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Photoshop can be used for a great variety of graphical tasks,
including original content creation, interface design, and texture mapping. At
the heart of its functionality there are, of course, also tools for photo
manipulation and compositing - many of which are overlooked by the casual user.
The aim of this tutorial is to detail 'vector masks', a handy Photoshop feature
which allows you to 'cut out' objects from their background, but without any
actual loss to the original source picture. The major advantages to this method
will quickly become apparent, and soon you will wonder how on earth you ever
coped with the traditional 'eraser' technique.
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Step 1:
Create a brand new document of a suitable size with a single background
layer. Now add in the picture you want to mask as a layer above the
background.
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Step 2: Zoom as far into your creation as is
comfortable (400% to 1600% is usually the charm), and start to draw a path
around the outside of your object with the Pen Tool. As a general
recommendation, try to stay just inside the edge of the object - this way
you will avoid including different coloured edge pixels in your final image
and get a much cleaner result.
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Step 3: Clicking and dragging when placing
your points will allow for smoother and more natural curved results than
just clicking and placing straight lines. The Pen Tool is a hard tool to
master, though, so just keep practicing. When you have a path all the way
around your object, join up the first and last pen anchor points by
double-clicking the first point you placed - This will complete the path. |
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Step 4:
Using the Direct Selection Tool, right click on a line in your pen path
and select the option to 'Create Vector Mask'. If you have the object layer
selected and have done everything correctly, you should now have an image
isolated from its background. If parts of your mask don't look right, just
go back in with the Direct Selection Tool and adjust your pen points
accordingly. |
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Step 5:
Now all you have to do is add a funky background, the odd layer effect
here and there, and you have your finished result! There, that was easy,
wasn't it?
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- Tutorial written by Man1c M0g
| |  | |  | | Last 5 User Comments | | |
User: Jolt (#54520)
Date: Thu Nov 13, 2008. 04:20:39 | Post #10 of 10 |
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Use the direct selection tool and Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (Windows) the path. |
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Hi! I've followed the vector masking tutorial using the Pen Tool to the letter, yet at the final stage when I right click the path using the Direct Selection Tool, the option 'Create Vector Mask' is not open for me! For your info, I'm using CS2. Please help! Thanx! |
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User: Arwen64 (#54440)
Date: Sun Nov 09, 2008. 23:26:46 | Post #8 of 10 |
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I just joined this forum, so my comment may come late, but I still would like you to know I am really happy with this tutorial. Never has isolating parts of a picture been so easy.
Thanks a lot. |
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Thanks ! I've mangled more than my share of pics trying to cut out images. |
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Quote from Man1c M0g;17134:
Ahhhhh, thats one of CS's features that I find annoying. To turn it off and just show the path, look at the far left of the toolbar when you are drawing the path. Beyond the currently-selected tool icon there will be a small bank of 3 icons. Select the middle one called 'paths', and it will only show the path, and nothing else. |
If this was not here I never would have figure this out, mine kept turning white as I drew the path. |
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