Photoshop experts: a question please.

[Fire Walk With Me]

Hi, I'm looking to see if a single color can be either removed from an image or made transparent.

I've tried the color replace tool to no avail, and the resulting edges aren't attractive. I'm using an old version (4.0).

I like to generate shapes and forms using it, but wish to expand into using layers (am just barely beginning to learn them as well). I have at least one two-color image, red and black, and I wish to remove the black background so that the reds can float over another image.

Thanks for any hints and tips. I hope that this is possible. I've tried the lasso tool but it's too uneven (the reds fade into the black).

[ghostsofgiants]

1. It'd be a lot easier to answer that if I knew the image you were working with...

And what exactly you were trying to do. The background eraser might be what you need but I can't say for sure.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. The hippie types faster then I do..

And with less grammatical errors..

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. I've put them up a little further downthread. Thank you!

[Omphaloskepsis]

2. I would use the Background eraser if it is a solid color.

I don't know if that old of a copy has that tool. If you post the image I will turn the background transparent for you. I have time to kill.

You could use curves but that is kinda hard-core.

[evlbstrd]

3. Duplicate your image to a new layer.

You'll now have two identical layers.
Name one Red and one Black.
Add a mask to each layer. Use the brush tool to paint your masks, revealing only the color you want on each layer.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Does the brush tool require the selection of a foreground and a background color?

[evlbstrd]

6. Just black or white.

Black on the top layer mask reveals the next layer down.
edit: This in non-destructive; your image remains unchanged. As a quick shortcut, use the magic wand tool to select the color you want to mask out, go to the Select menu and choose Similar. Fill the selection with black. Fine tune the mask with the paint tools.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Here are two images in which I'd like to make the black transparent.

I generate things globally, without drawing or until extremely recently, any sort of editing of individual sections (lasso, paintbucket, etc.)

I'd like to have another image behind each of these, replacing the black.

[Omphaloskepsis]

10. Oh, crap... These are tough ones...

Using curves seems like the best bet. I will give that a shot.

[evlbstrd]

13. Switch to the Channels palette.

Convert to CMYK first. Select only the black channel. Copy it, return to the layers palette and past it into your layer mask. Fine tune from there.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. I'll try it. Thank you very much! (Won't that alter the overall image coloration?)

[evlbstrd]

I like to find easy ways to accomplish these things.

You could convert a copy of your RGB image to CMYK and use that as the source.

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. Thank you very much!

[evlbstrd]

26. You can also tweak layer transparency and blending modes.

Photoshop is an amazing chunk of code.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. How's this?

Not sure if it's quite what you want...




PNG files with alpha transparency. You won't see the transparency if you're using IE6 or older.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. The red one works but as others said, the top one loses the black balance

within the boundaries I'd wanted to keep. I'd have to lasso the top one or something to separate it from the large, all-black areas.

I'm a newbie.. I don't know what a PNG with alpha transparency is :(

Thanks P1.

[ghostsofgiants]

21. PNG is an image format and just put it over another image in photoshop to see what I mean by alpha.

[Fire Walk With Me]

22. Thanks. I appreciate it.

[ghostsofgiants]

23. No problem.

Hopefully someone else can make the white one work.

[Omphaloskepsis]

24. I curved the top one. It might work.

I made the blacks stand out more. And it is a PNG with transparency.

[China_cat]

7. If it's a solid color

use the magic wand to select it and then hit ctrl-x. If there's some variation in the color, find the box that says tolerance and increase the value by small amounts until the magic wand selects all you want it to.

if it seems like you've got edges, go back and modify the selection (while it's still open) by expanding it 1 or 2 pixels at a time and then cutting out the extra

That's the easiest way to do it. The others have given you other ideas that will also work.

If you want to send it to me, I could do it for you and send it back as a .psd or .png which will retain the transparency and the color depth.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Thank you very much. I'll try those tips. Please see the two images I've just posted in subthread...

[China_cat]

12. The red one won't be so bad

but the black one will. Too many shades of gray and blends.

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. Thanks. That's what I was afraid of.

That image isn't "finished" yet, but I don't know what else to do with it.

[China_cat]

17. Ok, here's how you can recreate it and prevent the problems

open a new image, whatever size you want it and with either a black or transparent background.

Add a new layer. Select it and paint your red/black/silver whatever on the new layer. Select your original layer and put whatever you want in it.

