Knockout help

DW
Posted By
Doug Wells
Jun 15, 2004
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477
Replies
9
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Closed
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

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L
Littleboy
Jun 15, 2004
Try posting or publishing an example picture that poses somewhat of a problem.

or mail it to me at myspam_at_emp3mail_dot_com

greets
littleboy

"Doug Wells" wrote in message
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug
N
newsgroup
Jun 15, 2004
"Doug Wells" wrote in message
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

Usually straight edges are the easy part. For a straight edge just click once at the beginning, hold down the shift key and click again at the end. Maybe I don’t understand the question. You can use the History brush with as soft or hard an edge as you like to put back pixels or conversely you can use the Erasure Tool to remove pixels.

~Doc
NE
no_email
Jun 15, 2004
On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:50:24 GMT, "Doug Wells" wrote:

Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

Can’t you just edit the selection using polygonal lasso?

Smeltsmoke
DW
Doug Wells
Jun 15, 2004
~Doc wrote:

"Doug Wells" wrote in message
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

Usually straight edges are the easy part. For a straight edge just click once at the beginning, hold down the shift key and click again at the end. Maybe I don’t understand the question. You can use the History brush with as soft or hard an edge as you like to put back pixels or conversely you can use the Erasure Tool to remove pixels.
~Doc

Forgive my newness – but are you talking about tools in the Extract filter, or Knockout 2, or just PS?

Doug
N
newsgroup
Jun 16, 2004
Usually straight edges are the easy part. For a straight edge just click once at the beginning, hold down the shift key and click again at the end. Maybe I don’t understand the question. You can use the History brush with as soft or hard an edge as you like to put back pixels or conversely you can use the Erasure Tool to remove pixels.
~Doc

Forgive my newness – but are you talking about tools in the Extract filter, or Knockout 2, or just PS?

Doug

Ah newness. I’m talking about touching up your table leg in PS after you’ve Knocked it out or Extracted it. Most tools in PS create straight lines with the "click, Shift click" method. So for example, you can draw a new line with the Brush Tool, erase in a line with the Eraser or Smudge in a straight line etc. For your table leg replace erased pixels (that aren’t crisp and clean) in a straight line with the History brush and delete unwanted pixels in a straght line with the eraser.

~Doc
WO
Wizard of Draws
Jun 16, 2004
On 6/15/04 4:50 PM, in article kiJzc.31$, "Doug
Wells" wrote:

Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

Look at creating clipping paths or selections by first using the Quick Mask to paint/define your selection. Look at using the magic wand too.

Straight lines can be easily created by holding the shift key when painting your mask that will become your clipping path/selection. —
Jeff ‘The Wizard of Draws’ Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
www.wizardofdraws.com
www.cartoonclipart.com
GP
Gene Palmiter
Jun 16, 2004
I am reading this with baited breath…sushi for dinner….and I have yet to find a tool that makes the job of knocking out and object easy. So…I do it the hard way…."Z" and zoom in real close to and edge of the object. Hit "Q" for quick mask. Draw in the mask using a hard edge brush of about 5 pixels. Use "Space" to creep along. Draw the line along the outside of the object and all the holes inside. Fill the mask with the paint bucket…..hit "Q" again to change mask to selection and see if there are any marching ants where you don’t want them. Select/Inverse…make path…save path…make clipping path (for layout) or Ctrl-X to remove background….or copy object to another layer.

After doing this to a couple of hundred fuzzy stuffed animals for a catalog I got myself a portable green screen….just got it…will let you know how it goes….tests prove positive but I need to light it better.

"Doug Wells" wrote in message
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug
M
Mikey
Jun 16, 2004
On 2004-06-15 21:27:09 -0400, "Gene Palmiter" said:

I am reading this with baited breath…sushi for dinner….and I have yet to find a tool that makes the job of knocking out and object easy. So…I do it the hard way…."Z" and zoom in real close to and edge of the object. Hit "Q" for quick mask. Draw in the mask using a hard edge brush of about 5 pixels. Use "Space" to creep along. Draw the line along the outside of the object and all the holes inside. Fill the mask with the paint bucket…..hit "Q" again to change mask to selection and see if there are any marching ants where you don’t want them. Select/Inverse…make path…save path…make clipping path (for layout) or Ctrl-X to remove background….or copy object to another layer.

This is one of many techniques you can use; probably the most time-consuming, but occasionally necesary for really complex objects. But first let’s get to the OP:

What you’re talking about when you say "knockout" needs to be translated into Photoshop concepts (as well as jargon). You want to move a particular item, area, set of pixels, et al, from an image, so fundamentally your task is to make a _selection_. What you do with that selection – cut it out, paste it elsewhere, use it for a pattern – is trivial. In order to learn the technique, you need to know that term "selection". That’s your search key for help files, the web, and so on.

There are many ways to make selections: tradtional selection tools (marquees), painting tools (erasing and masking), a special tool (magic wand), and adjustment and editing tools. Selection is a critical skill, and even for a short project, you should spend some time learning how to be proficient with the selection technique that is most useful. [Not to pick, but the poster above is using a method that while sometimes necessary, can often be avoided. I tend to use it too much myself, because it’s comfortable.]

What you’re asking about – the straight line – involves using one of the marquees. As someone mentioned, there’s a polygonal lasso – a kind of marquee – that will allow you to create a selection marquee that has straight edges. You pick the poly lasso, and click on points around the part of the image.

You can also use the regular lasso. Holding the shift key will constrain the current segment to either a vertical or horizontal line. There’s also a magnetic lasso that you can read up on.

This poster (above) is describing a way of using a mask to literally paint a channel that determines your selection. Check the help for "Using Masks to Create a Selection" and "Quick masks". A similar method is to just duplicate the image, and use brushes to paint out around the image. When you’ve got an object against a white background, it’s easy to use a wand to select the background, and then invert the selection.

The magic wand is a special kind of selection tool that will select parts of an image based on color, and there are lots of options. This is a tool you should learn, as it is one you will probably use more than any marquee!

You can also select by color, using Image > Adjustments > Selective Color.

Finally, there is the Extract filter. This will allow you to make a quick selection, then deal efficiently with complex edges, such as hair. Check the help for "Extract" and ‘Smart Highlighting" . The example in the User Guide shows a picture of a furry buffalo. This is something you should definitely read about.

No sig, no neuroses
F
fatsnacks
Jun 21, 2004
Go to www.fatsnacks.com and get the free pen tool video. That should help some.

"Doug Wells" wrote in message
Hi-
I’ve been working on my skills knocking out images of furniture from their background. I’m using Corel’s Knockout 2 plus PS built-in Extraction filter. I’m getting better, but have a hard time keeping to a straight line. Any tips? For example, on a tapered leg of a table, the line ends up not being crisp and clean. Is there a method where I draw a straight, diagonal line along the leg, then use it as a guide, then delete the line?
I’m not sure i have much of a clue, but I’m trying.

Doug

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