Vectors and cleaning edges advice please

[fotojunkie]

Hi

i need help doing 2 things please

1. im absolutely no good at cleaning up selections / edges

once i ve selected something , pasted it into another layer

im always left with a mess , jaggy edges etc ....i cant seem to clean

most up to my satisfaction , nor can i make them smoothly blend

into the rest of the picture . It gets worse for me the lighter the bacground

is , body parts , heads arms etc.. are the worst

2. im working on an image , from a tutorial . Most of the tutorial is very

easy for me to comprehend , but a few times thru the tutorial im told

i need to create ( a few xs , different ones throughout the task ) a vector

mask and apply it to the layer

Not only do i not know how to create a vector mask , but im shown an Ie

of what its to look like each time , so once i know how to create a vector

mask , i somehow need to make them look like the Ies i attatched

Please advise

Cheers

[jerryb]

hi,
what it amounts to the equillivent of selecting and copying and paste....

here a little tutoral....
http://www.devppl.com/tutorial/6597

[fotojunkie]

Thank you

Perhaps i was just caught up in terminology

All this seems to be is making a selection and isolating

it from the background if im correct the whole term

vector mask overwhelmed me as something new and

confusing . Or am i wrong , is there more to this vector mask

than a simple selection and copy technique

And yet i still beg the question , in those examples i posted

here from a tutorial , how can i make a vector mask exactly

like those pictures , as im instructed to do

i see some light , yet im still confused

cheers

[jerryb]

hi,
first do you have alink to the tutorial your using? so i can look at it see what there really doing... and what the end results looks like....

yes it does get confusing.... the vector mask meathod using the pen tool to select an object .. if done well with the pen tool, is a quick way to get a detailed selection and at the same time isolate the object compared to other meathods where difficult to get a clean slection and then you need to do the copy and paste routine...

now don't forget you need to make a duplicate layer and work off the duplicate...

the pen tool, generally take a little of practice to get good at it.. it can make nice clean precise selections ... especially if there curves involved...
if your not familiar with the pen tool you might want too look at this tutorial
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basi ... elections/

oh if you haven't noticed yet... smmiling.. generally doing these tutorials you sometimes need to do a tutorial on the tools that they take for granted you know how to use...grrrrr . ...lol...

now i am not quite sure on the images what there after but i think it the primary goal is to use the pen tool where you can get a nice curvy selection... generally what i do... and i am not it the best or correct way... but with the pen tool i would go ahead and put in a lot of anchorpoints around the edge of object and then i would off the anchor points sort of click and drage and create curve that matches the object curve ..

on that first tutorial i sent you that was straight forward no drastic cuves and hence just straght lines between the anchor poinst...but in your pictures your you need to curve the line between the anchor points.. that last tutorial i sent you goes into that...

Thank you

Perhaps i was just caught up in terminology

All this seems to be is making a selection and isolating

it from the background if im correct the whole term

vector mask overwhelmed me as something new and

confusing . Or am i wrong , is there more to this vector mask

than a simple selection and copy technique

And yet i still beg the question , in those examples i posted

here from a tutorial , how can i make a vector mask exactly

like those pictures , as im instructed to do

i see some light , yet im still confused

cheers

[fotojunkie]

Thanks mate

im at work now

im home in a bit

ill provide you with the link then ok

Cheers

[fotojunkie]

OK home

TGIF LOL

The whole weekend to stay up all night and

tinker in photoshop

http://www.rnel.net/tutorial/Photoshop/12838

Thats the link to the tutorial

i love the effect , i have ideas in my own head about

things i can create with that sort of background

i just discovered pen tool last night.....i cant wait to get

it down .....

hair is still a hard thing to do , i cant see pen doing doing hair well ,

i always cut big chunks of my subjects/grandkids hair off

so for now i avoid subjects with hair , unless i can hide my imperfections

in a dark background

i hope u can make sense of that part of tutorial , it all seems

straight enough till then

Cheers for all

[jerryb]

hi,
ok i see now what there doing.. and although first tutorial you will find interesting and usefull but that not what there after!! .....

what there going to be doing... with the vector mask is to just darkine some areas of the textured background very subtlely..... that thier goal .... ok

note: i found ceretain areas of the tutorial lacking specific details on what to do and there making assumptions you know.... and hence it become confusing... but let me see if i can help you here....

ok......

