If there is an alpha channel present that is all you need. I already lined out what to do. [snip] What need to be done is that in the 'Channels' tab you select the channel, choose 'Duplicatie Channel' from the tab menu and choose 'NEW' in the following dialog box. This creates a new document that can be saved as a grayscale bitmap, to use as an alpha. [/snip] You do not have to use the magic wand tool. You should not use it, because it is not very precise, so you would end up with white borders around your leaf image. The way the shader tree of Carrara is organised does not keep the option open to use alpha information that is present in a Photoshop or TIFF file. When using masks on leaf shapes you should not forget to look up some threads about transparancy around here. In the part of the leaf that should be invisible there should be absolute black in the color channel, black in the alpha channel and 'light through transparancy' should be ticked. It is also possible to use custom shapes for the leafs, what is a nice alternative too, because it shows with the most simple render methods. Have fun!