psp x8 background removal tool

[Barrylad66]

hi ,
i have a query about using the background eraser tool in psp x8. i have read various tutorials about using it,but when i erase the background and copy and paste as a new layer,i can still bits of the background showing through on the new image. as per some of the instructions,i had it set to continuous,hardness 50,tolerance unchecked and opacity to 100. the original background was pretty much the same colour, as in a grey skyline. any advice to what i am doing wrong,will be gratefully received ..

regards

[waverunner]

I was having the same problem when trying to remove backgrounds for products.. I am really new to using psp on a higher level. What I found helpful was to create a raster layer and put it behind the image. Then I made that layer either a bright red or green. Then I made both images visible with the work image on top the active layer. As I erased the background I would be able to see if any stray pixels were left. If they did not disappear I used the erase tool. Fixed the problem. What I was ultimately shooting for was to save so the background was a transparency.

feel the wave,

fish the wave,

I hope this helps.

have a good day.

[Joelle]

hi ,
i have a query about using the background eraser tool in psp x8. i have read various tutorials about using it,but when i erase the background and copy and paste as a new layer,i can still bits of the background showing through on the new image. as per some of the instructions,i had it set to continuous,hardness 50,tolerance unchecked and opacity to 100. the original background was pretty much the same colour, as in a grey skyline. any advice to what i am doing wrong,will be gratefully received ..

regards

You have more control over what needs removing if you zoom into the image as much as you can (ie make the image much bigger).
Then make the size of the Background Remover smaller and go really close to the subject. Half of the tool needs to be on the subject and the other half outside it with the pointy bit on the outside .
If you have removed something you didn't intend to, use the right mouse button to 'un-erase'.
If you have a long, fairly straight line, you can Shift-Click, ie click at the beginning of the area, hold the Shift key and then click further down/up the line. That works well with straight lines.
To move the image around, use the Spacebar, which will turn into a hand and you can then move to the next area, that saves zooming out again
To erase larger areas away from the subject, hold the Backspace key, this deletes at 100% hardness.

Joëlle

[MarkZ]

I needed to remove the background around an image from the internet. The background was white with some yellow patches. Using the background eraser with all settings for best removal I found that the white removed reasonably well, particularly up close to the portion I wanted to keep, where it matters most. However, even with a wider tolerance and selecting the yellow separately it was hard to get rid of it. I did the same thing as waverunner and ended with a satisfactory result.

[brucet]

The reality is that any 'automatic' solution is nearly always a path to more work. To do any accurate removal still needs good old time and manual work.

regards

[waverunner]

I needed to remove the background around an image from the internet. The background was white with some yellow patches. Using the background eraser with all settings for best removal I found that the white removed reasonably well, particularly up close to the portion I wanted to keep, where it matters most. However, even with a wider tolerance and selecting the yellow separately it was hard to get rid of it. I did the same thing as waverunner and ended with a satisfactory result.

Hi Mark,

Glad you found that helpful. As a side note. You can save as a transparency when you are done and put it almost anywhere. But sometimes when I am removing the background of a product I have found it practical to save a copy with a solid green or blue or red background that I know the color of. What I have found is if I am putting these in print or on the web that has some crazy color or framing it becomes easy for me to take an eye dropper sample of their color and then select my uniform color background and swap or replace color with a small feather and match the background almost perfectly. Think green screen.

Green is good if your working with faces as you do not get much drift into the colors of faces. Red is good when your doing a lot of work on water scenes or plants.

I keep learning things with this program all the time.

have a good day

Waverunner