Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on May 04, 2005 02:31 AM
QuickMask is indeed a god-send! (I use it all the time to "Desaturate" a background, while leaving my subject in full color.)
One suggestion I would make would be to use the Paintbrush Tool instead of the Eraser.
If you have your colors set to the default black and white (Which is trivial: simply click on the black and white overlapping squares next to the color chooser) you can "Black Out" the areas you want to mask [go away] and "Whiten" the parts of the mask you want to keep.
Then, using the 'X' key, you can swap FG <-> BG to alternate between black (mask) and white (expose). It sure beats having to get out of QuickMask mode, Invert, get back INTO QuickMask, fix, etc. etc. etc. especially when you're working at very high detail.
Start with a large 19x19 fuzzy brush to make macro-level changes, then fine-tune your edges with a 5x5 or 3x3 brush as necessary.
When you're done, don't forget to save your selection to a channel -- that way, when you want to make Just One More tweak to your image, you won't have to start all over again.
Another tip: You can use the "Select Shapes from Image" Tool to quickly create a path around the object you'd like to mask (And hit 'Shift+Q' to turn it into a QuickMask). Then most of the 19x19 work is already done. You'll still want to make some adjustments by hand, but it's a nice way to knock out 95% almost instantly.
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Use Paintbrush instead of Eraser
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on May 04, 2005 02:31 AMOne suggestion I would make would be to use the Paintbrush Tool instead of the Eraser.
If you have your colors set to the default black and white (Which is trivial: simply click on the black and white overlapping squares next to the color chooser) you can "Black Out" the areas you want to mask [go away] and "Whiten" the parts of the mask you want to keep.
Then, using the 'X' key, you can swap FG <-> BG to alternate between black (mask) and white (expose). It sure beats having to get out of QuickMask mode, Invert, get back INTO QuickMask, fix, etc. etc. etc. especially when you're working at very high detail.
Start with a large 19x19 fuzzy brush to make macro-level changes, then fine-tune your edges with a 5x5 or 3x3 brush as necessary.
When you're done, don't forget to save your selection to a channel -- that way, when you want to make Just One More tweak to your image, you won't have to start all over again.
Another tip: You can use the "Select Shapes from Image" Tool to quickly create a path around the object you'd like to mask (And hit 'Shift+Q' to turn it into a QuickMask). Then most of the 19x19 work is already done. You'll still want to make some adjustments by hand, but it's a nice way to knock out 95% almost instantly.
Great article! GIMP rocks!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-D
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