Make cutouts so slick they rival Paint Shop Pro's . . .
Version:  I used PI 8
Skill Level:  Intermediate
Featured tools:  Mask, Paintbrush, Path, Selection
Supplies:  Dover butterfly image

NB:  O/C (other-click) refers to whichever mouse-button you use to bring up context menus.



    This method will definitely not provide the nearly instant (albeit very dubious) gratification of the Magic Wand because making clean cutouts with PI calls for the same amount of determination, persistence, and patience as "tubing" with PSP.  But if having image objects sans lumpy, jagged, or hazy edges or off-colored pixels buried deep in corners sounds appealing, then read on!
 
    I chose the top butterfly image here to start you clean-cutting because it has a fairly distinct dark edge next to a solid-colored background (and also a small challenge).  Not all the pictures you'll want to cut out will be this easy:  some will need a loose Lasso selection instead of the Magic Wand to extricate the image from its surroundings; lots will not have neatly outlined edges; and others will require touch-up or even repairing.  Once you get the drift though, this simple technique will enable you to cut out even tiny pictures (think "Dover samples" and have a look here'-) without leaving stray pixels or creating deformities or "halos."
 
    My appreciation and thanks to all who've gone before and freely offered experience and suggestions--including PSP's master tuber 'Jazzl' and whomever it was wrote the "Modesto" tutorial that finally jogged my inner eye into seeing the way to get to where I've always been wanting to go.  Here's how you can get there too:
1)  Open the butterfly in PI.  Just in case you need to put this process on hold before you're finished, now is an opportune time to save the image somewhere as a UFO.
 
2)  Click the Magic wand and set:
Similarity = 20
Search connected pixels = checked
then click in the white space around the butterfly (this selection does not need to fit tightly).
 
3)  O/C > Invert.

4)  Click on the Mask icon.   The pixels you need to remove from the edges of the butterfly are now very obvious :-))
 
If the mask color is not to your liking or a good contrast, click:  File > Preferences > General tab, and change it.  I'm using blue #446D8C with a transparency of 0.
Be sure your background color is black and your foreground color is white.
5)  Now click the Path tool.  Set: Shape = Bezier/Polygon
Mode = Selection (color doesn't matter).
Open the Path Panel, Options tab and check "Disable pick mode while drawing."  Be sure "Anti-aliasing" is checked also.
 
Close the panel to get it out of your way.
 
NB:  Remember to re-enable the pick in this panel after you've finished making your "tube."  The disabled pick option will hold for all other tools with the option throughout your entire session (in PI 8 at least).  This can cause consternation!

6)  Zoom the butterfly in to about 600% (I made a Quick Command Task for this zooming operation so I could easily move back and forth from normal- to 600% zoomed-in-view).  Click on the mask near the edge of the image then start clicking on the solidly colored dark pixels on the edge of the butterfly--the more curved and uneven the edge, the smaller the steps (don't worry--you're not making a path object here, you're just making a selection).  After a short distance, move the cursor away from the image back out onto the mask, click around to make a box, then double-click to close the selection.
7)  If you're satisfied the selection is positioned so all the pixels in the area that need removing are inside of it, go on to step 8.  If you see areas that need adjustments, click Editing on the path tool's Attribute bar and move, add, or delete nodes.  Believe me, it's much easier to edit a path selection than it is a Lasso selection--and the edges of the path selection will be smoother (my thanks to Hillie for that great observation :-)))  Click out of Editing and proceed.
8)  Hit the Delete key on your keyboard once or twice at most (each time you delete the edge of the butterfly gets harder) and the off-color edge pixels will vanish behind the mask.  You can O/C > None to clear the selection and get a better look at the new edge--but because you've disabled pick mode, leaving the selection in place will not interfere with making the next.  Continue in this manner selecting and deleting small discolored segments of the edge all the way around.  When you get to the antennae...
9)  ...just do one side of each at a time.  If the antennae look a bit thin afterwards not to worry--a way to plump them up follows.

1) node placement

2) selection

3) deleted
10)  Here's the butterfly with all the off-colored edge pixels hidden behind the mask.
11)  Now click out of Mask mode.  Here's the butterfly with its revised selection:
12)  Edit > Copy;  Edit > Paste > As new image (actual size, background hidden).

13)  Touching Up:

To thicken and darken the antennae, click the Paintbrush:
Shape = round
Size = 1
Color = #080206 (chosen from         the edge of the image)
Trans = 0
Soft edge = 1
Lines = Straight Lines
Mode = Paint as object
 
Zoom in and draw a series of short lines along and over the antennae, starting each new line where the last ended.  Click out of Object mode; O/C > Select all objects; O/C > Combine Objects.

1)  painting

2)  after
Alternately, simply paint over the thin lines to darken the semi-transparent light gray pixels.  You can do this around the edge of the butterfly too wherever you see any hint of haze.  (Check for light-colored edge pixels by temporarily applying shadow and previewing each of its default directions in sequence.)
 
And there you have it--finis! :-))


Tips and Annotations:
  1. =:-O  If you need to interrupt your cutting-out, click out of mask mode before you save your work to a UFO so PI will save your selection-in-progress over your background image.  If you save to a UFO while still in mask mode you'll get a grayscale mask instead--and I guarantee you'll be disappointed with that!

  2. If along the way you find you've masked out a bit that shouldn't have been removed, just surround the area with a new selection.  Click the double-pointed arrow -->
    to swap the background/foreground colors to white/black then hit the delete key to remove the mask from within the selection.  Reset your background/foreground colors to black/white before you make a new selection for deleting.

  3. A perk of using the Path tool to make selections is that when the selecting approaches the perimeter of a canvas it actually allows clicking on the window frame to select around the target (the Lasso will not do this).

    Other tips will follow as I discover/remember/assemble them '-)
Good tubin'!

liefs,


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January 2008