for those we must yet save

Azem's magic is summoning, right? Summoning the party. Bringing exactly what's needed to the fight. We regain this ability when we get our crystal from Hythlodaeus in Amaurot, and we've used it to really great effect since.

But if you think about it, we've always used a low-key form of this ability since we were wee bitty sprouts just starting out in Ul'dah, or Gridania, or Limsa Lominsa.

What is the one thing everyone knows the Warrior of Light can ALWAYS do?

Find anything. A person. A place. A thing. An idea. Anything that is missing, the Warrior of Light can find. The NPCs remark on it constantly throughout the MSQ and side-quests. Nothing can escape the Warrior of Light when they're looking for it.

And I think that's because even though we need the crystal to enact a full-out Summoning, it's innate to us, Azem, to be able to find exactly what we need when we need it. It's an integral part of Azem - the ability to always have a solution at hand.

After all, how can one be the Counselor to the People, the Warden of the Star, if one can't always find a viable solution to a problem?

"There is no greater calling for a knight than to save the life of his fellow man."

Want a nice cut-out picture? transparent chromakey shots are here to save the day!

You can achieve this with a combination of two features in gshade: ChromaKey, a technique that generates a greenscreen effect:

and Clear Alpha Channel, a setting at the very bottom of the Home tab:

Ready? So here's the step-by-step: first, make sure Chromakey.fx is placed right after FFRestoreUI.fx. Also, check if the Keying Color is set to Alpha Transparency.

Next, set up your scene and position your subject with some clearance around it for the chromakey effect.

Now, make sure the Clear Alpha Channel setting is disabled, and enable the Chromakey.fx filter. After that, adjust its distance in the Definitions panel, like this:

You want to cover as much as possible of the background without cutting into the subject itself. While the only thing you'll see in-game is a black background, the final screenshot will actually replace it with proper transparency!

(Important: make sure to re-enable the Clear Alpha Channel setting after taking your shots, otherwise you may end up with a bunch of fully transparent pictures!)

Chromakeyed, transparent images can be used in several different situations! For example, I often use it to create tutorial slides:

What about reference cards for art commissions?

Or maybe stickers with your friends. Or Discord emotes. Or whatever strikes your fancy. The sky's the limit!