by Guest Mon Aug 16, 2010 4:24 pmRendering: The Good, The Bad, And The Kimo
Introduction:
What's a render, you ask? When it comes to creating signatures and other GFX arts, renders are the most vital parts of an image, since it's what shapes the signature. A render is simply the cutout of an image used in a signature or a banner, which enhances it according to how good or well rendered it is. Have a look at the examples below.
Original Image
Render
Signature
Have a close look at the signature above. When you open it, your eyes are instantly moved to the render in the middle. Look at how good the render is; isn't it why the signature is really good?
So why render if there are already rendered images? The reason is because people tend to miss a few great images. If you had a look at the original image of Shadow above, that image is actually one of the best images of Shadow out there, and it would be a shame if it wasn't used. Luckily, I made a render, but I'm sure there are other images you would love to have rendered out and ready to be used, no?
How to render:
First of all, search for the picture you like, and use Adobe Photoshop to open it. Second, you should know about all the rendering tools in Photoshop before starting out, which I will be explaining later. Once you've opened the image, use your tools to cut out the render you want. Some images will have a few environmental effects on the render, such as this one. You can clearly see Lugia covered in bubbles at some certain parts. Some artists ignore those environmental effects and render the image as if they weren't there, while others render the image and the environmental effects that affect the render. All this depends on how you would use the render, but it's always best to render the image and the effects.
Tools:
There are a lot of tools to use when it comes to rendering. Here's a list of them all.
Lasso Tool
A basic selection tool that depends on free hands, nothing more. You'll need a Pen Pad to use this one correctly. When you install Photoshop, this one is available by default in the toolbox. This one is used by simply click anywhere on the image, then hold down the mouse button. Drag the moue around the render, and when you're done, release the mouse button.
The Good: Can render almost anything, has no problems with curves, can touch borders.
The Bad: Difficult to master, cannot correct rendering errors, vulnerable to Photoshop glitches.
The Kimo: I don't use this tool at all, due to the unavailability of a Pen Pad.
Polygonal Lasso Tool
A more advanced version of the Lasso Tool, which uses a series of straight lines to render an image. To select this tool, select the normal Lasso Tool, but this time, hold down the mouse button for a little while, until when a little menu appears with different Lasso Tools. Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool, and start rendering. To use, click anywhere on the image, and you'll notice a line on the image that you can drag using the mouse. Once you drag around part of the render, click again to create another line, and so on. When you're done, either double click on the mouse in case the starting point is away, or go back to the starting point, and click when you see a small hollow circle under the right side of the mouse icon (The mouse changes into the symbol of the Polygonal Lasso Tool when using the tool). If you clicked at an incorrect part, press the Backspace button on your Keyboard to go back one space.
The Good: Easy to use, can render anything, accurate when rendering straight lines, can touch borders.
The Bad: Hard to render curves with, inaccurate with curves, may badly render image due to inability to view vital or excess parts, vulnerable to Photoshop glitches.
The Kimo: I use it all the time when I render sprites, and I may use it at times when I cannot render a few images using the Magnetic Lasso Tool.
Magnetic Lasso Tool
The smartest and most advanced Lasso Tool out of all the Lasso tools of Photoshop, which automatically renders images around edges, depending on either outlines or color. You can select it by using the same method for the Polygonal Lasso Tool. To use, click anywhere on the image, and drag the mouse around the image. After a certain spacing, the tool will leave a checkpoint, in case the user would like to correct something. Click on the mouse to create a checkpoint manually. When you're done, either double click on the mouse in case the starting point is away, or go back to the starting point, and click when you see a small hollow circle under the right side of the mouse icon (The mouse changes into the symbol of the Magnetic Lasso Tool when using the tool). If you rendered an incorrect part, press the Backspace button on your Keyboard to go back one space.
The Good: Best at rendering large images, easy to use, quick, does not easily leave excess pixels.
The Bad: Cannot render sprites or squared images, stays away from borders, may dash into another direction easily (keep creating checkpoints manually as if you used the Polygonal Lasso Tool when that happens), may not render images with thin strokes easily, vulnerable to Photoshop glitches.
