Cutting objects out of an image cleanly and quickly

You clearly didn’t like the first answers.
yes, 1400 images is a lot of work, and overwhelming
to a newbie who doesn’t know the software.

There may be a simple solution, but there is no magic macro. I’d recommend something like Knock Out, but if you
don’t know PS, you don’t need to try to learn yet another "helper" application, too.

The folks here can’t really give you a more
specific answer without knowing things like
What is the purpose of cutting out the images?
Do you want a transparent background, or to change to a different one? Is the white really white, or are there noise, texture and/or shadows to contend with?
How big are the images?
Are these professional studio shots, or did you put the stuff on a white cloth and start snapping pictures?
Are there reflective highlights that will be wiped out with the white? What’s the timeline and the budget for the project?
Where are the images going to be used? Print? Web? what?

Have you considered hiring someone who actually knows how to do this? That sounds mean, but it may be a better solution than DIY. Faster and even cheaper if
your own time has any value.

wrote in message

Hi,

I’m an absolute newby to Photoshop so appreciate any help whatsoever.
I have 1400 photos of various shaped and sized products that I need to cut around so as to remove the background. The shots were taken on a white mat but there is the odd marks here and there to contend with.
I know there’s a lot of ways to do this and would like to hear a few of the better ways so I can choose which is best for me.
There’s a tonne of work so I really appreciate the help.
Also, is there anything I can do with macros that might make the load of 1400 parts easier?

MANY MANY THANKS

Tino

Hi and thanks for your answers.

What did you mean by "You clearly didn’t like the first answers"???

To give you a little background, I have two other people helping me with the project that know a reasonable amount of photoshop but I want to see if there’s a better way as they’ve had no formal training in it.

I’m also otherwise very computer literate and learn packages very quickly.

I’d love to hear more about Knock Out if you can tell me.

To answer the questions you asked in point form:
-We are cutting the images to go into a catalogue.
-We want a transparent background.
-There is noise and or shadows to contend with even though the shots were taken on a proper illuminated photo table.
-How "big" are the images? The items are no bigger than a bread box and image size in Tiff format is 1.2MB each
-They are reasonably good quality shots taken with good equipment. -Certain reflective highlights may be wiped out.
-We need the project done within 10 weeks.
-The images are to be printed.
-Project has to be done internally.

I very much appreciate your time and any more advice you can give me.

Thanks

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 02:44:12 GMT, "JP Kabala" wrote:

You clearly didn’t like the first answers.
yes, 1400 images is a lot of work, and overwhelming
to a newbie who doesn’t know the software.

There may be a simple solution, but there is no magic macro. I’d recommend something like Knock Out, but if you
don’t know PS, you don’t need to try to learn yet another "helper" application, too.

The folks here can’t really give you a more
specific answer without knowing things like
What is the purpose of cutting out the images?
Do you want a transparent background, or to change to a different one? Is the white really white, or are there noise, texture and/or shadows to contend with?
How big are the images?
Are these professional studio shots, or did you put the stuff on a white cloth and start snapping pictures?
Are there reflective highlights that will be wiped out with the white? What’s the timeline and the budget for the project?
Where are the images going to be used? Print? Web? what?
Have you considered hiring someone who actually knows how to do this? That sounds mean, but it may be a better solution than DIY. Faster and even cheaper if
your own time has any value.

wrote in message

Hi,

I’m an absolute newby to Photoshop so appreciate any help whatsoever.
I have 1400 photos of various shaped and sized products that I need to cut around so as to remove the background. The shots were taken on a white mat but there is the odd marks here and there to contend with.
I know there’s a lot of ways to do this and would like to hear a few of the better ways so I can choose which is best for me.
There’s a tonne of work so I really appreciate the help.
Also, is there anything I can do with macros that might make the load of 1400 parts easier?

MANY MANY THANKS

Tino

In article , wrote:

Hi and thanks for your answers.

