removing background? using Corel PSP X9

[geoffcox]

Hello

I have followed this Corel video

http://learn.corel.com/tutorials/how-to ... ne-detail/

but when I press the Delete key on the keyboard the person I have selected goes not the background!?

Where am I going wrong?

Cheers

Geoff

[hartpaul]

You have probably missed the step mentioned at 1.20 to go to the Selections menu and Invert so that the selection is now for the background and not the person / people. They sometimes go over these important steps quickly without giving a reason.

[geoffcox]

Paul

afraid not !- I did go for invert! I did following

1. promoted background layer
2. selection smart mode / add
3. selection invert
4. selection/modify/increased feather to 30
5. pressed delete key
and the person goes, the background still there !?

Cheers

Geoff

[LeviFiction]

Well, first try not using the invert. Does that fix it?

The marching ants (marquee as it's known) lets you know what you've got selected. If only the person is selected, the marching ants (black and white moving line) will only be around the person and nothing else. If you have the background selected you'll see the marching ants around the border of the image and around the person. So make sure you're zoomed out enough to see the full image to make sure the marching ants are only around the person and nothing else. If they are only around the person, then you need to invert the selection. If they are around the person and the whole image you don't need to invert the selection.

Another option is to use the Selections -> "Edit Selection" option. This creates what is known as a ruby-lithe over the image. The red areas are the selected areas so you can get a much better visualization for what it is you're working with.

Here is a video demonstrating what you should see - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8FlF ... UdGalpranM

If you notice that invert selection never seems to do anything at all, in other words the selection never changes, you may have to reset your workspace to default. If you've made any major changes to the way PSP looks, or works you'll want to save your workspace first. To save: File -> Workspaces -> Save. To reset: Just close PSP, then hold the SHIFT key while opening PSP again. It'll ask if you want to reset your workspace to factory defaults. Say yes. See if that fixes the problem.

[geoffcox]

quick reply as need to look more carefully at what you suggest ...

If I promote background/use smart select - add and then delete, it works! No invert selected and no feather ..

Cheers

Geoff

[geoffcox]

Paul

Your video is really very helpful - thanks! I now see how to use the selection/edit. It seems that the invert had already been selected so that going for delete removed the background.

Thanks again!

Cheers

Geoff