# post-process your renderings in photoshop Stager is pretty good at creating a [[stager rendering|rendering]], however it isn’t necessarily the final step in the process. Photoshop offers plenty of potential for refining and improving upon what Stager can provide. ## export render in PSD format While you can save your render in PNG format, however that is a flattened format and will be quite limited in future processing. So, definitely save as a PSD format. For most purposes, you can save as 16-bit/channel. ## photoshop setup When you open your render in Photoshop, you will see that Stager has given you some nice additional layers/tools to work with. ![[stagerPhotoshopLayers.png]] At the top of your layer stack, you will find a series of mask layers that make it relatively easy to select elements based on objects or materials or depth from camera. If you were using Denoise Export, you will see both the raw and denoised versions of the render. It can sometimes be surprising to see how noisy the actual output really is. --- ## cool post-processing tricks Since I love Photoshop, I could easily fill several pages with neat processing tricks. Here’s a small sampling. If you want more, please [[jotform|send me a message]] and I’ll try to help you out. ### increase contrast with levels As good as Stager is, sometimes your final render isn’t as sharp as you would like it to be. Here’s how to increase contrast non-destructively. 1. Choose your top layer in the layer stack. 2. At the bottom of the Layers panel, press the **Adjustment Layer icon** (tipped over circle) and choose **Levels**. ![[stagerPhotoshopLevels.png]] In the Properties panel, you will see a mountain range graph (Histogram) that displays the values from light to dark. In the example above, you can see that I have a really dark scene since the bulk of the range is on the left side of the graph. Grabbing and sliding the little blocks below the graph adjusts the histogram. Move the endpoints toward the center increases contrast. The middle block is the midpoint 50% gray. Sliding that affects global lightness or darkness of the image. Be careful you don’t go overboard. It is easy to go too far with this. ### shift colors with hue/saturation Similar to Levels/Contrast, sometimes you need to tweak the colors in your render. 1. Choose your top layer in the layer stack. 2. At the bottom of the Layers panel, press the **Adjustment Layer icon** (tipped over circle) and choose **Hue/Saturation**. ![[stagerPhotoshopHueSat.png]] Adjust the **Hue** slider and have some fun watching the colors shift in a psychedelic way. **Saturation** is the amount of color and **Lightness** is the light/dark of the scene (although you’ll get better luck with Levels for Lightness). For more advanced tweaking you can change the dropdown menu for **Master** to specific colors. Plenty of potential for tweaking here. ### camera raw for even more tweaking An alternative to using Adjustment Layers is to manipulate the image layer with a Camera Raw filter. It is like having a digital darkroom to play around in. 1. Convert the layer to a Smart Object so you are working non-destructively. In the Layers panel, right-click on the Layer name and choose **Convert to Smart Object**. 2. Use the pull-down menus for **Filter > Camera Raw Filter**. ![[stagerPhotoshopRAW.png]] In the **Basic** category, you can tweak everything from C**olor Temperature** to **Exposure** to **Clarity** and **Saturation**. In the **Effects** category, you can add a **Vignette** or even bring back a bit of **Noise** (I know, I know, we denoised only to add noise back in). --- ### background replacement Unless you specify a background image in your Camera, you will have a color for your background. You can change the background color in Stager in the Environment settings. When you open up your rendering in Photoshop, the background will be in a separate layer. You can easily turn off that layer and put in your own color or image for the background. One note, Stager does render shadows and those will be part of your rendered layer. Changing the background color or image is cool but it doesn’t get rid of the shadows. That can lead to weird visuals. You can, however, use those mask layers to make selections to hide those shadows. ### add fog Use the depth map that Stager provides as a Layer Mask to a white layer to add fog and increase the sense of depth. Select the **Depth** layer and use the drop-down menus for **Edit > Copy**. 1. Create a new blank layer and position it above the Rendered Image layers. 2. Fill the layer with White. This will be the fog layer. 3. Create a Layer Mask by pressing the Layer Mask icon (box with circle) at the bottom of the Layers panel. 4. Alt-Click into the Layer Mask thumbnail. 5. Use the pull-down menus for Edit > Paste. 6. Now click back on the image thumbnail and you’ll see the fog. It is probably too bright, so lower the opacity or blending mode. You can also ### add depth of field Uses Depth layer as a Layer Mask, except this time on a Lens Blur layer. Go into detail. ### add vignette Vignettes add a dark or light effect to the edges of your image. This helps to focus the view on the center of the image. A good vignette can be powerful and yet subtle. If you didn’t do it in the Camera Raw trick above, you can add a separate one with and Adjustment Layer instead. 1. Choose your top layer in the layer stack. 2. At the bottom of the Layers panel, press the **Adjustment Layer icon** (tipped over circle) and choose **Gradient**. 3. In the popup dialog, you can choose basic Transparent to Black or Transparent to White Gradient. 4. Set your Style to Radial. 5. You may need to toggle Reverse to make sure the edges of the gradient are on the outer edge of your image and not the center. 6. Use Scale to control the size of vignette. 7. Press OK ![[stagerPhotoshopGradient.png]] If the vignette is too intense, lower the Opacity of the adjustment layer. Remember, you want this to be subtle and not overwhelming. Toggle the layer off and on to see how much of a difference it makes. ### add texture This is a simple, dumb trick but can be pretty powerful. 1. Find an image of a texture and place it as the top layer in your layer stack. 2. Change your Blend Mode to something like Multiply or Overlay. 3. Dial down the Opacity if it is too intense. Use an aged or worn paper from a site like [Wild Textures](https://wildtextures.com/category/free-textures/paper/) and you have an instant vintage effect. Use a canvas texture and you are halfway to having a “painting”. --- Learn more… - [Rendering assets from Substance 3D Painter YouTube video from Adobe Substance 3D](https://youtu.be/raGhfzhzVdU?si=9Kc6cnoQfhVt9D79&t=650) --- tags: #3d #resources #substance #stager #photoshop home: [[! 3d modeling - substance]]