PDA

View Full Version : How do I separate line art from white background?

Michaelws
10-06-2010, 06:51 PM
I have drawn black lines on a white background...crosshatching, etc. and it is too detailed to select all the individual parts. I want to get the black lines on a separate layer so that the white is transparent.

I tried selecting the color range but it still leaves a ghost of white as though the opacity was turned down...but it is still there.

What I have are a number of drawn elements, fish in this case. I want to cut and paste them, the fish, to try alternative compositions and I do not want any white to obscure one fish when I put another fish slightly overlapping on it.

So, is there a way to do this?

thanks for any help with this.
dvillus
10-06-2010, 07:54 PM
try the free filter from Flaming Pear called ghost....


http://www.flamingpear.com/goodies.html
Pixero
10-07-2010, 06:10 AM
Can't you just use Multiply as that layers blend mode? That way only the black is visible. Thats how I do it.
frog
10-07-2010, 09:28 AM
I presume you have drawn everything on the background layer, if so there's two things you can do:

1) copy the background layer to a new layer, and set the blending mode to multiply. Then fill the original background layer with white.

2) alternatively, go to the channels palette and control + click (command on a Mac) on the main RGB channel, this will create a selection from your black and white line art, invert this selection, create a new layer and fill the selection with black. Now if you fill the original background layer with white you will have your line art perfectly transferred with transparency.
Michaelws
10-07-2010, 05:37 PM
Thank you all for the advice. I downloaded but haven't looked at the ghost plug. The Multiply sort of worked...but the last suggestion...using the rgb channel to select/invert and fill with black was exactly what I needed.

Thank you, Frog, for that, and again thanks to all of you for helping.
CGTalk Moderation
10-07-2010, 05:37 PM
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.