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Removing the Background

Photo-Paint's Transparent Color Selection Tool
Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint

When I removed the background from this image using Photoshop, I used the Photoshop's background
eraser tool. Photo-Paint 9 has a similar tool called the transparent color selection tool which worked
just as well as Photoshop's background eraser for preserving the soft, billowing edges of the vapor
trails in this image. Using Photo-Paint's transparent color selection tool and the technique below, I was
able to remove the background from this image in just a few minutes.

The transparent color selection tool samples a color and replaces it with transparency
anywhere it appears in your image. It differs from Photoshop's background eraser in that you
need only click once and the color is removed everywhere in the image. You do not need to click and
drag with the tool, but you can click multiple times to remove several colors. When the transparent
color selection tool is active, you can adjust the tool options from the property bar, as shown below.

The number 15 in the example is the tolerance setting and it works just like the tolerance setting in
your magic wand tool. This setting controls the similarity of the color in the sampled pixels. Our image
has a background that is very similar in color all over the image, so I'm using a low tolerance setting. If
you find the tool is erasing too much or not enough of the background color, you'll need to adjust this
setting.
 Before we can use this tool, we need to convert our image from a
background to an object. If you look at the object docker, you can see
that our image consists only of a background. To make it an object,
right click on the thumbnail icon in the object docker, and choose
Create from Background. Now the docker will display the word
Object 1 next to the thumbnail icon instead of Background. You can
double click on the object in the docker to rename it if you'd like.

To use the transparent color selection tool, just click in the

background area of your image, then click apply on the property bar.
If parts of the background remain, you can click on those remaining areas, click apply, and so on, until
all of the background has been removed.

Here's the image after using the transparent color selection tool.

Next, we'll create a new background for the image. To do this, click the new object button on
the object docker. In the docker, drag the new object below the original one containing the jets.

I used one of Photo-Paint's preset fills to fill the object with a new background for the jets.
As you can see, there is still a bit of the background color along the edges of the vapor trail. I used the
selective color adjustment command to remove the cyan color from the vapor trails. Make sure the
object with the jets is selected in the object docker, then go to Image > Adjust > Selective Color. In
the color spectrum area, check off cyan, then drag the adjustment slider for cyan to the left until the
color is removed from the edges.

Here's the image after using selective color adjustment:

It's still a little rough around the edges, so we'll feather the edge of the object by one pixel. From the
object menu, choose Feather, and enter a width of 1. The results of the 1 pixel feather are shown
below.

If desired, you can use the eraser tool with a high transparency setting and a textured brush to
blend the edges of the vapor trail even more. Here's my final image after some additional
blending with the eraser tool.
Example 1 2

Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint

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Some images from Nova Development's Art Explosion 600,000.

Related Articles

 Removing the Background - Photoshop's Background Eraser Tool

 An overview of Corel KnockOut software for removing backgrounds
 Removing the Background - Photoshop Magnetic Lasso Tool
 GIMP's Select by Color Tool Step by Step Guide
 GIMP Foreground Select Tool - A Look at the Foreground Select Tool in GIMP

Sue Chastain
About.com Graphics Software

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Removing the Background

Photo-Paint Channel Mask
Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint

In Photoshop, I was able to quickly remove the background from this image using a duplicate color
channel. In Photo-Paint the concept is the same, but the actual procedure is quite a bit different.

The total time isolating the fireworks was under two minutes. This technique doesn't always work this
smoothly for every image, but it can be used in combination with other methods for making more
complex selections. In the fifth example on removing backgrounds with Photoshop, you can see how
this technique was expanded on and combined with other methods for masking a more complicated
image. If you're not familiar with masks, you may find it helpful to read my previous article, All About
Grayscale Masks.

First we need to split the image into individual color channels. From the image menu, choose Split Channels
To... RGB. You'll get three new, separate image containing a grayscale image of the contents of the red, blue,
and green color channels. Compare the three channels and pick the one with the most information. In this
case, we will keep the red channel. This channel will
become our image mask.
Since we only want to isolate the fireworks in this image, we will paint over the city lights at the bottom of the
image with black as the paint color.

You may not be able to see it in these screen shots, but if you look closely or sample the color, you will see that
the black in the areas where we didn't paint is not pure 100% black. To correct this we will go to Image >
Adjust > Brightness/Contrast/Intensity. Bump up the contrast slider just enough to ensure that the black areas
are 100% black. A value of about 10 should do it.

Save the grayscale image to you hard drive and remember where you saved it. I named mine
fireworksmask.cpt. Next, go back to the original image. Open the object docker if it's not already open
(Windows > Dockers > Object Manager). Right click on the background thumbnail icon in the object
docker and choose Create from Background to convert it to an object.

From the mask menu, choose Load > Load from Disk. Navigate to the fireworksmask image you just
saved and select it. Your cursor will appear attached to a small image of the mask... click anywhere in
the image to load the mask. The mask marquee will appear on the object. Go to the object menu and
choose Clip Mask > Create > From Mask. The background will disappear leaving only the fireworks.
Open the image you'd like to use for the new background and choose Select All > Copy. Go back to
the fireworks image and choose Paste > As New Object.

Drag the new background below the fireworks in the object docker.

Select the fireworks in the object docker. Right click on the clip mask thumbnail and choose Combine
Clip Mask.

Go to the object menu and choose Matting > Remove Black Matte. The fireworks will brighten and
pop out of the background.

Any time you pull an image from its background, it's a good idea to try each of the matting commands.
Sometimes one will produce better results than another, and sometimes none of them appear to have
any effect at all... it all depends on the combination of your foreground and background. But don't
overlook them entirely because they can often make a world of difference.

Example 1 2

Removing the Background > Corel Photo-Paint

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