Ahh, that does sound like it may be a video driver problem.
First step, check for any updates to your video driver.
Secondly, have a look at the settings for your video driver, maybe reduce some of the hardware acceleration settings.

Also, let Reallusion support know directly, send them a screenshot and possibly your project files. There was a similar problem with eyes showing white and jagged-edged on some older ATI cards, and a CTA 1.01 patch that worked around it (I assume your CTA is patched to 1.01?).

It is just possible that this might only show in preview. Could you try rendering a few frames and see if it shows in final output?
Output to AVI not WMV, as some have reported there may be a WMV output problem which could cause similar results.

Good luck!

Edit: Grammar fix: replaced you're with your

----
^{Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra}

Thanks to everyone. There are TWO problems here - working against each other. 1. I'm not complaining about the odd bit of left-over hair in my sample masked head example. It's certainly true that the adjustments kindly made to the "Jim" file are a much better mask than mine was. The issue is this; Both my "Jim" file and the much better "Jim-Adjusted" show an isolated face on the checkered background we associate with transparency. When the same files are imported into CTA, they are on a WHITE background with clunky, jagged edges as though masked by a monkey.

2. The problem may be my computer - I'm not seeing what others are seeing. I'm using a Dell XPS 400 with a Pentium D 2.8 ghz processor. I have 3.5 gig of RAM. The graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 6800.

This all feels like Alice in Wonderland. I'm VERY thankful for all the help and attention. Please let me know if any of this suggests a solution.

Hi Warren, just repeating what Trevinii said, try a different and highly contrasting colour in another layer when you mask. Brown, for example, does not contrast well with your example image.
I usually have a few contrast layers, and switch visibility between them when masking - one white, one black, and possibly a couple of colours (pale green and yellow most commonly, but blue can sometimes be useful).

As Trevinii says, these layers are only an in-process guide for masking, just switch the visibility off or delete them before exporting your final masked image layer.

For example, here's your sample image with a pale green layer behind it, showing more clearly that there's a little more masking work to go.
Turn the pale green layer visibility off before exporting your image to a PNG.

Regards, Myles.



----
^{Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. -- Edsger W. Dijkstra}

@WJS

You're welcome.

Okay, I only meant for you to use the colored background as a separate layer and visual guide to be deleted later.

Try using your "magic wand" - it won't lie to you - it will reveal the artifacts that your eye is not catching with or without a transparent background.

At any rate, I have attached my adjustment to your PNG. Try loading it in CTA and tell me what happens.

Thanks for responding. I remain puzzled. When I added a solid background to my image, the face still looks fine - no masking artifacts at all. Now, of course, the image imports into CTA as a face on a brown background - but still properly masked. (see new attatched.)

It's only the 1 layer (no background) version, that you saw, which imports as a poorly masked mess.

Obviously I've missed something.

@WJS

To avoid that problem, before exporting as a PNG, double check your image on top of a contrasting colored background. The eye can miss a lot of jagged edges when the background is transparent.

After applying a colored background in Photoshop, I could clearly see the rough edges of your PNG.

..and another thing, Crazy Talk Animator's facial puppeteering options and the general look of your avatar will benefit greatly from a HIGHER RESOLUTION photo.

After carefully masking a head image in Photoshop elements 9 and saving as a .png file (see attatched png), CTA Pro seems to undo the most critical edge masking and leaves a mess.

Can someone please take a look at my .png file, first in an image program and then in CTA Pro and give me some idea what I'm doing wrong? Thank you,

Warren Shore