Mixing Digital Art and Crafts
Exploring ways to mix media.

Create a Transparent Object In Photo-Paint

 

Open an image in Photo-Paint.  I am using one of Plumeria you can get that photo here by right mouse clicking and saving link or target as…then open it in Photo Paint from the file menu:

 

Next, navigate to Cut Out Lab:

 

Image 1

 

 

Choose the Highlighter Tool, it is the  first icon on the top right tool area, and draw around the subject.  It is easier to do with a Tablet, however, with a steady hand and some practice it is possible with a mouse as well.  Make sure you close all your shapes.  You will be able to tell later if you didn't.

 

Hint:  zoom in on the area you are working and it is much easier to draw.

 

Image 2

 

 

Now choose the Fill tool, it is the second icon,  and click on your image.

 

Image 3

 

 

 

If there are any broken lines, you will see blue in places you don’t want like below.  You want to get as close to the final image as possible so that there is less adjusting and erasing:

 

Image 4

 

 

Image 4b

 

 

 

Select ok when you have it the way you want.  A new cutout image will appear, mine had a lot of the darker color from the original around it so I went to Mask/Color Mask and Sampled the color I want removed. Hold down CTRL X to cut away the colors that were selected by your Color Mask.

 

Image 5

 

 

You can also use the Magic Wand Tool to click around on parts you want removed. Hold down CTRL X as above.



 

 

Image 6

 

 

 

Clean up any edges by selecting the Eraser Tool and zooming in to find areas to remove.

 

Image 7

 

 

We will continue to clean up the areas by going back up to Mask/Mask Outline/Reduce then type in reduce by any number from  3-5. You may have to undo and redo a few times to get the mask to show enough to cut off unwanted areas and yet not so much that it distorts the image.

 

Image 8

 

 

 

you will see the red mask or the marquee has moved in:

 

 

 

Image 9

 

 

Next smooth the Mask Outline…Mask/Mask Outline/Smooth, I used 15.

 

 

Then hold down CTRL I to invert the mask. 

 

And then CTRL X to cut out the smoothed outline.

 

The final result should look something like this:

This was done very quickly and much more time could have been spent getting it exact.  However, I am going to use it with filters and effects and the edges won't matter as much.
You can see one way it was used in a tutorial on Tech Universe..."Create a Scrap Page Element in Photo Paint".

Posted at 09:23AM May 15, 2008 by Kelley Kuhlman in General  |  Comments[0]