I need some very very basic photoshop help - cutting out white space

[DaveGS4]

I've known how to do this in the past, but can't seem to figure this out now for some reason...

I have a number of images for my audio diagram that I want to cut the white space out of, leaving only the objects in the images.

This is my draft image from a few days ago, and you can see the boxes around the items like the sub, the speakers, the battery, etc.



I've tried the lasso tool, then magic wand to cut the image, but I can only grab the outer sections.

Can somebody give me a quick step by step? I tried looking at some of the tutorials linked and the closest thing I could find was 'lowering a car' which didn't work for me, lol.

I've attached the sub pic I'm using below. Thanks in advance.

[Neo]

You can play around with the way the layering is setup. I tried real quick and with the Darken mode, you get OK result even with your original pic. As for getting the image, I don't know aa good way to do it. I'd like to know too. The way I do it now is to repeatedly use the magic select tool. When you save, save as a GIF instead of a JPG. Keep the transparency checkbox checked.

When you bring this GIF into your PSD of the whole car, the transparency is retained. I hope this made sense.

[DaveGS4]

It does, but not sure if it will work. I'm doing the image editing in Photoshop, but I'm assembling the diagram in Visio (easier with lines I'm drawing, connectors, etc)

Basically just need to create a 'floating' object image.

[Neo]

I did the W7 for you and it is here as a gif:

http://www.clublexus.com/gallery/dat...4610w7_big.gif

And you can see your new W7 located in your rear passenger seat.

[DaveGS4]

Cool. using that same method?

And now I've got two subs!!

[Neo]

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

Cool. using that same method?

And now I've got two subs!!

Just to be sure, this is not the darken mode. This is carefully "magic" select everything and save as GIF with transparency on.

Then I just DL your car pic, loaded it into PS, and then added the GIF on top of it as another layer.

Just for the heck of it and to make sure it worked, I decided you needed 3 subs, this time in Visio (and saved result as jpg). (Wouldn't it be nice if it was that easy to add equiment? )

[DaveGS4]

Originally Posted by Neo

You can play around with the way the layering is setup. I tried real quick and with the Darken mode, you get OK result even with your original pic. As for getting the image, I don't know aa good way to do it. I'd like to know too. The way I do it now is to repeatedly use the magic select tool. When you save, save as a GIF instead of a JPG. Keep the transparency checkbox checked.

When you bring this GIF into your PSD of the whole car, the transparency is retained. I hope this made sense.

Maybe I'm not getting it... can't seem to make it work.

I select the battery (for example) with the magic wand.. seems to go around it (or maybe it's selecting the white space?)...

and I don't seem to have a darken mode in Photoshop C5? Under Image, Mode it's not listed.

Edit - see your comments about darken mode above - ignore prior.

Now however through my trial (and all errors) I don't even get prompted for transparency option when I save as GIF.

Are you doing something to create a new layer when you select?

[Neo]

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

Maybe I'm not getting it... can't seem to make it work.
I select the battery (for example) with the magic wand.. seems to go around it (or maybe it's selecting the white space?)...

The magic select tool is hit and miss. You try to select as much of the content as possible without ending up selecting the whole image. You do this by choosing an initial select and then <shift Key> select more. Usually if you are really lucky, you can get the image pretty well contained. Otherwise, you get some "spillage" into the surrounding area. This is actually OK as long as you can get all of your image with minimal spillage. You then use the erase tool in brush mode to "blend" the erase so that the edges are not so stark.

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

and I don't seem to have a darken mode in Photoshop C5? Under Image, Mode it's not listed.

The Darken is a layer mode. You would leave the car as a layer, either as a background or another "Normal" layer. Then you'd create a new layer to put the second object. This layer should be set to Darken mode. Once you have the layer, you can see it in Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options. Darken is one of the Blend modes.

Like I said earlier, it only gives so so result.


I'm waiting for a real PS expert to chime in as everything I've learned in PS has been through experimentation and may not be the best way to do any of this.

[Neo]

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

Now however through my trial (and all errors) I don't even get prompted for transparency option when I save as GIF.

When you save as GIF, you get the initial dialog for the filename. Once you finish with that, you get a second dialog that will give you the image options.

Edit:

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

Are you doing something to create a new layer when you select?

When I work in PS, I find having the Layers window up to be useful. You can bring this up using Window>Layers. I usually tuck this away in the corner. With this window up, you can work with the modes, visibility, and a few other things about each layer directly. When you paste a pic into the Layers window, it creates a new layer for you with this pic as the content.

[DaveGS4]

Got it! I wasn't creating the new document from the layer.

Thanks for all the help Neo!

Also - the easier way with the wand is to select the white space, then 'select inverse'

[Neo]

Originally Posted by DaveGS4

Also - the easier way with the wand is to select the white space, then 'select inverse'

True. I guess the images I am used to working with do not have easy white space to select. In this case, you are right, it is much easier.

[DaveGS4]

Ahhhh, down to a science now.... not done but done for tonight, made good progress on cleaning up many of the images

The steps (so I can come back tomorrow and remember them in my own words, lol).

• Using the magic wand tool, select the whitespace areas (use shift-click if there are multiple)
• Choose Select Inverse
• Select Layer, New, Layer via Copy
• Pick the new "layer 1" from the layers window
• Adjust image of layer if needed (darken, etc)
• Right click on Layer 1,choose duplicate layer and change 'destination' to 'new'
• Once the new image is created sans background, save it as a GIF with transparency turned on

I'm sure there is a shorter way to do this, but it works. Updates in progress below



Thanks again for all the help Neo!

[Neo]

Looking good Dave.