Silkroad Online Forums

A community forum for the free online game Silkroad Online. Discuss Silkroad Online, read up on guides, and build your character and skills.

Faq Search Members Chat  Register Profile Login

All times are UTC




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 39 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Moogie's Guide to Character Cutouts
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:05 pm 
Frequent Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1344
Location:
Xian
*Moogie scribbles at the top of the page* Lol, I just spent several loooong hours writing this. xD I hope it's helpful.


Welcome to Moogie's Guide to Character Cutouts!


This is an indepth tutorial on cutting out characters or objects from complex backgrounds, keeping the edges as clean and neat as possible, using one singular tool: the Pen Tool.

This tutorial is designed for: Adobe Photoshop
Created using: Adobe Photoshop CS2


-=BEGIN ZE EXPERIMENT!!=-

Familiarity with the following tools will help, but is not required if you follow the tutorial carefully:

Crop
Pen Tool
Nothing else! Seriously!



Okay, to begin, we need an image.

Image

I want to cut out my character; that is, the one infront with the spear. As you can see, she has a Chakji hat with the thin feathers pointing back, she has clothes with shapely sleeves and talismans with a surrounding glow effect. All in all, this is a rather tricky object to pick apart from its background, as right behind her is Stacie, riding her celebratory lv60 horse for the first time. :) As cool as that is, I only want my character to be seen, with a transparent background all around her.

First, let's make the image a little easier to work with. We don't need all that excess stuff, so using the Crop tool, just drag a border around the character you'll be cutting out, and either doubleclick or rightclick->Crop.

Image

Ahh. Better. Ready to get to the tricky bit? The Pen Tool is often thought of as one of the most difficult tools to get to grips with. But if you understand how it works, it's actually very easy, and extremely versatile. I used to avoid this tool because I couldn't figure out how it worked, and therefore any time I tried to use it, I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. Now I will take some time to try and teach you how it works, and how to work it like a pro. You know you want to. :]

Rightclicking the Pen Tool icon reveals many versions of this Tool, that all do different things. Quite a few there, but don't be overwhelmed. We don't need all of them. Begin by selecting the regular 'Pen Tool' option from the list. Now, look up... just under the New/Edit/Image menu bar, there is a space with several clickable buttons that dictate how this tool will behave. You must take notice of this. Here's a screenshot incase you can't find what I'm talking about:

Image

Those three icons I've pointed out in the black border are the most important ones. The first tells the pen tool to create a solid shape based on what you draw with it. The second one tells the pen tool to draw a 'path'. The third cannot be selected at this point. Click the second icon, telling the Pen Tool to draw a path, and then continue reading below.

The Pen Tool is always best used by clicking, not drawing. You click around the character as if you were making waypoints along a road. If you had the first icon selected, clicking around would form a solid shape of colour, like a rectangle or something, which you cannot see anything underneath. So we don't want that. Our aim here is to create a Pen Tool path around the character in order to easily cut it out from the background.

So, get clicking. Make one waypoint at every bend, every corner. Don't worry about skipping over things- you don't have to go between fingers, folds in clothing, spikes of hair, etc. Not yet. We're just looking for a basic, but close-as-possible outline. Don't go too overboard with it; I know the lines you're creating look very straight, there's no curve to them at all, and it looks pretty aweful! But just trust me, that's the fun part we'll come to soon. Once you've clicked around the entire character, and gotten back to where you started from, just click that very first waypoint again and your shape will all snap together to create a solid, zig-zaggy outline.

So, let's see how we're getting on, shall we?

Image

Eek... that was tough. I recommend using the Zoom tool to get a closer view on those details, because it's especially hard if all you've got is a mouse!

Okay, so we have a basic, crappy-looking outline. Now what? One word, my friends: Refinement. We can't just leave it like this, we need to start really making this line concise and detailed. Grab that zoom tool and zoooooooooooooom right in, anywhere you like.

