How to 'cut' (render) efficiently.

How to 'cut' (render) efficiently.

By ghost | 6006 Reads |

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So I use PDN (Paint dot net) instead of PS3 but this method should work for almost all Image Editing programs.

First you'll want to find an image. As I' am writing this I just opened a free sig apply thread and I just finished making a sig with this effect. So I'll show you the image before and after (cuz I forgot to save anything else haha). So find an image: (I used this one) http://iloveoregon.com/images/P1012716.jpg

So you'll want to find a piece of the image to cut out. In this case I wanted the statue of the three soldiers.

Make a new layer and make sure its above the image you want to cut out. (In pdn you can still see the image beneath it, not sure if this is so in PS3. If it isn't please inform me.)

Use the line tool (not sure if this is in PS3) and make a line at the highest point of what you want to cut out. You can start at the bottom but in most likely hood you'll have less things to work with at the top and you'll be able to warm up before the harder things come into play. Also its good to get use to starting in a certain fashion so this technique becomes your own. You'll want too use a color completely opposite of the colors in your image. Such as I used pink cuz it stood out so well. So I would have made a line across the soldiers hair (just outside of what I wanted to cut out). I then moved the line and bent it so it shaped around a small piece of his head.

Now you'll want to repeat this, do not take short cuts! Take as much time as needed and delete something when you mess up (as its on another layer and wont affect your image). Outline every part that you want cut out. On the image with the statue their is grass covering up some of his leg. Well I used the line tool and bent it carefully around each twig (which is unnecessary if the part covered up wont be in your sig, cuz it wasnt in mine and that took forever!). Even the very detailed parts, dont take short cuts! Zoom in, and carefully add the line. If you mess up, start over, and repeat until you get it right.

Now why would someone spend so much time for this? Let me show you.

So now take your magic wand tool and select the connected lines. They'll all be selected and make sure that nothing else is.

Move to your image below (with the selection still selected) and press the delete button. This will erase an outline around your render/cut. If you do it well you'll have a smooth and untarnished cut. Now go back to the outline above and select the empty space around it. Go back to the other image and delete it. Repeat till nothing is left but your render.

So its smooth, slick, and albeit sometimes if you mess up it will look a bit funny but still works. Heres what I got at the end:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll52/K_I_N_G_2008/Msixty_Remember-1.png (this looks a bit funny around the edges cuz I added a shadow for the sig).

Much more effective, much more professional, and this is the main method used by professionals today. Sure at first its annoying but give it a chance and you'll find it supremely beneficiary.

Comments are welcome.