In this tutorial we’re going to be working with the Cutout Lab in Photopaint. At some point when working with images you’ll realize that you want to isolate an image from the background. As a result, you’ll have to create what is called a mask and this allows you to use the object in a variety of compositions.
In this tutorial, I’ve preloaded some images into the workspace. When you look at the Objects docker on the right you’ll see 3 images. The image on the bottom is the background. The image above that is a green high contrast Object and finally, there’s a copy of the background above that which will be used for our working Object.
The reason there’s a green Object in place is for when the masking process is finished. At that point I zoom into the mask and check out the edges against the green high contrast Object. This is to make sure that the edge is smooth and that there are no pinholes in the mask. If there are, they will show up as green through the object.
Before beginning the image masking process, I need to activate the top Object in the docker. After that, I’ll be able to access the Cutout Lab. Be aware that masking is often a delicate process for which the mouse is ill-suited, in my opinion. A better option would be to make use of a drawing tablet.
So let’s get into it. The first thing to do is to go to Image: Cutout Lab. In the Cutout Lab dialog we’re ready to start masking the image, but before we get into it, we need to zoom in more closely so we can see what we’re doing. I click on the Zoom icon and zoom into the Cactus.
The next thing to do is to make use of the highlight tool and using it to define an edge around the cactus. The default tip is a bit too small, so I’ll dial it up a bit, to 19. So now I highlight the edge, which lays some color over the cactus and the background. And this is needed in order to create a mask. When working around the spines, there’s are a bit unwieldy with a tool tip of this size, so I’ll dial down the size of the nib. If you make a mistake in the the image, simply click on the Eraser tool and remove what you’ve done.
Work your way around the cactus using the hand tool or scroll bars. Once the edge of the mask has been defined, I zoom out and apply the fill (in this case, blue, which is the default. To apply the fill, I click on the Paint bucket, then then the center of the cactus.
To preview the image, I make sure the background is set to None which will create a checked pattern in the background. When I click on preview I can start cleaning up the edge, but it’s a bit difficult to see, so I start experimenting with other options, such as black or gray matte.
Using gray matte, I can see some artifacts around the edge and that parts of the mask have holes, which need to be fixed. To fix this, I use the touch up tools to add detail or remove it. And of course, I need to check the entire image. If the image looks ragged on the edges, I click on the Add Detail tool to fil in the gaps. It’s much easier to do this now, than after the fact.
This completes the cleaning up of the image and it’s ready to be cut out. There are three options: Cutout, Cutout and Original Image or Cutout as click mask.Here, I chose Cutout and Original image, which gives me a new Object in the docker, the image which has been cut out and the original below that.
There’s only one more step, to test the cutout image against the green high contrast object. To so so, I zoom into the image and look at the edge. In some areas it’s still a bit ragged, which can be fixed by using the eraser tool.
This gives us a cleaner edge. To go further, you would need to use feathering, and that’s the subject of another tutorial.
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Tags: computer graphics, image editing, image editing programs, image manipulation, image masking, Photography, photopaint image masking, special effects