Image

Christ, look at that. I suck. :) Okay, time to investigate that Pen Tool again... click click the toolbar button to bring up those options, and this time, select the Convert Point Tool. The fun... begins... NOW. :D

This tool is great for editing paths and waypoints- the things you just created. Are you still zoomed in? Good. Click anywhere on the path you made with the Convert Point Tool, and you'll see the waypoints suddenly appear along it. There's now only three simple things to learn and you can breeze through the rest of this with absolute ease:

1) Click+dragging a waypoint will turn it into a curve. The further you drag away, the bigger the curve will be. Once you've turned a waypoint into a curve point, you'll see two little arms sticking out of it. You can click+drag those individually to modify one half of the curve, which is essential in most cases. For example, to make a wave-like line, where one curve goes up to a point, and then sharply curves down the other way, you will need to turn the waypoints into curve points, and then drag one arm where you want that side to go, and then drag the other arm so it curves in the other direction. Here's an example of that:

Image

2) Clicking once on a curve point will turn it back into a flat waypoint. Do this mainly if you made a mess of things and just need to reset it and clear up the confusion. Also do it after you've added a new waypoint to a path and then moved it around with the Add Anchor Point tool (I'll tell you about that below, so come back and read this again afterwards if you're confused).

3) With the Convert Point pen tool selected, Holding CTRL while click+dragging a waypoint OR a curve point will move that waypoint around without editing its curves. Pretty cool, no? You'll definitely need that.

If you want to experiment and play around a bit, I would advise saving your file now as a .PSD just incase you make any big mistakes that you can't figure out how to mend. Nobody expects you to master this tool in five minutes, and not without a bit of practice either.

Let's see our progress now.

Image

Hmmm... not bad. It's getting closer, but I ran into a problem. I need to add more waypoints, because I didn't create enough in the first place. Well, no problem. Rightclick the Pen Tool button and select the Add Anchor Point tool. Now just click once, wherever your path is missing some vital waypoint. It'll add one right there. Now with the Add Anchor Point tool still selected, you can click+drag that waypoint around to position it. You can click+drag any of your waypoints around this way, infact. If it's easier than using the CTRL+drag method I talked about earlier, by all means, use it! Just remember to go back to the Convert Point tool when you want to start editing curves and stuff again.

Mini tip: You may find things moving very roughly or blockily when trying to drag things around. You may have 'Snap' turned on in this case. Go to the View menu and make sure you uncheck 'Snap' to get things dragging smoothly again.

Time for a progress update!
Image

It's looking good! Lots of waypoints, curve points, outlining the whole character, and not skipping many details at all. This is good. The only thing I havn't attempted is those talismans- I think they're a little too complex to deal with here, so I'm going to forget about them for now.

So, we've got this big path pretty much finished... now we need to turn it into a selection in order for us to finally remove the background and get our character standing on its own. With any of the Pen Tool options selected, rightclick on your path. Select "Make Selection". Make sure there is "0" written in the Feather box, and check the box that says "Anti-Alias". Click OK.

We're just one step away now. And hey, be careful not to click anything, you don't want to deselect this. ;) If you DO accidentally lose the selection, however, don't panic. Find your History window (or go to the Window menu and select "History" if you don't already have it open) and, right at the bottom of the actions list, you should see the words "Selection Change". Click that, and, hopefully, you will get your selection back. :)

Okay. Go to the Select menu and click on "Inverse", or just press Ctrl+Shift+I. This turns your selection inside out- now, instead of having the character encased in a selection box, you have the entire background selected. You could just press Delete at this point, and the background will be wiped with solid colour. But we don't want that. Instead, we want the character to be surrounded by complete transparency. We don't want ANY border around it, flat colour or no. Capiché? :] So go find your Layers box now, and if you can't find it, go to the Window menu and select Layers. There should probably only be one layer, and it's the only one we're interested in anyway: it's called Background, and has a little padlock next to it. Our aim is to get rid of that padlock, because it stops there being any transparent background. Which sucks.

So. To do that (I swear, we're really getting there! Just a little further!!) drag the Background layer down onto the little blank page icon. It's right here:

Image

That will create Background Copy. You should still have that selection active... you do, don't you...? Good. If you don't, go back and get it, and don't lose it this time!

Now drag the original Background, with its little padlock, to the Trash icon. That's the icon next to the one you just used. It's pretty obvious.

Finally, this is where... you press... the Delete key! And rejoice, and celebrate, as your character leaps from its prison into its own little world of transparency. He/she/it/them/etc is now ready to be used for whatever evil purposes you have in mind for them. What's more, its edges are clean, straight (or curvy, where needed), with no ugly mess. It looks Good, yo. This proves it: I shoved a new layer underneath my character and filled it with black colour, just to show how clean the edges are.

Image


Voila! So there you go. Hope this was informative and helpful. Any questions? Anything confusing? Post below and I'll clarify anything you're not sure about.

Enjoy!

