An Extraction in X1

[molucca]

Thanks Mike,

I mostly open a PNG into Photoshop, and load the selection from the alpha channel. When I have fine areas, the mask doesn't work well enough. There must be a was to improve on this.
An X1 AI can be opened in Expression, copied to the clipboard, then pasted into Photoshop in vector. So, this is not an import. I think Illustrator can do something similar.

Rich

[John Rayner]

hi Mike,

You are right. PS will not open an .ai exported from xara, but Illustrator can.

Here is a xara file saved as an .ai then used as a clipping path which was saved as a .psd , then used PS to make a gif...

[mike engles]

Hello Rich
I'm not sure what you are trying to do.
What is wrong with using Photoshop paths?
The mask derived from the PNG exported by XaraX if exported at 300 dpi should be as accurate as a mask derived from a clipping path created in Photoshop using Photoshop tools. I assume that you have Photoshop greater than 5.02. If not then I can see how Expression would help, assuming that the imported path is the same size and does not require scaling to fit.
Mike Engles

[molucca]

I did see that a fill into the shape was imperfect. I think this was a result of the file resolution. The leaf was a 300 DPI scan. I imaging the drawing needed a 300 DPI image to work properly. I'll try adjusting the files to a higher resolution.

One thing I was looking for was a precision mask for Mystical Lighting. I didn't understand what was need for that application. I was using PNG from PSCS, and was wondering how to use the background. As it turns out, ML uses a grayscale JPG loaded separately. In that case, the image needs to have exact placement since the mask cannot be transformed. It can be brushed on, however.

I wanted to add a flare to a lightstation image, but the railings disappeared in the exported resolution. I finally added the flare, and overlayed a vector drawing of the rails.

Rich

[molucca]

The sky extracted in X1. Rich

[John Rayner]

Hi Rich,

Looks good, but not 100% natural. It is too blue at the horizon I think.

[molucca]

I tried lightning the horizon in PS, and thought that it appeared better. I thought I would erase the ocean and apply the sea and clouds as a unit. I just erased the sea in PS, and applied a new background. I was looking at the horizon this morning, and took a couple of shots. I,ll look when I get a chance. It is overcast today. Rich

[John Rayner]

Hi Rich,

This one is much more realistic. Very rarely do you see the sky blue on the horizon I would image almost never by the sea. The humidity is too high.

If you will notice the sky is bluer on low himidity days and grayer/whiter on high humidity days. That is why it looked a little off.

[gwpriester]

Sorry to be so "after the fact" here, but, why not create your mask, black on white, and then export the mask as an Xara EPS or Illustrator EPS.

Then open the mask in Photoshop. Photoshop rasteriszes (makes a bitmap image of) the EPS file and you have your mask in Photoshop.

That work?

Gary

[molucca]

Gary,

I think that is a good option, also. I would still need to rasterize at a higher resolution than I have been using. 300 DPI seems to work nicely. I'll try higher resolution with Mystical Lighting , too. I have made a few masks in X1, but not at higher resolution. ML uses an image loaded into the application, and I only need a JPG. You cannot transform the mask, and everything needs to be in place. Rich