jaderabbit

Extraction simplication: By: jaderabbit
Step 1: open your a image, File: open

Step 2: Learning the powers of Zoom
crtl- Minus /zooms out
crtl- plus /zooms in
crtl- zero /fit on screen
alt- ctrl- zero /fit on screen
These will be need !! you must learn them!

step 3: Learning the almighty lasso tool which we will use throughout the whole project. Image 1->
Click here for image 1
Regular lasso lets you free hand, and magnetic 'trys' to follow border line.... but we WILL ALWAYS use poligonial lasso tool! "here's the part where some people get confused. on the lasso poligonial tool, at the top in the options bar ull see 4 options "please veiw image 2" u'll get to see those tools in action in a second"
Image 2 -> Click here for image 2

step 4: now that you no what tools to use, i recommend getting rid of the lock on the image if there is a lock. Duplicate the layer and delete the one that has a lock on it. "Keep the duplicated image"

Step 5: I always make a blank layer under the image and color it a dark blue, or purple. "note u can not see this layer but it will be VERY VERY useful later on.

Step 6: Now we can start EXTRACTION: "Select the duplicated image layer"
Zoom in on the layer about 3 - 4 times till u can see the border line pretty good "border line: is the line that goes around the entire image, it's the part that u want to cut out"

step 7:Select ur poligonal tool and choose ADD TO SELECTION "please veiw image 2" and find a place on the border line to start... it doesn't matter where... and follow the borderline - dead center in the border line so that theres is no excess pixels "note u may not be good at going dead center on the line... but any excess pixels will be fixed latr"
image 3 >
Click here for image 3
step 8: after the image is selected press delete... that will get rid of that part on the background. YEAH you just extracted about 3% of an image, go around the entire images doing this.

Step 9: Lets say that "UH O I Selected something i shouldn't have!!!!!! OMG " No worries ^_^. Goto Subtract selection on the lasso menu. "veiw image 2" Ok use the subtraction tool and select the part u don't want.
image 4>
CLick here for image 4
step 10: EXCESS PIXELS
Zoom out and you so excess pixels around the border, to fix that just zoom in and reselect those pixels using the add tool then delete!! "you can see the pixels better cause the extracted image is laying ontop of that dark layer!!!"

Step 11: Extraction is done. time to save the image! Turn off the dark blue layer or delete the dark blue layer. Now u got a image on a transparent background.

step 12: Goto File: Save as: Type-> .PNG then name it and save it!!!!
Everytime u open the image it'll be extracted ^_^ u can move it on a blank canvasand make wallpapers and such.

FINISHED!!!
I really hope that you enjoy the tutorial, if u have any problems email me at
jadesrabbithole@yahoo.com .
I know that extraction seems like a tedious thing, and that is because it is if u
wanna get it right "another way to extract is by using the eraser tool... but thattakes HOURS"

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Arrianna

Often I'll select the entire image and then "select - inverse" and delete everything else at once.

Nice idea about the dark BG. It should be handy to make sure you didin't miss any of the bleedover on the lines.

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l Stone Hold l Now We're Cooking! l

know1

Yeah, that's how I go about it as well.

One other tip that works with some (not all) images- If the image is in RGB, try turning off one of the color channels. Sometimes this can add more contrast to an otherwise faint-lined image. Once you are done, you just turn that channel back on to get full RGB color. With the right image, you can use the "magic wand" tool in place of any of the lassos- saving much time.

Also, (if I understood you right) you can simply delete lasso points by pressing the backspace button.

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jaderabbit

or if u want to change colors goto adjustments hue/saturation or change lighting adjustments levels. inverting is bad karma XD

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Arrianna

Ok. I concede. lol

I just tried your technique from start to finish on a large extraction and it worked beautifully. I would recomend it to anyone/everyone.

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l Stone Hold l Now We're Cooking! l

XiaoVal

Hmmm... I was always a fan of poligonial lasso but recently I switched to pen tool... Work good for me 2...

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Miroku4444

Nice tutorial, but i found the shinta one at imanimetions easier.

Ps:nothing beats the polygon lasso tool!! ^__^

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