What did you mean by "You clearly didn’t like the first answers"???
To give you a little background, I have two other people helping me with the project that know a reasonable amount of photoshop but I want to see if there’s a better way as they’ve had no formal training in it.

I’m also otherwise very computer literate and learn packages very quickly.

I’d love to hear more about Knock Out if you can tell me.
To answer the questions you asked in point form:
-We are cutting the images to go into a catalogue.
-We want a transparent background.
-There is noise and or shadows to contend with even though the shots were taken on a proper illuminated photo table.
-How "big" are the images? The items are no bigger than a bread box and image size in Tiff format is 1.2MB each
-They are reasonably good quality shots taken with good equipment. -Certain reflective highlights may be wiped out.
-We need the project done within 10 weeks.
-The images are to be printed.
-Project has to be done internally.

Frankly, it sounds pretty grim but perhaps your expectations aren’t as high as ours, but post a few samples somewhere so we can see them. I’ve ripped as many as 3200 images before lunch, but the task was consistent shot-to-shot. Who knows? Post ’em.

wrote in message

Hi and thanks for your answers.

What did you mean by "You clearly didn’t like the first answers"???

You reposted the question after it had been addresed by several folks. >

I’d love to hear more about Knock Out if you can tell me.

Knock Out comes from Corel
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Produc ts/productInfo&id=1042152786153

It costs $100 and is designed to speed up the extraction process. If you have 1400
images to do, that works out to less than a dime per image, and can save you a fair amont of
time. If this is a print catalog, I assume you are working in CMYK, and version 2 supports
that color mode.
Here’s a tutorial on using it
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/knockout.htm

To answer the questions you asked in point form:

OK. so it’s not as bad as I feared.
Channel masking is, IMHO, the best way to go— which is why I recommended that to
you in response to your first post.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/extra/blrbps_2fwks.htm This is covered in depth in Photoshop Channel Chops (old but useful book to have)
but other folks have other preferred methods.

pen tool has been mentioned– demands a little understanding of node editing.

But, if you prefer, you can use extract
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/cutout/cutout.htm I don’t like extract much, but a lot of people do.

Noise and shadows are easier to deal with than texture, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
This, even with three of you working on it, is a hefty piece of work. Tell your boss you need good tools and the time to do it right. After you’ve done the first 50 or so, you’ll have figured out the presets to set and the process that works best.

Hope this helps….

JPK

wrote:

Hi,

I’m an absolute newby to Photoshop so appreciate any help whatsoever.
I have 1400 photos of various shaped and sized products that I need to cut around so as to remove the background. The shots were taken on a white mat but there is the odd marks here and there to contend with.
I know there’s a lot of ways to do this and would like to hear a few of the better ways so I can choose which is best for me.
There’s a tonne of work so I really appreciate the help.
Also, is there anything I can do with macros that might make the load of 1400 parts easier?

MANY MANY THANKS

Tino

Hmmm…

If there is enough contrast between the subject and the background, you might be able to create an action/droplet to automatically convert all the photos… only work on backups of the images so that ones that might get trashed can be hand edited…

the basic operation is:

***********************
* if you feel up to it: before opening a document…
* Menu Window:Show Actions
* click on the triangle at the top of the palette
* select New Action / give it a name like "trim mat" / start recording ***********************

open document

double click on "background layer" in the layer palette — accept the default name offered: "layer 0"

Menu Select:Color Range

(the default operation of color range is to automatically select the color range that corresponds with the pixel at the top left corner — set the fuzziness to enough to cover the area to be deleted — say, around 100 [or more] — this will take care of the odd marks in most cases — and closely "hug" the border of the subject — you also want a maximum selection or the clear operation will not make the area completely transparent)

click okay

Type Delete [the key ] (clears background)

Save document

Close document

************************
* if you set up an action
* Stop Recording
* ***********************

Option 1:

Go to:

File: Automate:Batch

Select your action and the folder where all the images will be

Run the action…

Go watch a movie (or two)

———————

Option 2:

To create a droplet:

Menu File: Automate:Create Droplet

Click Override Open command
Click Include subfolders
Click Suppress Color Profile Warnings

Leave Close and Save

(from the desktop, you can click on an image file [or select all of them], and drag’n’drop the icon on the droplet icon and the operation will be run automatically)
——————-

REMEMBER to run any automated tasks on backup images!!!

