Hi all,

I was hoping someone might point me in the direction of a tutorial (or just tell me what tools to use) for the following:

I need to take a snapshot of someone and then select them out. IE to ditch the sofa in the background etc and just have a nice shot of the subject with a transparent bg suitable for use on a webpage.

I know that isnt easily done, hence the email. Anyone know a good resource? I did search but didnt come up with much....

(sorry, not really an artist, sheesh, even a text logo takes me 2hrs lol!)

Much thanks...

* and then Carol Spears declared....

I need to take a snapshot of someone and then select them out. IE to ditch the sofa in the background etc and just have a nice shot of the subject with a transparent bg suitable for use on a webpage.

I know that isnt easily done, hence the email. Anyone know a good resource? I did search but didnt come up with much....

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Changing_Background_Color_1/ http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Changing_Background_Color_2/

Thanks Carol ;-)

One question b4 i dive in: Is that suitable for varied backgrounds? Someone else is taking the shots and im certain it'll be done in the house with all manner of things behind the subject...

Nick Wilson wrote:

Hi all,

I was hoping someone might point me in the direction of a tutorial (or just tell me what tools to use) for the following:

I need to take a snapshot of someone and then select them out. IE to ditch the sofa in the background etc and just have a nice shot of the subject with a transparent bg suitable for use on a webpage.

I know that isnt easily done, hence the email. Anyone know a good resource? I did search but didnt come up with much....

(sorry, not really an artist, sheesh, even a text logo takes me 2hrs lol!)

Much thanks...

Although the gimp interface has changed since it was written, have a look at this section of the excellent "Grokking the gimp":

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node47.html

Read the whole chapter about selection and masks if you have time.

You have several alternatives:

1- using the quickmask, you can "detour" the subjects using the paint tools

2- even faster is to add a layer mask to your image (right click in the layer tab of the layer, channels & paths dock window). Then, you can select this layer mask and directly paint in it, as seen here:

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node44.html

Wherever you paint with black will make the image transparent. If you are mistaken, just repaint with white and the deleted image reappears :)

As you see on both sections, you can achieve a really good quality. I would not use the selection tools (wand) for a good result, or only to start with. Indeed the obtained selection can be used to start the quickmask (in option 1).

Best regards

Olivier.

PS: I apologise to the mailing-list _if_ the message is sent in HTML. I have just change my newsreader and although I have set it to send text only, I may have made a mistake ;)

* and then olivier ripoll declared....

Although the gimp interface has changed since it was written, have a look at this section of the excellent "Grokking the gimp":

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node47.html

Read the whole chapter about selection and masks if you have time.

[snipped for brevity]

Thanks ever so much, that's great. It doesnt look all that difficult if you have a little patience, i guess it also helps to select roughly around the subject on a varied background so you have less pixels to choose by color....

I'll go and read that stuff, my thanks!

* and then Nick Wilson declared....

Thanks ever so much, that's great. It doesnt look all that difficult if you have a little patience, i guess it also helps to select roughly around the subject on a varied background so you have less pixels to choose by color....

Well, im no expert yet but i reckon this aint a bad attempt ;-) http://www.stylesheet.org/sam.png

She was on the grass, many different shades... any idea of the best way to replace the pixels i accidently took off of her chin?

thanks again...

On Wednesday, September 22, 2004 6:59 PM [GMT+1=CET], Nick Wilson wrote:

Well, im no expert yet but i reckon this aint a bad attempt ;-) http://www.stylesheet.org/sam.png

She was on the grass, many different shades... any idea of the best way to replace the pixels i accidently took off of her chin?

Try the clone tool ("paint using patterns or image regions") - looks like a rubber stamp.

Bob Long

* and then Bob Long declared....

On Wednesday, September 22, 2004 6:59 PM [GMT+1=CET], Nick Wilson wrote:

Well, im no expert yet but i reckon this aint a bad attempt ;-) http://www.stylesheet.org/sam.png

She was on the grass, many different shades... any idea of the best way to replace the pixels i accidently took off of her chin?

Try the clone tool ("paint using patterns or image regions") - looks like a rubber stamp.

Thanks bob!

She was on the grass, many different shades... any idea of the best way to replace the pixels i accidently took off of her chin?

Zoom in to highest magnification, use the clone tool to select shades from the nearby facial area and reconstruct it by hand.

Might not be the best way but you can do a lot with that technique.

Matt

* and then matt-nc declared....

She was on the grass, many different shades... any idea of the best way to replace the pixels i accidently took off of her chin?

Zoom in to highest magnification, use the clone tool to select shades from the nearby facial area and reconstruct it by hand.

Might not be the best way but you can do a lot with that technique.

Actually Matt, that's exactly what I did ;-) I couldnt get the rubber stamp to work (couldnt figure it out anyway) and that seemed like the best way, and it was, for me.

thanks!