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I see that MB3D allow to use a image as background
I didn't try yet to load a full transparent image but would be cool if  a fully transparent image could be used for BG
would make much easier the postwork

Too tired now to see if could be already done  ( here are 6 AM and still i must go to sleep ) if could already be done this may be a tip..if not is just a wish

yes could be done but with not much joy:
 load a fully transparent image has the same effect to load one filled with a solid color so i suppose alpha channel is not supported..or i am wrong ?

No there is no alpha channel support im m3d so far but if using no fog, no image or gradient background and no antialias it is very easy to remove the background in postpro.

and the z-buffer image works also fine to separate fractal from background...  ;D

Zbuffer, yep.

Transparency is fully unsupported.  :)

Ah...i must admit that i had no idea of what the z-buffer is exactly and how it works or how to use it
(only once and by mistake i saved the z-buffer instead then the image and i was very disappointed )
it could be explained in simple words ?(english is not my native language )

Also a link would be fine

ok, i'll try.
the zbuffer image represents a distance-map of the fractal object in greyscales. depending on distance of the fractal object to zstart and zend coordinates, points are colored from white (zstart position, near to camera) to black (zend position, far from camera).
as the background is allways behind the zend coordinate, the background is allways colored black. so black points in zbuffer are background (fractal objects are only displayed between zstart and zend). in most image editors, you can use this to select only the background (black pixel in zbuffer).
i hope i get it right (i'm not jesse, so i can only guess)
not to mention, that i am no native english speaker as well...  :dink:

you tried well now the concept is much more clear

At first i also thought that the z axis  was related to the distance from the camera but then when i saw that move lights along the z axis apparently seldom move them closer or farther  from the camera i tough to be wrong and that depending from the formula the axis could be somehow rotated,or offset with less intuitive angles

Good to know that instead the Zbuffer is always related to the camera, thank for claring

As an alternative to z-buffer, you can make useful depth masks with adequate color settings as well.  :dink:

In case it's useful for anyone I have attached the lighting preset I use for that. Tweak the ambient and ambient shadows values primarily for fine tuning it in m3d and then curves eventually in your image editor.

 O0

besides masking background, you can do a lot of other monkey business with the zbuffer. i created a relief heightmap out of a zbuffer in cinema 4d, to celebrate the 2nd aniversary of the mandelbulb.

http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=9304 (http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=9304)

you see - as usual here - the possibilities are infinite...  ;D

Hehe, the original name I gave to the "Depth Mask" lighting preset I posted was Height Map and I did it with the aim of converting it to mesh/elevation model in some software but unfortunately (and surprisingly) I failed to find any such (free) software, perhaps (most probably) I haven't looked that well so if anyone knows of some free sofware that can convert an image to mesh/elevation model please let it be known.

In case anyone is interested I have finally found this cool little free program that converts an heightmap image to obj mesh.

http://texel3d.free.fr/projets/3dpaysage/index.html

 O0

For the month of February, Bryce 7 Pro is Free!  Bryce does much the same thing (sculpting landscapes from images).

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/software?cat=1070

Also free this month is Hexagon, the 3D Modeling software  from the same company.

And while you're there, Daz Studio 4 Pro is free too!  It's a 3D rendering program meant mostly for the content they sell there, but still works with other stuff and is well worth grabbing while it's free!

I mentioned it in the Voxel Stack thread, now here...  I think this deal needs it's own thread!  Many hundreds of dollars in savings on this great software package.

Thanks for the reminder Sockratease, I have downloaded all that stuff now.  ;D

i would love see some examples of this use of the z-buffer more links to practical examples are welcome

Don't have images handy, but here's a quick tutorial for the process:

http://www.sharecg.com/v/22751/tutorial/Apophysis-and-Bryce-Tutorial

It talks about Apophysis, but any image works.  Even images of my Fiancee   :devil:

Thank for the link i had to trace the pw to login and so to get the PDF but it was worth the effort
More i installed Bryce a few days ago taking profit of a free offer.i never used yet but may be a good motivation to start