If you are using several colors, use a new layer for each one and play with the layer modes. You'll be surprised at the effects you get. It sounds like you have played with layers a lot, yet. Once you do, you'll never want to do it any other way.

Save the whole thing .psd format to preserve the layers. Play with them until you get what you can live with then merge/all and save as either a different name .psd or in .jpg format

I wish I could do more for you with these but I don't think you're going to be satisfied with anything that could be done with them.

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. Thanks, I appreciate it. If these images are a dead end, no problem. Now I can try new things!

[China_cat]

20. Well, you can still try new things

even if you're able to work out these ones. :silly:

[Bongo Prophet]

27. I can't remember how many features are in PS4. Layer effects?

If you are running XP, Vista, Linux or OsX - you might add GIMP to your toolset.
While it is a very good exercise to stretch older software to your needs, sometimes there are easier ways available.
(I remember when PS3 came out...Layers! Life changed at that point.)

It is free and open source.
http://gimp.org/about/introduction.html

After all, if you are playing a synth with only 12db filter, no noise source and no ringmod, there are certain things you just can't do, right? ;)
Edit to add -- GIMP can use MIDI to control some things - wtf? I have not tried this yet, as all my midi is sort of separate from my gfx machine, but...hmm.
Good luck - those are some interesting gloopy images to work with...

[JeffR]

28. Not to hijack the discussion, but

GIMP can use MIDI? Is there more info on this anywhere? I just got an adrenaline rush reading that.

[Bongo Prophet]

30. Yeah, it's pretty cool to think of modulating brush size with an LFO, right?

Yes, I already thought mentioning gimp could lead to a sidetrack, but not too much harm, since others have had such good ( and to the point!) suggestions.
I had just checked out to see if gimp had been updated for vista, in order to help out a friend in need of it.

And was stunned by how far they have come in the last year or so -- customize the GUI, 100s of plugins, cool...then the MIDI comment hit me, and time slooowed down as I pondered the implications.

I also knew Mr. Peake would appreciate that, even if it isn't quite control voltages. :evilgrin:

http://gimp.org/features/

[JeffR]

31. Oh man!

I installed GIMP a month or so ago and haven't played with it much yet. This just tilts the horizon in a really appealing way.

[Bongo Prophet]

32. I think this is a legitimate subthread, because you and Peake and I all do synths/gfx

What are some of the ideas, assuming realtime sequencing changes in gimp, that you would find most intriguing?

Of course, hardware knobs and sliders, or midi notes come immediately to mind, but also...
Controlling brushes, layers, colors, etc. with a sequencer, such as:

Numerology on mac


OR

Artwonk or Softstep on XP/Vista

[JeffR]

33. Yes, both directions

Visuals from sequences and sequences from visuals.

I spent three months obsessively working with Coagula a few years ago. The results were cheerfully tough listening. But I like the notion of different senses cross-pollinating through technology like this, eyes making something for the ears or ears for eyes.

[Bongo Prophet]

35. Yeah, synesthesia indeed. I hope Peake adds to this, being a Buchla man and all.

He could be modulatin' from his most lovely buchla modular >to cv to midi (doepher makes those > into computer.




PLease give me a heads up if you hit any mind blowing revelations< and how well anything works in realtime.
Are you on PC or mac or other? (I have both, plus amigas and modulars, so really interested...)

[Fire Walk With Me]

37. MIDI- Feh!

Break out your MC4 for true CV/Gate timing action, boyee.

[Bongo Prophet]

42. Oh, don't go there mon. A CV vs. midi battle on DU? Never thought we'd see that.

We better back away slowly. This place will explode!
:popcorn: :popcorn::nuke: :popcorn: :popcorn:


Ahhh, not at all.
Me, soy ecumenico.

The sound of crickets is a LOVELY thing. :thumbsup:

[JeffR]

45. Mac for the MIDI stuff, PC for mastering

That photo makes me drool.;-)

[Fire Walk With Me]

47. No tubes in a computer. Very sad...

[MagickMuffin]

29. I hope you won't mind, but see if this is something you were looking for

Image was saved as a PNG.

I was so inspired I took the liberty to add a couple of backgrounds. I have them on my Flickr acct, so you can view them. However, if you want me to remove/delete them I will, no problem. After uploading I received a message stating I've reach my free limit. Will you let me know if you can view them???

