weird alpha render question.....max

fritz

ok...this may sound a little werid. bare with me. say you have two planes.....one on top of the other. the top plane has a material on it that effects the way the texture on the lower plane looks. however...the lower plane has an alpha on it i need in order to select it in pshop. but when i render...the higher plane's solid alpha obscures the alpha of the lower plane....which the lower plane alpha is what i need.

is there some way to turn off the alpha on an object while retaining the effect in the render window?

if too confusing....i can give some images....i just really gotta step out right now.

THANKS.