In color range, select as much fuzziness as the image will take [a mostly white background with good contrast on the subject should be able to take anywhere from 100 to about 180 (200 is max fuzziness)]

Expect to have to hand edit some files [white subjects on a white background will will have the color range selection bleed into the subject] — that’s why you need to run the action on backups.

OKAY — now for the caveat —

I am not an expert at creating and running actions — you may need to experiment on a few files first [backups] until you get the process down.

Hope this helps,

Fox
************

Wierd… I didn’t and still don’t see my other post? Do you still see the other post? I can’t find it.

Thanks a heap for your help by the way. I’ll look up those sites and am sure I’ll find some good stuff in there.

Thanks.

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 04:21:39 GMT, "JP Kabala" wrote:

wrote in message

Hi and thanks for your answers.

What did you mean by "You clearly didn’t like the first answers"???

You reposted the question after it had been addresed by several folks. >

I’d love to hear more about Knock Out if you can tell me.

Knock Out comes from Corel
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Produc ts/productInfo&id=1042152786153
It costs $100 and is designed to speed up the extraction process. If you have 1400
images to do, that works out to less than a dime per image, and can save you a fair amont of
time. If this is a print catalog, I assume you are working in CMYK, and version 2 supports
that color mode.
Here’s a tutorial on using it
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/knockout.htm

To answer the questions you asked in point form:

OK. so it’s not as bad as I feared.
Channel masking is, IMHO, the best way to go— which is why I recommended that to
you in response to your first post.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/extra/blrbps_2fwks.htm This is covered in depth in Photoshop Channel Chops (old but useful book to have)
but other folks have other preferred methods.

pen tool has been mentioned– demands a little understanding of node editing.

But, if you prefer, you can use extract
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/cutout/cutout.htm I don’t like extract much, but a lot of people do.

Noise and shadows are easier to deal with than texture, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
This, even with three of you working on it, is a hefty piece of work. Tell your boss you need good tools and the time to do it right. After you’ve done the first 50 or so, you’ll have figured out the presets to set and the process that works best.

Hope this helps….

JPK

wrote:

Wierd… I didn’t and still don’t see my other post? Do you still see the other post? I can’t find it.

The confusion comes because you’ve double posted and cross-posted.

First post was called "Cutting a picture out cleanly" sent by at 1.20pm

Second post was called "Cutting a picture out cleanly and quickly" sent by at 3.04pm

They both appear on 2 newsgroups alt.graphics.photoshop & comp.graphics.apps.photoshop

—
Regards
Christopher Dillon
Onemouse .-‘
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| Cambridge \{o o}/ |
| New Zealand =\o/= |
+—————————————— ^ ^ –+

In article ,
wrote:

Hi,

I’m an absolute newby to Photoshop so appreciate any help whatsoever.
I have 1400 photos of various shaped and sized products that I need to cut around so as to remove the background. The shots were taken on a white mat but there is the odd marks here and there to contend with.

what are you using the pix for?

I have 1400 photos of various shaped and sized products that I need to cut around so as to remove the background. The shots were taken on a white mat but there is the odd marks here and there to contend with.

I missed the other replies but here’s what I’d do … since you have a clean background it should be relatively simple.

1) Use the Magic Wand tool and click on the white mat background. This should select everything but what you want.

2) Do Select > Inverse to select what you DO want.

3) Do cntrl-j to put this selection on a new layer. You may need to clean it up a bit on this new layer with the eraser tool if the first selection didn’t catch all the background, ie the "odd marks here and there".

Once you have it on a separate layer you can move it to a new document or do anything thing else you want with it easily.