How to unmultiply layer in Photoshop

Following is the manual steps to unmultiply an image in Photoshop the hard way:

Let's say you have a cloud with transparency for example.

- Have the original painted (or not more likely these days) cloud with transparency in Photoshop open.

- If you have a layer mask, delete it, an apply it.

- Ctrl (PC) or Command (MAC) click on the layer to select the layer's transparency.

- Save the channel as an alpha. Make sure it's the only alpha.

- Now duplicate the cloud layer with transparency once. Take the duplicated layer and merge down (ctrl or command e). That's 2 cloud layers merged. Duplicate that and merge. You have 4. Duplicate that and merge. You have 8. Duplicate that and merge. You have 16. Duplicate that and merge. You have 32. Duplicate that and merge. You have 64. Duplicate that and merge. You have 128. Duplicate that and merge. You have 256. Duplicate that and merge. You have 512. Duplicate that and merge. You have 1024. Duplicate that and merge. You have 2048. Duplicate that and merge. You have 4096. Good enough. The power of 2. Gotta love it. I suggest you make a Photoshop Action for easier future use.

- Now I suggest you add a layer below the cloud layer and make it a general sky color, or the average color of the actual cloud's background. If you've truly unmultiplied the cloud it wouldn't matter what color you made the background. Pink, black, white, or green. It just gives you more peace of mind that it's goint to cut out of that color. Some Artists use whatever the background was. That's a waste of disk space. But it can be useful for reference when lining up in 3D.

- Now flatten or merge the rgba image. You have an unmultiplied cloud texture for Maya / Mental Ray. Use .tga for mental ray. Unless they fixed it. Used to be mental ray didn't support .lzw .tif's. Annoying. .tga works for maya or mental ray rendering.

Side note. After Effects can view and save unmultiplied images. Shift click on alpha in comp window. Very convenient. Wouldn't you think that the After Effects team and Photoshop team at Adobe could have lunch one day and share that code? PHOTOSHOP NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO VIEW AND SAVE IMAGE(S) UNMULTIPLIED. THOMAS KNOLL, JOHN KNOLL, HELLO! Not ranting, just trying to get the word out. Write them! Put on your blog(s). Photoshop should just do this out of the box.

Enjoy,
Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com

Matte Paintings

I was browsing matte painting dot org. Do you agree with my comments? I noticed most matte paintings have the light, sun, or moon right in camera, or just off. It works, but a little overused in my opinion.


Love it:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4461&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4307

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3362

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2723

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2744

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4376

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2452

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4379

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4373

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4484

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4205

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3579

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4163


Too many birds:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9223

Good use of birds:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9286


Interesting:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4190

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4184

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3053

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2729

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2708

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2575

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2087

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2063

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4352

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3707

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4430

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3737

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4092

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4071



Artist(s) who really wanted to work on Star Wars:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9184

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4472

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4464

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3334


It's not super well done, but something I like about it:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4127

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3986

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2792

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2767


Great study. A good painter could just keep going:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3645&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3588

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3254

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3027

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2604

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3505

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4106


Redneck Painting:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4099

http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2425

Kind of cool, tree needs work:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9175

Trying to draw the eye TOO much:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=9013

Photo of valley is better than the structure:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4475

Terrible:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4129

I literally had this idea 15 years ago, somebody just shot into my memory, amazing:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3859

Less is more and proof that not every matte painting needs clouds, love it:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3628

Typical junk. How many of these kind of matte paintings are we gonna see before we puke, without even drinking?:
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4403

Hah!
http://mattepainting.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3810


Enjoy,
Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com

The Holodeck, As Re-Imagined in 2010

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

One day of shooting, 2 years of post production.

Enjoy,
Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com

How Benjamin Button Got His Face

Enjoy,
Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com

At ILM blah blah blah

http://www.vfxhack.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/the-we-syndrome.png

You could also swap 'ILM' with 'SONY' or 'WETA' or 'PIXAR' and it's just as funny...

-Louis Katz
www.louiskatz.com