The Kimo: I use this bad boy all the time, but I leave him aside when I render sprites or images with different color levels everywhere.
Quick Selection Tool
This tool quickly selects pixels adjacent to the one you clicked on according to color. This tool is found by default once Photoshop is installed. Click anywhere on the image to select, then click again somewhere else to add up that selected part to the one you selected before it. To start a new, hit Ctrl+D to deselect.
The Good: Quick.
The Bad: Does not render all kinds of images, may leave a lot of excess pixels, may easily render out vital parts, cannot easily select pixels of images with different color levels.
The Kimo: I never use this tool.
Magic Wand Tool
With the press of a button, this tool quickly selects the pixels with colors near to the pixel the mouse clicked on. You can select this tool by clicking on the Quick Selection Tool, and holding down the mouse button. When a menu appears, select the Magic Wand. Click anywhere on the image, and the tool will automatically select the pixels that have colors near to the pixel you clicked on. You can change the range the Magic Wand uses by changing the value of the Tool Tolerance. Uncheck The Contiguous Box if you would like to select all pixels that have their colors near that of the selected one, and not just colors within the boundaries of the selected area.
The Good: Quick.
The Bad: Does not render all kinds of images, may leave a lot of excess pixels, may easily render out vital parts, cannot easily select pixels of images with different color levels.
The Kimo: I only use this when the image quality doesn't matter much, or while I'm rendering sprites.
Rectangular Marque Tool
This tool creates a squared-selection. You can find it by default. Click anywhere, then hold and dragon. Release mouse once done.
The Good: Quick, removes remaining pixels by the Magnetic Lasso Tool near the border, selects squared objects with ease.
The Bad: Has only one shape, does not render images (only removes excess pixels), may render out vital parts.
The Kimo: Only when I want to remove pixels near the borders.
Elliptical Marque Tool
This tool creates a circled-selection. You can find it by holding the mouse on the Rectangular Marque Tool, and then selecting it from the menu.. Click anywhere, then hold and dragon. Release mouse once done.
The Good: Quick, removes remaining pixels by the Magnetic Lasso Tool near the border, selects squared objects with ease.
The Bad: Has only one shape, does not render images (only removes excess pixels), may render out vital parts.
The Kimo: I never use this one.
Eraser Tool
A Graphic Artist's best friend. This nifty tool can erase out any kind of excess pixels. There are different modes for this tool: Brush, Pencil, and Block. Brush uses soft-edged brushes to erase, Pencil uses toothed ones, and Block uses a block of a definite shape and size wherever you go. You can find it by default as well. To use, you can either click and drag, or click once.
The Good: Quick, removes excess pixels, easy to use, vulnerable to Photoshop glitches.
The Bad: Cannot render images, may remove extra parts by accident.
The Kimo: Always have, always will.
Magic Eraser Tool
A mix of both the Magic Wand Tool and the Eraser. Can be selected by holding down on the Eraser tool, and selecting from the menu. Used the same way the Eraser is used.
The Good: Quick.
The Bad: Does not render all kinds of images, may leave a lot of excess pixels, may easily render out vital parts, cannot easily select pixels of images with different color levels.
The Kimo: Never used.
Tips:
● Instead of rendering the entire image at once, render the background bit by bit, and then hit Delete once you select. Helps overcome Photoshop glitches.
● You can enhance your render a bit by giving it a 1 Pixel stroke.
● Save your render in a .png format, to enable transparency and to give it the highest quality possible.
● Save any render you make; who knows if you might need it again?
● Look for renders of the same image before rendering to save time.
● Use deviantArt as a source for pictures to render; almost all of the images there aren't rendered by artists, and they sure do have amazing pictures.
● Use Photobucket when searching for renders.
● PlanetRenders isn't as great as what everybody says, since the renders have a black background.
Credits:
● Kimo Force: Writing guide.
● Adobe: Creating Photoshop.
● TechnoKids: Teaching me the basics of rendering.
● Reader: Reading.
© Kimo Force
~ Kimo Force
You should've added that sharpening the pic first will kinda bring out the render you want from the background.. so it's easier for Photoshop to tell which one's the background and the render.. but nice (very) detailed tut 
