Adding a border to this image?

[terrypin]

What is the easiest way to add a border around the ellipse of an image like this please?



Ideally the border would be better 'outside'. Once I have a method, I could of course make the border a bit fancier by adding another thinner one outside it.

I use PSP8, but reckon I could adapt methods suggested for later versions.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[flagpole]

this the kind of thing you are talking about?

basically i just expanded the canvas
cut it out using the selection tool set to selection type: ellipse with a 1px feather and anti alias
promoted the image from the background layer
inverted the selection
hit delete to remove the surround
inverted the selection again
created a new layer and placed it behind
selections - modify - expand, expanded it by 10px
filled that elipse
effects - 3d - drop shadow from that layer
put another layer behind.

[terrypin]

Many thanks, much appreciate the fast response.

I'll try those steps very soon, although I have to say there some more of them than I'd hoped!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[flagpole]

there really aren't many steps. I've just been quite explicit. They key thing is you can cut it out with the selection tool set to elliptical.

[LeviFiction]

I'm also under the belief it might be the best way. Even if I do hate trying to get the elliptical just right (Not that it's hard...I'm just terrible at that sort of thing).

Since the background is black you could use the magic wand at a lower tolerance and hope that it selected a perfect oval. Doing a cut-and paste of your image, however, that does not seem to be the case. Whether there is something there or it's just JPEG artifacts I don't know. So I had to use the Levels command to darken up any remaining non-black values and then I could use the magic wand tool. So this added an extra step. To the overall process.

Flagpole's method offers the most flexibility with minimal destruction so it's actually good that it has those "many" steps.

I can decrease it by maybe two or three at the most if I skip some of the best practices and assuming PSP8 had a levels command.

1) Increase canvas size - make sure selected color is also black.

2) Use Levels command ( I found that Black:22 Midtones:137 and White:255 worked nicely).

3) Use magic wand on black portion with a tolerance of 6.

4) Promote background layer and delete - Technically this step is optional but if you don't want a background it is recommended.

5) Invert selection

6) Select Selection Edges (In the Selections menu)

7) Fill selection

Apply drop-shadow.


The other option is to use a vector though this may result in you taking more time to get the vector correct and I don't recall how developed vectors were back in PSP8

1) Add oval vector and resize to fit current oval.

2) Set background to transparent and set the stroke color and size.

3) With "Use all layers" selected - select the original image layer and use the Magic Wand tool on the background.

4) Promote background layer to regular raster layer and hit delete to remove background.

5) Apply drop shadow to original image on its own layer.

[terrypin]

I'm also under the belief it might be the best way. Even if I do hate trying to get the elliptical just right (Not that it's hard...I'm just terrible at that sort of thing).

I'm so glad you said that because I've been hesitating about confessing that I'm stumped at that first step! How on earth do you get the ellipse to match the original in size and position?

(BTW, I've always found it a surprising weakness in PSP8 and earlier that it won't let you drag the selection marquee to adjust it. Even IrfanView supports this, although that only allows a rectangular selection. Is this limitation still the case in later versions?)

I would very much like to master flagpole's technique if I can get a pointer on how to do it please. It will be a skill that's useful in other contexts.

Since the background is black you could use the magic wand at a lower tolerance and hope that it selected a perfect oval. Doing a cut-and paste of your image, however, that does not seem to be the case. Whether there is something there or it's just JPEG artifacts I don't know. So I had to use the Levels command to darken up any remaining non-black values and then I could use the magic wand tool. So this added an extra step. To the overall process.

Ah, essentially that seems to be a more refined variation of the method I've been playing with myself earlier this morning. I've been getting reasonable results and it doesn't require precise manipulation. But I've tried this only briefly so I expect it has downsides I've not yet seen! Anyway, my steps were:

1. Expand the canvas
2. Use the magic wand with a low tolerance (say 10) to select the black background.
3. Invert it, thus selecting just the elliptical image.
4. Copy that and paste as a new image, i.e. the ellipse on a transparent background. (May be an unnecessary step.)
5. Return to the selected ellipse and expand it by say 30 px
6. Fill that with the border colour required, so you now have a solid ellipse a bit bigger than the original.
7. Copy/paste the temporary ellipse as a new layer into the larger solid ellipse, which is automatically centred.

Flagpole's method offers the most flexibility with minimal destruction so it's actually good that it has those "many" steps.

I can decrease it by maybe two or three at the most if I skip some of the best practices and assuming PSP8 had a levels command.

1) Increase canvas size - make sure selected color is also black.

2) Use Levels command ( I found that Black:22 Midtones:137 and White:255 worked nicely).

