I noticed that this site was missing a quickmask tutorial, so here you go. I find this method the one I prefer to the paths method. I think quickmask is faster and more efficient then the paths tool, but you know it could just be user preference......

1.) Open your image.
2.) Make a rough selection using the lasso tool. Pressing shift will allow you to add to the current selection and pressing cntrl will subtract... you can do this inside or outside the current selection..



3.) After making your rough selection toggle on the quickmask tool in the lower left hand corner of you image window.



4.) Because the image I chose has a lot of red in it I made some changes to my quickmask configuration which can be found by right clicking the quickmask toggle button.



I changed my settings to yellow and opacity to 75%, but you may use whatever suits your tastes.

5.) Select a brush to start I chose the Circle 03 brush, you may change brushes as needed. Once you have selected a brush
you may begin painting out the rough selection for better detail. Remember the brush tool set to black subtracts from the current selection and the brush tool set to white adds to the current selection. In other words any thing not masked in yellow is a part of the selection, the white erases the mask and the black paints the mask. Be sure to zoom in so you can see the details and toggle the quickmask on and off often to view your progress.



6.) Once you have finished making your selection toggle the quickmask off and do a copy paste as new.
7.) Now to really clean up your selection do
>alpha to selection
>selection shrink 1px
>selection invert
>feather selection 1px
>cntrl k
That should be your finished product ready to use in your own creation.

Very nice tutorial. Thanks for providing the steps.

We'll have to agree to disagree on which is faster and more efficient :w:

But, a great tutorial nonetheless. I'm sure many users will be helped by it.

Art

Looks very good, I will have to take a crack at it.

Ok how do you make the lasso tool continue without immediately making a selection after letting go of the mouse? Because when I set the mode to add to selection I still get a very messed up selection.

quickmask gets my vote for cutting out renders

You can't, at least not that I know of. Once you let go of the mouse button, you'll have a selection. If you have the "add to selection" button clicked, you add to the selection by clicking and dragging the lasso tool again. If you overlap your initial selection, all parts of the overlap will be joined and made as one selection; however, if you lasso around a completely separate area than your initial selection, you'll now a individually selected areas, but both selections will still be in place.

Does my rambling make any sense or am I confusing you more? Sorry if I don't make sense...I'm rushing through it to get back to work.

Art

Oh ok that helped out alot easier to straighten up the selection. Good tutorial works really well on fine detail.

Pressing shift will allow you to add to the current selecion and pressing contrl will subtract... you can do this inside or outside the current selection..

Cool. Thanks for the tip...I did not know that.

A

Very nice tutorial thanks SW

Can someone help me with the brushes, I followed your instruction, but when you came to insert a brush i dindn`t understand...

Just select a circle brush the size you need and set the color to black or white, depending on if you are adding to the selectio or removing from the selection.

swmiller6

I find it easier to just use paths to make selections quick and easy

Yeah paths are much better for objects with out alot of detail that do not need to be that clean but for more detailed work quickmask is great.

swmiller6

Yeah, usually I pick images too big for the job, create a selection from paths, then shrink it and put it where I need it. You can never tell if I missed a spot or something.

I like this better even though paths go faster Im sure using this will get easier and easier thanks for the help and I know it was a bad render job but I needed to get it done quick thanks alot for this tut I woul have never thought of usin the quick mask tool

i dont know im trying my hardest here and i cant seem to make the image look similar to the one in the tut. i use the laso, i follow the steps best as i can but somthing seems wrong. can someone help

Can you post your results and tell me what step you are having problems with?

Nice!

Where do I find the commands below? Also will they remove the extra background if I am want to create a jpg? thanks!

6.) Once you have finished making your selection toggle the quickmask off and do a copy paste as new.
7.) Now to really clean up your selection do
>alpha to selection
>selection shrink 1px
>selection invert
>feather selection 1px
>cntrl k
That should be your finished product ready to use in your own creation

You sir, are a god amongst mere mortals. THANK YOU!!!!! =)


Inkpot

Great tut, but when I pasted it into my sig, it screwed up and went under the sig with only an arm showing. What do you do after all the steps to have it ready to be pasted into your sig?

Nevermind, I just had to save as a png.

Good stuff!! :w:

After I have turned off the quickmask, and then copy and pasted in a new window (it is now the cut out photo with the moving ants all around it), it won't let me do this:

>alpha to selection
>selection shrink 1px
>selection invert
>feather selection 1px
>cntrl k

I went to Layer>Transparency, but then those options are faded out (meaning I can't select them). What do I do?

First check that the layer is not floating if it is floating the naming it will anchor it to the new image...
If the selection is still active then skip the alpha to selection part and start with the selection shrink1px

swmiller6