Rounded Crop

[cadudesun]

Hello,

I am PaintShop beginner.

When I tried to crop picture, I couldn't find option to crop through a rounded (circle) shape (just rectangle seems to be avalilable).

1) How to crop using rounded shape?

2) After crop rounded, how to save just the rounded picture? Its because when I use Photoscape (I come from this software) it crop rounded, but save with a white retangle background? So I just want the rounded picture!!!

Thanks in advance,
Cadu

[flagpole]

there are many way, but i would do it something like this


that is to say a rough crop, you can always tidy it up later.

use the selection tool in selection mode.

select circle from the drop down, or rounded rectangle, or whatever you are after,

a touch of feather and / or anti-alias wouldn't do any harm

invert the selection.



make sure you are not on the background layer, if you are then promote it.

hit delete to remove the selection

have a final crop to tidy up



save in a format that support transparency if that is what you want, or drop a background behind it if you need.

[WilsonC]

You could also use "Image > Crop to Selection" after your selection is made. There is also the "Edit Selection" tool in the upper left portion of the Layers Palette that may come in handy if you don't get your selection right from the start.

Just make sure you save the image in a file format that allows transparency. (.png, .gif if not a photo?)

[pdxrjt]

There are definitely wiser people than I on these boards about doing this, so they may offer better ideas. I'd use a round selection tool, to select the area you want then either 1) copy that and paste it into a new document or 2) invert the selection and delete the rest of the pic.

[flagpole]

i should add i'm non of the people in that pic. it was just to hand.

[cadudesun]

Hi,

Thanks everybody for help. All tips works well!

I am a beginner, so to learn about to use different possiblities was great.

Additional explanation plesase:

Considering one of the explanations mentioned "a touch of feather and / or anti-alias wouldn't do any harm". What does each one mean? How to use it?

Thanks indeed,
Cadu

[flagpole]

The attached image may offer some explanation of the terms anti-alias and feather in terms of selection.

the first, (top left) is a circular selection with no AA or feather. you can see it looks a bit jagged.

the next (top right) has AA. as the selection tool plots it's circular path, rather than it just making the decision that a pixel is inside or outside the circle those that are a bit inside and a bit outside are given an appropriate weighting based on how inside our outside they are. it makes for a smoother edge. AA is also used on, for example fonts. so that the diagonal lines do not appear to 'step'

the final (bottom) selection has a 5 pixel feather, it's an elliptical selection. but rather than having a hard edge the selection is weighted so it is phased out over 5 pixels.

working with selections takes some getting used to. you need to get familiar with the selection options and the modify selection tools in the selections menu. again there is no one right answer.

Image2.png (25.05 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

[cadudesun]

Thanks for further information about “feather” and “anti-alias”. I am feeling as an expert on it now!

Just sharing a beginner user comment: these features need to be set before to aply use “selection” tool. At the beginning I had made selection and had tried to set them after. So, the outputs were the same always (didn’t change).

Additional help please:

a) In my first test when I cropped the picture the background outside selection changed to transparent automatically (black and white grid). But now, I don’t know why, the background is changing to white and I can’t save picture with transparency (PNG). Is there any setting to make to generate automatic transparent background after crop?

b) Using “crop” tool it is possible to select standardized forms (3x4, 4x6 etc.). So, it is easy to maintain same proportion when cropping many pictures. Since ellipse/circle selection seems to be a free-hand toll, I couldn’t maintain the same proportion when cropping many pictures. Is there any way to set same proportion when applying rounded crop to different pictures?

Thanks indeed in advance,
Cadu

[cadudesun]

Letter (a) solved=> in another subject topic commented by Abiel Corel NA (http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=44476) I realized by chance that the background (in layers) need to be set as RASTER.

[flagpole]

you need to think of layers like clear sheets of plastic. like the ones they used to have on overhead projectors.

so deleting something on one layer will show what is below. any colour will show from the top layer, and you can change the order of the layer.

if deleting something is turning white then the two most likely options are that you have something on a layer behind. or you are working on the background layer. the background layer is a special layer that is always at the bottom and can't have transparency. like your clear plastic sheets are resting on a piece of paper. if this is the cse the you can right click on the background layer in the layer pallet and select promote background layer.

the crop tool has a number of options re it's size, there are standard sizes in the drop down from the floating bar, and you can specify exact sizes in pixels or whatever.

the selection tool is manual. but you can save selections and get them back later. or just keep an eye on the coordinates.

these features need to be set before to aply use “selection” tool. - when you get used to it the reasons why will become obvious. but you can still modify an existing selection.

[cadudesun]

Thanks for very clear explanation about layers.

About "save selections and get them back later". How could I save selection as showed in FIG1 (attached) and apply same shape/proportion to FIG2 (attached).

I am almost there!

[df]

After you have the selection the way you want it click Selections> Load/Save Selections> Save To Disk.
On your other image click Selections> Load/Save> Load from disk and find the selection you had saved previously (you'll see a black and white image in the popup on the left, click that and find the one that you want).
To move that selection in place click Selections> Edit Selection. Then select the Pick tool (looks like an arrow). Your selection will turn red (at least in X3 for me it does), click and drag the center point to move, to re-size the selection but keep the same shape make sure the Pick tool is set to Scale mode and click and drag the corner handles. There's other things that can be done that I won't go into. When you're done moving and sizing your selection go back to Selections> Edit Selection and unclick that and you now have a regular selection again.

[cadudesun]

My "Rounded Crop" quest is done!!!
Thanks everybody for valuable help.
All the best,
Cadu