What’s the best way to mask trees and branches? Blue alpha ?

DW
Posted By
doug_winter
May 18, 2004
Views
876
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I need to mask a tree with many branches and a ton of leaves. What’s the best way to accomplish this task. I’ve never done this before. I need to put a tree on nice blue background with clouds and sky. any help is appreciated.
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alpha best blue mask

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RW
Rene_Walling
May 18, 2004
Find the channel with the best contrast between the tree and the background and load it as a mask. You may need to edit it in order to fine tune it.
P
Phosphor
May 18, 2004
After you do what Rene has suggested, I would then follow that with going into Quick Mask mode (hit the "Q" key") and fine tune the selection with a paintbrush.
GD
glen_deman
May 18, 2004
To add to the good advice already given, running levels on the mask is useful for increasing contrast. I also like to blur it just a tad to make for a smoother selection.
BO
Burton_Ogden
May 19, 2004
A third party solution is Corel’s KnockOut.

— Burton —
DW
doug_winter
May 19, 2004
How do I fine tune it with the paintbrush?
GD
glen_deman
May 19, 2004
After you have your mask, let’s say that most of the tree was successfully selected but there are some small branches that were missed. Then, in quickmask mode, you can use the paintbrush with a very small brush size, zoom into the branches, and carefully "paint in" those areas. Now the mask will include these areas when you load a selection.

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