I've just been offered some advice with my car and i cant offer any knowledge of that type as yet so i thought i'd offer you some know-how of how we do cutouts 'in the graphics biz'
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Yeah, the wand is OK, but there's not much control and it cant be a little unpredictable and harsh. I will only ever use it on small unimportant images or for rough layout work. When i'm working on print-ready hi-res images the following is the method i've perfected over the years.
OK, once the image is open, double click on the thumbnail and hit OK. This will make it into a layer rather than a background image.
Create a new layer and fill it with a contrasting colour or chosen background and drag it below your image. You can even just do a DUPLICATE LAYER and work on the uppermost layer but i prefer to sandwhich a contrasting colour inbetween to make the cutout easier to see.
Now select the layer with your image. In the menu bar, got to LAYER >> LAYER MASK >> REVEAL ALL. This will create a box next to your image thumbnail in the layer palette. This is your layer mask.
When working with a Layer Mask this box should be selected/highlighted. If your mask is selected a thick border will appear around it. Also notice that your foreground & background colours have changed to Black and White. If you see colour in your toolbar, the layer mask is not selected!
The key thing to remember here is that Black will subtract, and White will add.
For example, select the airbrush, select the black colour in the tool bar and spray over the image. You should see the layer you created with the contrasting colour show through where the part you've sprayed over is masked. Now select the white colour and spray over the area you've just masked. The image will return.
Using different brushes and opacities you can create some very realistic cutouts that are instantly editable without destroying your original.
To work on the actual image and not the mask, simply click on the image thumbnail next to the layer mask. You can also click on the 'link' that is between the mask and image icons to 'unlink' the mask. This means that the mask (when selected) can be resized, moved, flipped, rotated, etc. To relink the mask just click the area between the two icons.
You can also use the lasso to create the masks. Just draw your shape, have the mask selected in the palette, fill it with white or black and the effect is the same. I often use the Lasso to draw around the image (hold down the alt or option key to go 'dot-to-dot'), then hit command+shift+I to invert the selection then hit alt+delete to quickly create a cutout. Using different feathers can also be useful depending on the image.
When you're happy with your image and you've done your work, just got to LAYER>>LAYER MASK>>APPLY and the mask icon will disappear.
I hope the above makes sense and hasn't come across as patronising. Let me know if there is a problem with anything i've said here and i'll be happy to walk anyone through it.
I notice in the previous threads that people here are also using the lasso rather than the pen tool to do cutouts. The Pen tool RULES! It's takes practice but is unbeatable for cutouts. If anyone wants to know how thats done then please feel free to ask and i'll do a quick tutorial.
Ignitor
