Cutting an object out of its background in an imported pic

[Magoo62]

Hey all,

I am pretty new to this program. i have used PS and corel draw a few times in the past but dont have access to those programs any more.

I am trying to create a logo and then create fliers for a new business. I want to import a picture of my baked good product cut out only the shape and then cartoon it and place lettering around it. I have been able to cartoon in and place lettering but i cant figure out how to cut out the object.

PS had an auto-trace or auto-cut feature that would outline the positive space from the background and eliminate the background. is there something like that with OOo Draw? if not i can outline it manually but i cant find a command to cut freeform shape.

Please dont post with links to other programs and downloads if its not possible with this program ill just use Microsoft Paint. any tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Magoo

[acknak]

You can crop an image in OOo; that is, you can "cut out" a rectangular area of the image by moving the sides of the image inward.

If you need to cut out an arbitrary, non-rectangular shape, then it can be done with OOo but it takes some fiddling and, in the end, may not give exactly the results you want.

If you already know how to do it with some other software, go for it.

[keme]

If the picture was taken using a distinctively coloured backdrop, you can use the eyedropper tool to change that colour to transparent. You may need to fiddle a bit with settings to match the background without matching any spot you want to keep in the picture (the eyedropper works on the entire picture, so to do this reliably you need a picture taken with some greenscreen-like backdrop and lighting to match).

[RGB]

Another possibility is to draw, on top of your picture, a closed shape filled with an arbitrary colour. Then select both, picture and shape and do right click → Shapes → Intersect.
Note: this only use the image as fill for the shape, so if you later edit the shape points you will be able to show or hide parts of the picture.

[keme]

Another possibility is to draw, on top of your picture, a closed shape filled with an arbitrary colour. Then select both, picture and shape and do right click → Shapes → Intersect.

Brilliant! Easy to work with, and obvious (in hindsight). Wish I had thought of that.

[acknak]

... and do right click → Shapes → Intersect.

Yes. This is the fiddly bit I was referring to.

The hitch is that it doesn't provide useful results in many cases, depending on exactly what part of the image you want.

bud_mask.png (10.98 KiB) Viewed 44256 times

[RoryOF]

You've cut off one of your ears, acknak!

[RGB]

... and do right click → Shapes → Intersect.

Yes. This is the fiddly bit I was referring to.

The hitch is that it doesn't provide useful results in many cases, depending on exactly what part of the image you want.

I've never had those problems... until I read your comment and started performing some tests.
As far as I can see trouble starts when:
1- the real size of the image is bigger than the page. On that case it do not matter if you select to use the "real size" of the picture before the intersection: you always obtain bad results.
2- when the image was resized. If the inserted image is smaller than the page and you do nothing to its size, intersect will work without problems but as soon as you change the image size (even if not going outside the page), intersect will provide funny outputs...
Weird...

[zaidi]

... and do right click → Shapes → Intersect.

Yes. This is the fiddly bit I was referring to.

The hitch is that it doesn't provide useful results in many cases, depending on exactly what part of the image you want.

I've never had those problems... until I read your comment and started performing some tests.
As far as I can see trouble starts when:
1- the real size of the image is bigger than the page. On that case it do not matter if you select to use the "real size" of the picture before the intersection: you always obtain bad results.
2- when the image was resized. If the inserted image is smaller than the page and you do nothing to its size, intersect will work without problems but as soon as you change the image size (even if not going outside the page), intersect will provide funny outputs...
Weird...

This problem has not been solved yet, and must be REPORTED

[acknak]

Good idea! Please do: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions