I looked at a few of the latter pages in this thread and I figured I should chime in with some insight that I think is important for most of you to hear. I've seen the term "render" used incorrectly numerous times throughout the years, mostly by those who have developed their graphical knowledge and skills primarily though signature-oriented communities.
Most often, I see the term "render" applied to a cut-out image--such as an anime character or car--used in a sig. There are also numerous websites that refer to such images as renders. This is an incorrect usage of the term. These images would more properly be described as "extractions" or "crops", and the original images they were taken from as the "stock" images. An actual render is an original image created through the use of programs like 3DsMax or Photoshop. This does not apply to using such a program (ie photoshop or gimp) to extract an image, however.
It may sound trivial, but I think proper use of the terms is important for any of you who are considering doing anythingmore with photoshop than make sigs. It also makes people with a better understanding of graphic design more likely to take you seriously.
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