Can you describe how to access that Levels command please?

3) Use magic wand on black portion with a tolerance of 6.

4) Promote background layer and delete - Technically this step is optional but if you don't want a background it is recommended.

5) Invert selection

6) Select Selection Edges (In the Selections menu)

7) Fill selection

Apply drop-shadow.


The other option is to use a vector though this may result in you taking more time to get the vector correct and I don't recall how developed vectors were back in PSP8

1) Add oval vector and resize to fit current oval.

2) Set background to transparent and set the stroke color and size.

3) With "Use all layers" selected - select the original image layer and use the Magic Wand tool on the background.

4) Promote background layer to regular raster layer and hit delete to remove background.

5) Apply drop shadow to original image on its own layer.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

Pleased to report that I'm getting the hang of drawing fairly exact ellipses now. Is the following a recommended method?

1. With the Text tool place a temporary 'X' in the original image.
2. use the Aligh tools to centre it.
3. Starting from precisely that location, drag out the ellipse to the required shape and size.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[flagpole]

the magic wand tool would be the obvious one to use, and it's what i first tried. unfortunately it doesn't work on your image because there is a lot of noise around the ellipse, presumably jpeg artefacts. and some of those are lighter than the darkest part of your image. if the original image were higher quality it would be fine. (edit i have just discovered the magic wand works if you set it's match mode to brightness with a tolerance of 6.)

i did the ellipse by looking at the coordinates. i'm sure there are otherways.

i don't know about in PSP 8, but certainly in the later versions you can edit the selection using the regular tools. at the top of the layers pallet there is a button, 'edit selection' or in the selections menu, then you can move it and stretch it with the pick tool

[LeviFiction]

@Flagpole - That's why I used the Levels command to darken those regions.

@Terrypin - It's not an unrecommended method if that's what you mean. Anything that helps you without damaging the image is a good method.

1) Moving selections -In the current version of PaintShop Pro (X4) and all previous versions I can recall (X2 is the last one I remember with any accuracy) if I hold down the right-mouse button with a selection tool it allows me to drag the selection marquee.

You can also do this with the Move tool, just right-click inside the selection and move it where you want it.

If you select "Edit Selection" so that it gets the ruby lithe overlay that allows you to paint in the selection you can use the pick tool to move the selection around as well as resize it.

2) Levels command - Now like I said I am not familiar with PSP 8 so I can't speak for where you might find the Levels command, assuming it's in there. In my version of PSP it's found under the brightness & contrast category of the adjust menu.

[terrypin]

Thanks both, very helpful.

Despite the years since I started PSP8, I've still not used many of its facilities. I do use Modify Selection quite often and had forgotten all about Edit Selection. That 'ruby lathe' feature sure does help get a nice looking ellipse!

And I've now found the Levels tool, at Adjust > Brightness & Contrast > Levels. Thanks LeviFiction. The challenge now is working out how to use it.

I work mainly with JPGs. Those elliptical images usually come from a capture with Snagit, to the clipboard and then pasted into IrfanView. Often the source is a map or a Google Earth view. So I don't see how I can ever avoid the possibility of dark (or even pure black) pixels on the edges of my original ellipse?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[flagpole]

as i understand you are using snagit to copy to the clipboard then pasting in to irfan?

up until this point the image is fine. so can't you save losslessly in irfan? for example to png. or even better just paste into PSP directly.

[terrypin]

as i understand you are using snagit to copy to the clipboard then pasting in to irfan?

up until this point the image is fine. so can't you save losslessly in irfan? for example to png. or even better just paste into PSP directly.

That makes sense, thanks.

I use external, hotkey-activated macros in all my apps for convenience. One of them pastes whatever's on the clipboard into IrfanView in JPG format. So when requiring high quality I can either avoid that (and just use normal manual steps, hardly laborious in this case) or write a variation that will save in a lossless type.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[printchesco]

Thanks to everyone who answered this question as it gives fresh ideas and different perspectives on how to accomplish a specific task using the software.

[hartpaul]

Hi Printchesco,
Just looked up Snagit and saw it is a screen capture software.
Did you know that PSP8 has a screen capture software built in.


and the Dialog box to set it up


You can set it up to capture full screen, active window, select an area .

This will do all that Snagit does but puts the image directly into PSP 8 saving you the extra steps with Snag it and Irfanview . Unless of course you needed some feature of Irfanview . (I know that Irfanview has some effects I have not seen elsewhere Image-->Effects-->Effects Browser and bottom 3 - Metallic, Metallic Gold and Metallic Ice)