Extracing portions of an image

[Admiral_Krank]

Hi. this is my very first post in the community So I'm learning the ropes of designer 10, and I can't for the life of me, figure out how to clip one area of an existing graphic, and delete the existing background.

The use case is this - I'm converting a JPG picure of a baseball to a vector image, and I want the background around the baseball deleted. What's the easiest way to do this? Is there a magic selection tool or something that would recognize the object as round?

[Big Frank]

i have some bad news for you
you cannot convert a jpg to vector
you have to draw the vector over the jpg*
you save a vector image that contains a bitmap and the bitmap remains a bitmap

but to answer your technical question
draw a circle exactly over the baseball
select both the circle an the bitmap (use shift whilst selecting)
then rightclick
combine shapes > intersect

* or you can use a bitmap tracer like the built in one (utilities > bitmap editor)
but its not very accurate
google vector magik i think its called

[wizard509]

Welcome to TalkGraphics Admiral. Doing what Frank suggests is by far the best way. To add to what he said, after the combine shapes operation and you want to keep the image for further use, export it as a png true color+alpha.

check out this video for more complex images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8XgHkZo1J8
or with our newer tool set see this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPU98RcV6J0

Sorry I still don't know how to get the video to show here.

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the link back to my long forgotten video

To include a video inline on the forum you need to use the BB Code which you can copy & paste from the YouTube url address. Just the bit after "v=" then surround it by the youtube square bracket tags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8XgHkZo1J8

[handrawn]

as it is a jpg I'm assuming it's a photograph, and if that is the case Frank is correct - although vector magic can be very accurate, but with logos and drawings in particular, photos are difficult to autotrace accurately due to the continuous tone

[Gamerprinter]

I apologize if what I am showing you is more complex than you need, I'm just basically taking apart something I did in Xara Designer Pro 9 recently for one of my own projects.

I needed a realistic looking spider as a map object for a fantasy map I was creating. So I first modeled a spider in 3D, rendered it in light gray color and placing it on a white ground plain so it would cast a realistic shadow - this is my starting image, instead of just a photo (its a photo image rendered from a 3D program).



Next I imported the image to Xara Designer Pro 9 - the graphic showing the 12 steps is as follows:

1. First image is the photo image imported to Xara.
2. Next I created an outline shape using the Freehand Drawing Tool and traced the outer edge of all five spiders as shown
3. Next I select all the drawn shapes and original photo and apply Arrange/Combine/Intersect. I end up with clipped spiders.
4. Next I draw the shadows of the spider image, as a separate object (this way I can apply transparency to shadow not spiders)
5. This step I place the shadows beneath the clipped photo of the spider - it looks just like the original, but there is not background now.
6. Looking at just one spider zoomed in.
7. I want to create more realistic beady spider eyes, so I create black circles, place feathered edge white highlights and drop shadows.
8. I rescale the beady eyes to fit and appropriately place on the spiders head.
9. Now I copy the clipped spider image, then I draw a shape selecting the middle areas of each leg and part of its mandibles, then apply Arrange/Combine/Slice onto the copy..
10. Now selecting that orange color I apply the color onto the sliced part of the leg, then apply Stain-Glass Transparency so you can see through the color at the shaded leg image beneath it.
11. Without showing all the steps I select more areas of the spider, applying different colors (brown and dark gray) and end up with this.
12. Finally, because the shadow and spider are separate objects, I can place the final spider onto a floor surface and the shadow realistically shows the floor beneath.

Final Image zoomed in.



This is what you can do with clipping photos with shapes. I never vectorize a photo image, I always keep it in JPG or whatever bitmap format it already is. I work in vector shapes whether circles, rectangles or hand-traced shapes using the Freehand tool and keep the photos intact as photos. You don't need to vectorize an image, you can still do a lot with Xara and clipping actual photos.

So drawing a circle around the edge of your baseball then applying Arrange/Combine/Intersect and you'll get what you want.

Did that help - or was this tutorial too much for you? I know its more than you asked, but I thought I'd show you the power of using Xara and clipping photos in complex ways to accomplish what you might need for your projects...

[Acorn]

Hi. this is my very first post in the community So I'm learning the ropes of designer 10, and I can't for the life of me, figure out how to clip one area of an existing graphic, and delete the existing background.

The use case is this - I'm converting a JPG picure of a baseball to a vector image, and I want the background around the baseball deleted. What's the easiest way to do this? Is there a magic selection tool or something that would recognize the object as round?

It depends on how complex your image is and if you need to scale it afterwards.
For the simplest I can imagine, it is a circle.

If so, drop the image onto your design page.
Next create a circle (Ellipse Tool L - radius or diameter creation) to a similar size as of the baseball.
with the circle still selected, switch to Fill tool G - Bitmap) and select, from the fourth dropdown on the toolbar, your image.
Adjust and scale to fit.
Finally, you can use the Feather Tool to soften the edges.

It is a vector, with a bitmap fill, that might cover your need.

Acorn

[Admiral_Krank]

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful, I'm impressed by how many of you offered useful tips!

[gwpriester]

To paraphrase an expression, ask two Xara persons a question and get three answers. It loses something in the translation but you get the idea. Xara more often than not offers more than one way of doing a task.

[wizard509]

Eeeeu, why does it have to be spiders Gamerprinter?