And if you want me to post them here let me know and I will gladly add them. Also if you are interested in my steps I will try and help you as much as possible, although you should know I use PSCS, and have a hard time remembering what PS4 will do.

Of course I encourage you to continue mastering PS. I have been using for several years and I still don't know everything there is to know. But I do manage to get by with what I know all the while picking up new tips and tricks as I go. So, keep playing around. Just remember to copy your original layer (Command J or Control J, will make a new copy for you) and play on the top most layer. If your using a mask, be sure to hide the bottom layer so you can tell what you're doing.




Let me know what you think, Peake:hi: And thx for letting us play.

[Fire Walk With Me]

38. Thanks for the tips...

I cannot open your flickr account, only the single image. Reducing the URL size doesn't work and properties doesn't help either. PM me a link, or post it publicly please?

I don't mind at all. It's not like I'm ever going to make any money doing this. I'm just enjoying myself.

What you've posted is exactly what I was after, as is the red one Primate1 posted, but in this case, it doesn't look like it'll be very fruitful. At least I know now. There's only so far that I can go with the specific technique that I was working with. Thanks for the new ideas....

[MagickMuffin]

39. Well Flickr did let me have access to the code, so here they are. I hope you like them ;=D

I'm thrilled to know what you were looking for, and I picked up on it. I used the lasso tool after creating a mask, cut away the background, fine tuned it with the brush, added a Gaussian blur, I also added a bevel, but I'm not sure PS 4 has those functions.:shrug:








Tell me what you think....:hi:

[Fire Walk With Me]

40. Hey, it works! Perhaps someday I might gain those skills.

Thanks for pointing the direction. Interesting compositing!

[MagickMuffin]

41. Your Welcome Peake

If you ever need advice I'll try and help if I can. :hi:

[MagickMuffin]

49. If your interested in viewing a political video I composited together

then you can check it out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxZkYVCng4E


Also if you use the image up thread that I did, then will you post your results??

I would :loveya: to see what you had in mind. If you ever need any tips such as short cuts, or how to fine tune a layer mask, turning selections into alpha channels, I might be able to help you along.:shrug:

After viewing my video, you'll realize just how much work went into it. Although I kinda got fatigue after awhile and just wanted to be done with it. ;=D

[begin_within]

34. You may want to experiment with the "Blending Options" sliders...

This is a little-used feature of Photoshop that can create sophisticated effects. It only works on a layer, it doesn't work on the background. So you must have a layer. I would place the red artwork on a layer above the black artwork. (Just copy the entire red image, go to the black image, and choose Paste, then that will automatically create a new layer and put the red artwork into it.

To get to Blending Options, choose Layer -> Layer Sytle -> Blending Options.
The dialog box above will appear, or something very similar to it. The "Blend If" option will initially be set to gray. Click on it and change it to Red. Then experiment with the sliders - those little black and white triangles. To get the two white triangles to separate, hold down the Option key or Alt key as you click on them. Then they will separate and you can move them independently.

You can also play around with the other options in that dialog box, such as Blend Mode, Fill Opacity, Knockout, etc., but I don't know if they will help. I think the sliders at the bottom are going to be the most useful for your purpose.

[Fire Walk With Me]

36. I see it. Blending Options is not as complete in 4.0 as what you've shown, but

it should be enough to go for. I appreciate your having taken the time to help me on this. Thanks for the tips.

[begin_within]

43. You're welcome - that screen shot was from Photoshop 7.0 on a Mac, so

your version will undoubtedly be different. There are probably ways to achieve what you want to do without having to go in and manually select pixels with the lasso tool. Photoshop 7.0 has a "Select Color Range" command which is very useful in situations like yours but I don't know if that is in Photoshop 4.0. The "Similar" command under the Select menu might be helpful, if you select some pixels and then give the "Similar" command it will go through the image and select all the pixels in the same color range that you have already selected.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

44. www.lunapic.com...has all the tools you need

www.lunapic.com

[Fire Walk With Me]

46. Thank you!

[hyphenate]

48. If you are working with just a 2 color image

the answer is soo simple you will bang your head when I'm through.

First of all, make sure that you only have two colors by reducing the actual color depth to 2. Then save your image as a GIF. BTW, JPEGs can't have transparencies, only GIFs.

Then go and make sure you are working with the RGB color mode, and select the color table. It will give you a choice of what color you want to be transparent, so select the black, and voila! Your black is now transparent, with only the red showing up.