(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Learn How to Take Images out of Their Background

Hey everyone. Today we’re going to learn how to render objects. This means that we’re going to take a foreground image out of its background. To do this, we’re going to be using the pen tool. I assume that you have basic knowledge of the pen tool. If you don’t or have never used it before, I’d suggest checking out the pen tool tutorial.

1. Let’s start by finding an image or wallpaper with something we want to take out. If you enjoy making sigs, there’s a good chance that you’ve used a render from gamewallpapers.com. This is where I’ll be using mine from.

I’m using this Alone in the Dark wallpaper from You must login or register to view this content.

You must login or register to view this content.
2. So before we start cutting out the guy in the wallpaper, we may want to crop out the unnecessary background. This will make zooming in a little bit easier.

You must login or register to view this content.

3. Once you’re ready to start rendering, select your pen tool and make sure it’s set to “Paths”. You must login or register to view this content.

4. Zoom in on your wallpaper to around 500-800 percent. When I start rendering, I like to begin in the lower right side.
You must login or register to view this content.
5. Click once in the over left of the guy, then click again towards the top of your window. You should receive a straight line. Don’t worry; we’re going to smooth it out.

You must login or register to view this content.
6. Putting your curser on the line, you should yield the pen tool icon with a plus sign to the right of it. When you click, you’ll get a point in the line.
You must login or register to view this content.
7. By hovering over the new point, press control on your keyboard. When you get the mouse icon, you’re able to move this point and conform it to the image.
You must login or register to view this content.
Remember that it’s OK to delete points (left clicking on them) and re-doing them. Rendering takes patients. The faster you go, the more likely your render is going to end how you don’t want it.

The above technique isn’t the only way to render images using the pen tool. A lot of people like to put a new point ever few pixels and conform their outline to their render that way. I generally like to use both. For large smooth lines, I use the technique above, for smaller rougher lines, I prefer the technique below.
You must login or register to view this content.
If you're rendering a dark area, it helps to turn up your monitor's brightness.




8. If your render has some type of bright light, or other effect which is similar, I’d suggest taking out the light. Note that I don’t take out the flashlight, but just the light effects. These are generally easy to reproduce, and look better if you do it after you render the rest of your image.

You must login or register to view this content.
9. When you get to your render’s hair, do not attempt to render it at this time. Simply go around it. We’ll render it later, as hair takes a bit more feathering to do then the rest of the render.
You must login or register to view this content.
Once you’ve finished your outline, and connected it to your starting point, you’ll get a line resembling where you outlined with your pen tool.

10. To get your image out of its background, right click inside the outline, the hit “make selection”. Feather it at .1-.2 pixels. Once you hit OK, you’ll get your selection.
You must login or register to view this content.
When you have your selection, press “ctrl c” to copy. Then go File - New, and open up a new document. When the document is open, press “ctrl v” to paste.
You must login or register to view this content.
11. Before we look for imperfections, we still need to render the hair. Do this by using the same techniques you used for the rest of the render. Don’t worry about messing up. The great thing about rendering is that you can always go back and fix what you don’t like later.
You must login or register to view this content.
12. Once you’ve finished rendering your hair, connect back to the starting point by going outside the background. Once you’ve connected, make the selection and feather the radius at 1-2 pixels.
You must login or register to view this content.
Your result should look similar to this:
You must login or register to view this content.
13. Let’s recreate our light from our flashlight now. Since it’s a light, we can mostly just copy it from our original wallpaper, and paste it into our render. To do this, take your lasso tool, and make a selection around the brightest part of the light. Feather it at 10-15 pixels.
You must login or register to view this content.
14. Press “ctrl c” to copy, then paste it in your render (ctrl v). Now this is just the brightest part of the light. We still need to create the non-brighter part. To do this, we’re just going to take one of our soft default brushes, and make a white “glow” around the main light. If you have a graphic tablet, it should help a lot. If you don’t have a graphic tablet, try using different sizes and opacities to get the proper “fading out” effect.
You must login or register to view this content.
15. Once you’ve successfully re-created the light, we need to look for defects in our render. Preview your render in both black and white backgrounds. This will help you find un wanted background pieces. If you find any of these (for example, some of my guy’s fingers and hair”, just simply go back and re-outline them closer. Good rendering takes time, so let’s not rush out our final product.

16. After you’ve touched up your render, preview it over a black and white background again.

17. Once you think you’ve finished your render, it’s good practice to contract your render by one pixel and deleting it. To do this, we’re first going to right click our render layer and hit “Select Layer Transparency”. You’ll notice that your render is now selected.
You must login or register to view this content.
You must login or register to view this content.
18. Go to “Select - Modify - Contact”, and contract the selection by one pixel.
You must login or register to view this content.
19. Right click in your selection, and hit “Select inverse”. Then press the delete key on your keyboard.

20. Preview over a white and black background again. If this looks good, put your watermark/logo on it and save it as a .PNG file. PNG files save the transparency. If you still see some mis rendered parts, go back and re-render that area.

thank very good tutorial i would rather just use someones else's though save me time lol

I don't like this method, i prefer using the eraser tool, it gives me more control.

but most of the time when you try to render something and you have white around the edges and crap so this is a tutorial on how to perfectly render an image.

WOW thanks for this tut

---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 PM ----------



maybe you could make a tutorial?

Detailed tut but not how i'd do it

good tut! gratz!

lol Thanks I never new how to do this I have lots to learn