Hi, I am a long time PI user. I think I would pretty much be classified as somewhat of a graphics lightweight by folks around here. My primary interest in graphics is creating objects for object desktop, and just generally making coll stuff, eye candy. No where near a pro, and do not aspire to be ... Though I'm always on the lookout for hints and tips that will increase my ability in the limited areas that interest me.

My problem[s] with creating objects are "jaggies". I find it very hard, if not impossible, to get a sparkling object with no trace of jags [and here it may be useful to take a look at my desktop] http://www.angelfire.com/planet/xraywolff/dt.html

Here is the method I have been using up until now to create my objects.
I first find a pic of interest of course, download it and open it in PI [I mostly use 10, although I now have 12]. I then crop out as much as I can of unwanted backround [using the standard square crop tool], then proceed to erase what is left of the backround. I tend to use bright green as the color I erase with, then save it as a .png with the green the transparency color and presto, I now have an object.
As you all can see though, most of mine are surrounded by unsightly looking halos of green [with the exception of the tiger, I used red for that one].
In order to try to eliminate this or at least reduce it, I have tried expanding/shrinking the object, which has limited success. I try bucket filling when I can [when there is a clear, high contrast backround] minus anti-aliasing. All of this and more still leaves me with the jags.

Well, I finally tried Photoshop, and I seemed to have found the cure [if in fact it does not lie somewhere within PI] And its really simple. I just use the backround eraser tool in PS, and I do not know how it does it but it pretty much knows what to erase and what not to erase. Overlapping an arm or wong or something, the backround will be erased and the arm/wing [whatever the object is that I'm trying to isolate] will be intact with a near perfect, jaggless line. Seemed to easy ... But it works great [see if you can pick out the 3 objects I did with this method].
One drawback is that PS seems to leave tons of artifacts that are near impossible to see, and resist very much getting erased. So it it [was] a process of getting everything I could see, then actually setting it as an object on my desktop, then manuvering it around against different colors [some artifacts show against light, some against dark], then going bacl to PS to try to remove these, save, change the object to the new one, finding more ... And repeat and repeat until they are finally all gone.
I had the bright idea of opening up one of these objects after the first save in PI, and I am glad I did. The artifacts on PI show up very dark, and sometimes even surrounded by a glowing line, they do not resist erasing [using PI's object eraser], and it made the process a whole lot less time consuming.
So now I do the first critical isolating of the object in PS, which leaves no jags whatsoever around the object, erase the majority of the remaining backround, save it as a .png, open it up in PI, fine tune it by erasing the rest of the artifacts, maybe adjust its size then wall-ah, I now have the objects I have been wanting for years [The 3 I did with this method are the ME-262 jet, the brunette by the jet with a white shirt and arms folded, and the flat chested blonde to the right of the flag]. All of the rest were done with PI alone, and you can see the unsightly green jags and glow on most of them [click the pic to see the large version, they really stand out].

So ... Am looking for any suggestions/methods that would leave PS as unused as possible. I like both apps but am partial to PI, as I am used to it, and it seems much more customizable [seems you have to do nearly everything in PS through file menus instead of icons].
Does PI actually have one of these magic backround erasers I have over looked all this time ? If not, I can not imagine why, it is such a nice tool.
I don't know how it senses what to erase and what not to erase, it must be a matter of pixels/colors/continuity. Whatever it is, I wish PI had it.

I looked at some of the tutorials here [in fact thats how I found this place, typing "ulead erase backround" in google].
The lasso method with the little girl was neat, I never used the lasso, so it seems it is somewhat of an advanced cropping tool. That still left me to erase the remaining critical areas around the object though [cute kid!] ... And left me with the same jaggy results.
Mask tutorial was nice also with the flower ... Also never messed with masks or layers. Not sure what I did wrong, but the flower was as jaggy as could be.
Also tried a method I discovered myself that I never used, the "extract object" function [3rd one from the bottom here] http://www.ulead.com/learning/pi10.htm . Very interesting also, worthy of further study and practice but again, results unsatisfactory.

So thats about it, if you've read this far your eyes are probably bleeding, hope I made my point and asked questions in a comprehendable manner.

One last thing, I know my desktop may seem somewhat controversial to some, just wanted to say am not looking to discuss politics/idealology here [get enough of that in real life] So if anyone is offended or whatever, I appologise in advance.
I have over a dozen self made desktops, and this is probably the least controversial.

Regards