_________________
Image
Image
I actually did that thing in Mixmax's Sig!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:10 pm 
Dom's Slut
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 13791
Location:
Guildwars2
......you know what because of that im gonna go make a sig now lol

_________________
ImageImageImage


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:16 pm 
Frequent Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1025
Location:
Off Topic
I like the tut, but isn't the extract metode better? :?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:10 pm 
Common Member
Offline

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 194
Location:
Oasis
Great explination! gona have to try that out :D

_________________
Hybrid 7x Archer Fire

Trader: lvl3 | Hunter: lvl2 | Thief: lvl1

[>IGN ~ illumi | Guild ~ InSaNe PeopLe (lvl5) | Union ~ Defiance<]


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:34 pm 
Loyal Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1508
Location:
Troy
do yuo happen ot know if GIMP or paint.net has this pen tool?

_________________
"Everybody defamates from miles away,But face to face, they haven't got a thing to say!" -Slipknot
no longer really playing, hopeing to get back on to a private server of some sort.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:39 pm 
Senior Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 4732
Location:
Babel
It's worth mentioning that if you like to do fine-tuning pixel by pixel to get the edge right, some figures are cutout differently depending on the color of background that you're going to use. If the background is dark you can leave in pixels that would look terrible on a bright background, and vice versa.

_________________
LOL


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 8:42 pm 
Common Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 102
Location:
Athens
Some folks also prefer to just use the eraser tool to "cut-out" the character. I am sure there are benefits to both methods. Especially with some of the eraser brushes that have a feathered edge...there are some images that I prefer to cut-out with a softer edge than that offered by the pen method.

Just my 2cp.

_________________
Jesilyn
LVL : 5X
Build : Pure INT | Nuker
Weapon : 52+5 Spear - Full Blue
Gear : 5th Dgr SoSun+3 | 6th Dgr SoS/M+3 | 7th Dgr SoS+3 - Armor - Full Blue
Guild : L33T_G33X {LVL 5 -- Recruiting Active Players - 35+}


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:16 pm 
Regular Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 265
Location:
Oasis
Im more of the selection type cut out.... put a box around, press that o in the box thing at the bottom of the toolbar (left one) where antyhing unselected is in red while things that are are in color.... just draw around etc lol gotta love filling in the hair areas XD

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:06 am 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: May 2006
Posts: 596
Location:
Oasis
I still like the lasso tool...hence how I got my girl out

_________________
Image
ImageImage


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:26 am 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 822
Location:
Athens
Blyth wrote:
I like the tut, but isn't the extract metode better? :?


+1 for extract. Just be sure to make a copy of the image before you start fooling with it. :)

_________________
Image
Being a bastard works.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:30 pm 
Frequent Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1344
Location:
Xian
:3 Of course there are many other methods, and this is not ideal when cutting out transparent edges such as fur, those glowing talismans, etc. But for general cutting-outness, this is my personal preference.

The pen tool method is good to get a continuous, solid, clean outline around your object with no stray pixels and no accidental transparency on the object. You can make a path as complex as you need, for very high quality results. Plus there are other things you can do with paths- you could use this to create a sillhouette of your character instead of a cutout. Or to change its colours or properties without removing it from the background. The path can be moved around, 'stroked', or copied to other documents. Or, if is your preference, you can turn the path into a selection like what I did in the tutorial, and then fiddle with it as you would any regular selection. :) I suggest experimentation. ^^

Thanks for all comments.

_________________
Image
Image
I actually did that thing in Mixmax's Sig!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:25 pm 
Loyal Member
Offline

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1577
Location:
Xian
Im with Tatianasaphira on this one moog-enz. thats right. ive nicknamed you. moog-enz. :P

Anypoo. Polygonal Lasso Tool. Yes yes I didn't do a great job on my sig, but I was tired. And im too lazy to redo it. :oops:

Anywho. So like. yeah. with the lasso, once you've selected you're render, You can also go back and do a slight blur around the outline, or, gaussian blur it till it's juuuust right. ;]

But I may mess around with this....pen tool you speak so highly of... :)

...also to deselect, im sure you know already, hold alt then click, thats how I got those little pieces of cloth to hang from the hat in my thief suit in my sig, without taking them out altogether.... :P

_________________
Banned for pro-bot statements and other annoying content.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:53 am 
Regular Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 303
Location:
Oasis
wee i love the guide :) just had some issues with putting the selected image in a new picture but i kind of got it...
if any 1 can tell lm how to make kirmit a bit larger it would b much appreciated :D

my createioN>>>>Image

_________________
-My first truly leet vid
-My second truly leet vid
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:13 pm 
Loyal Member
Offline

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1577
Location:
Xian
lol chisy select move tool then click "Show bounding box" Then hold shift and drag out diagonally. thats one way to do it. holding shift will keep the image proportioned. :)


thats funny.... lol. kermit ftw!!