you have your orginal text ure on the first layer.....
2. then you duplicate that layer..... and from your layer pallet you apply "darken"
3. then you make and another duplicate of that duplicate layer...!! so that now you see 3 similar layers.......
4. now this part not clear to me but it appears they want you to drage the 2nd layer above the third layer...!!
5. now make sure top layer is hilighted ...!!! go to your image layer menu and click "add vector mask" you will see white thumbnail next to the thumbnail image... and that your vector mask
6. good idea to click that white thumbnail just to make sure that is selected
7. were almost there....... click your brush tool.... and also were going to pick the type of tip....... at the top where it says brush... click the arrow and it shows a lot of different brush tips and sizes..... go thru the list... some will be hard brush (sharp edges) otheres will soft brush (the edges or faded) you want to pick the soft brush and about a size 100 ....
8. now just put in those 3 spots of black....!! like the tutorial shows.....
9. when you do that... then go to the layer pallet blending box and now change to overlay ... those blacks should now be assume the color of the texture and also will be very subtle.....

that takes care of that section.........

I hope that it.. smiling

OK home

TGIF LOL

The whole weekend to stay up all night and

tinker in photoshop

http://www.rnel.net/tutorial/Photoshop/12838

Thats the link to the tutorial

i love the effect , i have ideas in my own head about

things i can create with that sort of background

i just discovered pen tool last night.....i cant wait to get

it down .....

hair is still a hard thing to do , i cant see pen doing doing hair well ,

i always cut big chunks of my subjects/grandkids hair off

so for now i avoid subjects with hair , unless i can hide my imperfections

in a dark background

i hope u can make sense of that part of tutorial , it all seems

straight enough till then

Cheers for all

[fotojunkie]

OK

cheers

im gonna have some tea , or exercise or something

then im gonna give this a whip based on your

i can understand advice

ill let ya know

i dont feel so daft hearing part of the tutorial was unclear to you

as well...

[fotojunkie]

Brilliant absolutely brilliant

You explained that so darn well

it seems the tut does assume some pre disposed knowledge

cuz for the life of me i couldnt figure that one step out

i couldnt take tea till i tried that 1st step

now i assume its the same for the other areas that calls for this

technique ?

[jerryb]

hi,
the rest of it should go fairly easy for you.. i took a quick look at the rest of the tutorial..... didn't see no major humps.... one or more time doing the same thing with the vector mask and the modifying of the other selections fairly straight forwarward repetitious....... so at this mpoint it should be fair fun for you.. smiling......


you mentionedpen tool and hair..... smiling.. although i have seen people use it for that..... a lot depends on the image.... i find in many cases, selecting hair i use channel masking especially if i got a good contrast background...!

Brilliant absolutely brilliant

You explained that so darn well

it seems the tut does assume some pre disposed knowledge

cuz for the life of me i couldnt figure that one step out

i couldnt take tea till i tried that 1st step

now i assume its the same for the other areas that calls for this

technique ?

[fotojunkie]

Channel masking

Yipes

theres one for down the road a piece

Just had some toast for tea......

pluggin away all seems well nuff so far

Thanks for explaining so well

[fotojunkie]

Just noticed

when i draw those black dots on vector mask

i actually reveal the black dot on the object

not the nice fade/subtle effect from tutorial

i cant change opacity , because i also fade

Ie the 2nd temple

any idea of what where im going wrong ?

Cheers

[fotojunkie]

PS

when choosing vector mask , do i choose show or hide all ?

i chose show

Thanks

[jerryb]

hi,
your welcome....
channel masking that relatively easy... also you may come across calculations... don't let the word send shivers.. smiling... i know it did me... but all it is just another meathod to aschieve channel masking...

there a lot of ways to mask things and it depends on the image and what your comfortable with, on which you use for a given image....

when you get ready i have several bookmarks for using channels to mask objects...

Channel masking

Yipes

theres one for down the road a piece

Just had some toast for tea......

pluggin away all seems well nuff so far

Thanks for explaining so well

[jerryb]

hi,
on your questions about "hide all" i found clicking the reveal all works best....

now on theother question about the dots.... you skip a step in the tutorialll plus i believe i mentioned that but but maybe specifically enough to catch your attention.... ..........

you go ahead put in the big fuzzy dots and it will show as such on the texture at first............. now this assuming that you did click reveal all) the next step after the dots is change your blend to overlay!! then will see that the big dots become faded in to the texture........ note after you have change to the overlay blend if you want to add some more dots to that layer just go ahead..... they'll blend in..

Just noticed

when i draw those black dots on vector mask

i actually reveal the black dot on the object

not the nice fade/subtle effect from tutorial

i cant change opacity , because i also fade

Ie the 2nd temple

any idea of what where im going wrong ?

Cheers