color areas around your character and most of the time you will have everything selected but this time there is a space between some figers left

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut6.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 9. If you missed anything with the magic wand
You can use the magic wand tool again to get select this space but I find using the Polygon Lasso tool here does a better job

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut7.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 10. Feathering your selection
Now that you have all the solid color selected you need to get rid of it but dont delete just yet! Adding a feather will give you a nice effect in the end and you will be able to avoid having any white, black, or coloured lines around your character

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut8.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 11. What is feathering ?
(if you already know what feathering does skip this step)
In case your wondering what feathering your selection even does here is an example in which Ive cut out 2 circles, one without a feather and one with a feather

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut10.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 12. Feather settings
Here you may need to experiment with the feather radius based on what kind of effect you want but generally when you set the feather to 0.2 you will get a good effect (I used 0.4 only because I render at high resolution)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut9.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 13. Removing the background
Now you can remove the solid color around your character by pressing Delete on your keyboard
If for some reason you have that key missing from your keyboard you can simply use the eraser tool to erase the solid color

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut11.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 14. SAVE AS .PNG
Now you will be left with your rendered character with a transparent background, to keep the transparency save the project as a PNG file
IF YOU SAVE AS A .JPG THE TRANSPARENCY WILL BE REPLACED WITH WHITE

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/saving.png)

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

Step 15. Your Done!
To make sure you have done everything correctly you can just reopen the render picture and just look if it is transparent and doesnt have an outline around the character

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/MageRender.png

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Divider.png

CONGRATULATIONS!
You have successfully rendered a character out of Wow Model Viewer!

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/ImageLink-1.png (http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/Rendertut12.png)


Some people may say that Save Screenshot from Wow Model Viewer is easier it gives the same result;
Yes it is easier but It DOES NOT give the same result as you can see here
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/L1M3WAV3/renderexample.png


Note aswell that you maybe not get a an as good looking result as I do because how good your model looks is mainly based on what kind of resolution and graphics card you have on your computer. You can see this if you cant even change the multisample settings on Wow Model Viewer.

Anyways, I hoped you got something out of this guide, feel free to leave feedback/questions and Ill be happy to answer them.