_________________
Banned for pro-bot statements and other annoying content.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:51 pm 
Frequent Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1062
Location: rehab
Or you could always hold CTRL and press T to get the same box. :)

(for PS anyway..)

_________________
Image
[Sparta][Pure STR][Lvl 5x]


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:42 am 
New Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 34
Location:
Tibet
Why not just quickmask? Then you can use greytones on the edges to get a perfect cut, already feathered. Also easy on you if you screw up.

_________________
Dont hate the slayer, hate the game.
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:04 am 
Hi, I'm New Here
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 24
Location:
Redsea
I'm liking the sounds of this. One question though. Would it be possible to, instead of deleting the background, make it go washout/blurry instead? And if someone's already tried this, does it look any good? I'm not looking to put my characters into a new background, just make them stand out more.

_________________
-------------------------------------------------------
How I mine for fish?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:11 pm 
Frequent Member
Offline

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1122
the only things what i understood were:

Welcome to Moogie's Guide to Character Cutouts!
and
pen tool
xD

_________________
<<banned from SRF got bot admission and illegal activities. -SG>>


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 5:47 pm 
Advanced Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2369
Location: The Netherlands
Extract is never going to give a result just as nice as the pen tool, well used.

And if you save your render, you need to save it without a background as a .png. :)

_________________
One oldskool matherfacker
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:27 pm 
Elite Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5185
Location: Artists Corner
you shure do get nice results using the pen tool but its kinda hard sometimes but yeah its great

_________________
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:26 pm 
Casual Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62
Nice work on the tutorial , but if you have the newer versions of ps u can do it on easier ways XD

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:46 am 
Common Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 106
Location:
Athens
nice tut ................but i'm really newbee with photoshoe..so i couldn't make it................. :( :(



Image

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:44 am 
Valued Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 353
Location:
Xian
i personally use the mask feature with ps. less confusing, yet u can hit undo unlike lasso

_________________
Image
Phoenix - Mark
ex-Iris. Hybrid Bow - dydx
ex-Venus: BHA:SD Wizard GreatGatsby
ex-Xian character: MARKsman7328


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:22 am 
Advanced Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2349
Location:
Off Topic
funny how you gave up on the talismans, since they were one of the reasons why you said it's hard to cut the character out in the first place. and i was looking forward to it too...:banghead:

ok, i'm still a newbie to photoshop so can anyone explain how to cut out the talismans? or any shiny stuff (SoS, etc.).

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:50 am 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 702
Location:
Venice
Use the polygonal lasso tool if the pen tool is slightly too complex.

You can just press delete to go back a step with that.

And to cut out talismans, once you have your selection, the raw 1st cutout, you can feather bits out with the polygonal lasso tool\pen tool, select it, right click - feather by about 5ish pixels.

_________________
Click This for a Free DS. No strings attatched. Sort of..
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:44 pm 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 605
Location:
Alps
CrimsonNuker wrote:
......you know what because of that im gonna go make a sig now lol


ditto, i know what my sig is gonna be now thx.

_________________
Highest Lvl:43
Image
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:46 pm 
Active Member
Offline

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 787
Pencil on 1px ftw!

_________________
Image
XxYODAxX wrote:
Thank you Geedunk you are friggin awesome!

RuYi wrote:
Geedunk for president!! :D


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:09 am 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 610
Location: BG
OK, heres the thing. I LOVE YOUR GUIDE! But! How do i erase those parts, which ares till left umm inline the character, like ummm, theres some part of the background between my char's hand and its body but there is no way to get the path inside without cutting out a bit of the char.Hope you understood what I meant cos I suck in english >.<

_________________
Image

JacksColon wrote:
yes, but which one do you think enjoys taking it in the ass? that's the ultimate question and deciding factor for me :P


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:46 pm 
Hi, I'm New Here
Offline

Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 17
thanks for the tut! adding this to my favs! ^^


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:24 am 
Active Member
User avatar
Offline

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 937
Location: Home
<<<EDITED>>> MUST PLAY BY THE RULES :D :D :D

_________________
ImageImage
Cool sig by Cruor :D


Last edited by Pinoy_Archer on Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 39 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group