11 replies to this topic

[blackbelt1990]

Lo all

Need to get a car away from its background... any easier way than painstakingly "lasoing" it all?

Thanks thanks thanks!

Like this for example

[yeti21586]

i would like to no this too!!!

[blackbelt1990]

i would like to no this too!!!

I'm thinking the only way is the laso tool

[daemonchild]

i would like to no this too!!!

I did this REALLY quickly with fluid mask 3. (5 mins!)
It's not a good photo to start with because of the antenna and the background.
If you have one with a fairly bland background, I can do better.
You can do much better if you have time of course....


 DSCF3731Cutout.png   241.27K   24 downloads

[Rossyboy]

Obviously there's the "Magic Wand" tool which works on images with more distinguished edges, for instance a single coloured background, however as far as I know the only way to do that particular image is to use the Lasso tool.

It doesn't have to be painstaking though, there's a few tips you can use to speed up the process and improve the overall quality of the cut.

Firstly make sure you are using anti-aliasing, and if you are cutting around hair or fine objects I would recommend using feathering (under 'feather' in the tool options at the top of the window in Photoshop), or going around it with a feathered eraser brush.

Secondly, do it in stages, mostly because if you click off having done a large section and it messes up your line it can become quite frustrating!

Oh and I'm assuming you are using the polygonal-lasso tool, where you click from point to point rather than draw by free hand? If not then hold down on the lasso tool and then toggle it to polygonal lasso tool!

Thirdly, when doing curves you can achieve a cleaner curve quicker by drawing long lines from the lasso tool, and then after deleting the "waste" image, cut across the sharp edges with the lasso tool to neaten it up

If I were doing the picture as shown, I would also cut around the windows where the backround can be seen, and using a new layer with a restricted Alpha (transparency), emulate the sky reflection, or if you were being really critical, manipulate the entire car to reflect the new background image.

So don't think of lasso-ing as a chore just whack your favourite tunes on and just click away! I'd do that image now if I didn't have to be up for 5 tomorrow morning


Night night!

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Wow Ross, not just a great guitarist

[Shifty]

Obviously there's the "Magic Wand" tool which works on images with more distinguished edges, for instance a single coloured background, however as far as I know the only way to do that particular image is to use the Lasso tool.

It doesn't have to be painstaking though, there's a few tips you can use to speed up the process and improve the overall quality of the cut.

Firstly make sure you are using anti-aliasing, and if you are cutting around hair or fine objects I would recommend using feathering (under 'feather' in the tool options at the top of the window in Photoshop), or going around it with a feathered eraser brush.

Secondly, do it in stages, mostly because if you click off having done a large section and it messes up your line it can become quite frustrating!

Oh and I'm assuming you are using the polygonal-lasso tool, where you click from point to point rather than draw by free hand? If not then hold down on the lasso tool and then toggle it to polygonal lasso tool!

Thirdly, when doing curves you can achieve a cleaner curve quicker by drawing long lines from the lasso tool, and then after deleting the "waste" image, cut across the sharp edges with the lasso tool to neaten it up

If I were doing the picture as shown, I would also cut around the windows where the backround can be seen, and using a new layer with a restricted Alpha (transparency), emulate the sky reflection, or if you were being really critical, manipulate the entire car to reflect the new background image.

So don't think of lasso-ing as a chore just whack your favourite glove on and just click away! I'd do that image now if I didn't have to be up for 5 tomorrow morning


Night night!

Thats more like it!!!

[jwb_moto]

when i do one i use the clipping tool which look like a fountain pen nib. it takes a while though as you have to keep clicking a little bit at a time but you can zoom in real close to go round the edges.

[Rossyboy]

Haha I'm a man of many mysteries Mr.Craig!

And if you're still going on about my fingerless gloves Shifty I'll have you know I haven't worn them since early January '08!

Anyway I thought I'd prove how easy it could be, here's my 5 minute effort, about 3 mins cutting around everything and 2 mins to sort out the shadowing, lights and all that jazz.

Other than the cutting all I've done is add the shadow underneath the car, by drawing a rough shadow using the paintbrush and gaussian blurring it, and then altering the depth by using the eraser tool, for instance making it look lighter where the bottom of the front right wheel is, to match the shadow colour with the colour of the adjacent part of the image, so that it doesn't clash. If I were to leave it shadowless, then the dark edge of the wheel would clash with the white background.

Similarly I've added highlights to blend the image in with the background also. This is also known as a 'bloom' effect or so I'm told!

If you want to go for the abstract effect then I wouldn't bother with these things, or if you're adding this image to look as though it's appearing in another place, you'll have to use these effects as well as brightness/contrast and hue so that it blends in with the background image.

Attached Files

•  blackbelt.jpg   127.03K   29 downloads

[Bean]

Best way to do it is to use the 'Pen tool'. You don't have to keep clicking and you can go back a step. Basically what you do is draw a 'Path' around the object, then cut it out.

Click the Pen Tool, which looks like a fountain pen, as said above.

You NEED to have it on the 'Paths' tab on the top tool bar to do this. This is the middle of the three options on the left.

Then, pick a starting point. Once you've got this, click your next destination on the path (just as you would do with a polygonal lasso). What you need to do though, is to click and HOLD the tool. If you do this, you'll notice that some little handles come up on the screen and whilst holding the mouse buttong down, you can move the curve around to form the shape of what you are tracing.

This means that you can trace a curve VERY smoothly and very quickly as you need to click much less.


Also, if you think that an 'anchor point' (one of the squares where you have clicked) has made the line in the wrong place, you can move it!!

If you press the CTRL button whilst clicking and dragging, you can move the actual square.

If you press the ALT button and click on the square, it brings the little handles back up and you can change the direction and severity of the curve.


When you want to finish the path that you've drawn, hover over the starting point and bring the path to a close. The cursor will then have a O by it and that's the symbol to close.


Once you've created the path, you need to go to the 'PATHS' tab on the LAYERS toolbar. You will see the path appear on the list. If you right click on there, you will see a 'MAKE SELECTION' option. This gives you your dotted line that you would get from the lasso.

Other than that, it's a case of practice makes perfect.... but it really is much quicker and smoother than the lasso tool!



Hope this helps!

[mini_matt_106]

wow guys i am so so impressed with what some people on here can do! i love my photoshop and only wish i was as good as the image shown above! need more practice majorly! just wondering what version photoshop people are using? running cs2!

[blackbelt1990]

Thankkssss!!

Looks like I've got my work "cut out" lol ha