Using Selections In Pro

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-06-23 15:15:46

I am considering buying Pro. I have some experience with several editing programs. One of the most difficult tasks is the selection of complex objects. Below is a good example:

Image

Let's say I wanted to remove the background from this tree image. Using Pro, would you consider this an easy or difficult task? Either way how would you proceed? Thanks.
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2019-06-23 18:54:00

Hi Engine44.
Easy or difficult depends very much on the extent to which you want to remove it. Cleaning my flat is not that difficult a task, but cleaning it to such a degree that there is no DNA evidence that I was ever there is... somewhat problematic. There are tools that will help, though.
I decided to do a quick removal and see how far I could get in a couple of minutes. Results at end of post (edit: at time of posting, there seems to be a problem in the forum. If you don't see the image straight away, refresh a couple of times).
My thought process was as follows:
* There are a hundred hundred tiny branches so I don't want to get stuck in painting them or using selection tools.
* Actually painting and selection tools would work quite well but we're probably talking about a weeks work.
* I'm spending under five minutes on this so let's not do that.
* Masking using the brightness of the original is a good candidate but has a problem which will take more that five minutes; more like a couple of hours for me. The image has a gradient of brightness: the branches at the top (which you want to keep) are quite bright whereas the ground at the bottom (which you want to lose is a little darker).

Anyhow, here's what I did in a couple of minutes.
1. Started a new doc with your image.
2. Duplicated the layer.
3. Added a solid layer that will show where there is transparency.
4. Added Colour Adjustments > Curves to lower image layer and use the curves to make the black/white of that image break where I want to select and edge.
5. Added Color Adjustments > Invert to invert the lower image layer as you want the bits to keep to be white.
6. Made the lower image layer partly transparent by using Effects > Mask to Alpha.
7 Bring the two layers together by right-clicking the upper image layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask.
Job done.

Now... the gradient problem. If I were to do this properly I'd probably ignore the work I'd done up to now and return to the original image. I want a more consistent tonality across it. Some people are very good at modifying images like this by using gradient layers and blend modes. I'm particularly weak here so I'd probably use the lighten/darken tools to tweak the image then return to the method above.

Anyhow, I hope some of this is of help. Have fun.

- Stef.
P.S. There's a free trial here: https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/free-trial/
Image
User avatar

2019-06-23 19:02:36

by st3f 2019-06-23 17:55:18 Hi Engine44.
Easy or difficult depends very much on the extent to which you want to remove it. Cleaning my flat is not that difficult a task, but cleaning it to such a degree that there is no DNA evidence that I was ever there is... somewhat problematic. There are tools that will help, though.
I decided to do a quick removal and see how far I could get in a couple of minutes. Results at end of post (edit: at time of posting, there seems to be a problem in the forum. If you don't see the image straight away, refresh a couple of times).
My thought process was as follows:
* There are a hundred hundred tiny branches so I don't want to get stuck in painting them or using selection tools.
* Actually painting and selection tools would work quite well but we're probably talking about a weeks work.
* I'm spending under five minutes on this so let's not do that.
* Masking using the brightness of the original is a good candidate but has a problem which will take more that five minutes; more like a couple of hours for me. The image has a gradient of brightness: the branches at the top (which you want to keep) are quite bright whereas the ground at the bottom (which you want to lose is a little darker).

Anyhow, here's what I did in a couple of minutes.
1. Started a new doc with your image.
2. Duplicated the layer.
3. Added a solid layer that will show where there is transparency.
4. Added Colour Adjustments > Curves to lower image layer and use the curves to make the black/white of that image break where I want to select and edge.
5. Added Color Adjustments > Invert to invert the lower image layer as you want the bits to keep to be white.
6. Made the lower image layer partly transparent by using Effects > Mask to Alpha.
7 Bring the two layers together by right-clicking the upper image layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask.
Job done.

Now... the gradient problem. If I were to do this properly I'd probably ignore the work I'd done up to now and return to the original image. I want a more consistent tonality across it. Some people are very good at modifying images like this by using gradient layers and blend modes. I'm particularly weak here so I'd probably use the lighten/darken tools to tweak the image then return to the method above.

Anyhow, I hope some of this is of help. Have fun.

- Stef.
P.S. There's a free trial here: https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/free-trial/
Image
Thank you