Re: [Gimp-user] drop out background tutorial
On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 7:02 AM, Bob Meetin wrote: > Subject says it all. I have a large assortment of product pictures > which I need to give uniform backgrounds, preferably white. Can someone > point me to a tutorial that discusses how? You can see a representative > sample image at: http://www.dottedi.biz/images/diagnostics/DSC_4355.JPG. > They can probably live with the shadows if I can lose the bulk of the > background. > > Thx, Bob For this kind of thing, there is the name 'greenscreening', in which a matte, contrasting color is used as a background for an object, allowing the object to be easily separated from the background. In that case, Foreground-select is ideal. However, you basically have the opposite: A photo of a bluish-gray object on a bluish-gray background. Naturally this is very hard to separate automatically! So for such pathological cases, paths is probably a better choice. Smoothness is not a big deal (in fact the selection created by foreground-select is entirely binary, no smoothing involved)... this is because you can convert the selection to path and then that path back to selection if you want it smoother. If I needed to handle your example in the way you want, I would: * use foreground-select to get a rough approximation (make sure that there are no 'holes' by marking areas as foreground as needed) * enter QuickMask mode (click the icon to the left of the scrollbar) * select paintbrush with an appropriate brush and black color, paint away the wrongly selected parts * exit QuickMask mode (click the icon to the left of the scrollbar) * Select->To Path * Tweak the path if needed * right click on the path in the Paths dialog -> 'Path to Selection' If your example wasn't pathological (ie if it had a good contrasting background), I would just use foreground select, convert to a path, tweak the path, and convert it back to a selection. Afterwards in either case, I'd probably just Select->Invert and fill with white (like this: http://i26.tinypic.com/bdpjm0.jpg ) ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] drop out background tutorial
On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 6:04 PM, Bob Meetin wrote: > I have seen this before but never used it for a project. Okay now I played > with it for a few minutes. There must be some trick/finesse to getting it > to zero in on the subject, really on the subject's edges. By following the > instructions in Figure 13.26 and keep redrawing the line the border gets > pretty mixed up in the shadow areas especially. Maybe it's my inexperience, > but I can actually get a smoother edged selection by using the Paths tool. Paths tool is a good choice. Here's a "poor man's isolation method": http://yfrog.com/b5dsc4355retouchj This is just a levels adjustment (Colors->Levels): "auto", then pull the highlight slider in toward the center. As you can see it's not perfect, but if the BG is the same on all the pics, it might be a time-saver since a little erasing here and there should be enough to clean up afterwards. HTH, Chris ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] drop out background tutorial
Paul Hartman wrote: On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 4:32 PM, Bob Meetin wrote: Subject says it all. I have a large assortment of product pictures which I need to give uniform backgrounds, preferably white. Can someone point me to a tutorial that discusses how? You can see a representative sample image at: http://www.dottedi.biz/images/diagnostics/DSC_4355.JPG. They can probably live with the shadows if I can lose the bulk of the background. The documentation :) http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-foreground-select.html (not sure which version of Gimp it was written for or which version you're using) I have seen this before but never used it for a project. Okay now I played with it for a few minutes. There must be some trick/finesse to getting it to zero in on the subject, really on the subject's edges. By following the instructions in* Figure 13.26 *and keep redrawing the line the border gets pretty mixed up in the shadow areas especially. Maybe it's my inexperience, but I can actually get a smoother edged selection by using the Paths tool. 2.4.5 on Ubuntu - Bob ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
Re: [Gimp-user] drop out background tutorial
On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 4:32 PM, Bob Meetin wrote: > Subject says it all. I have a large assortment of product pictures > which I need to give uniform backgrounds, preferably white. Can someone > point me to a tutorial that discusses how? You can see a representative > sample image at: http://www.dottedi.biz/images/diagnostics/DSC_4355.JPG. > They can probably live with the shadows if I can lose the bulk of the > background. The documentation :) http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-foreground-select.html (not sure which version of Gimp it was written for or which version you're using) ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
[Gimp-user] drop out background tutorial
Subject says it all. I have a large assortment of product pictures which I need to give uniform backgrounds, preferably white. Can someone point me to a tutorial that discusses how? You can see a representative sample image at: http://www.dottedi.biz/images/diagnostics/DSC_4355.JPG. They can probably live with the shadows if I can lose the bulk of the background. Thx, Bob ___ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
