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Posted

Hello,

I'm trying to put a wintery scene, maybe something like snowflakes in the windows of the attached picture in hopes of turning the picture into a Christmas card. I also attached a sample image to put inside the window.

While I know how to use the pen tool to trace a window and turn it into a selection, I'm not sure how to proceed beyond this and change the scene outside so that it looks somewhat realistic. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Chris

 

 

xmas 2021.afphoto snow.afphoto

Posted

One important question is: Do you want to keep the blinds?
If you do then the selection process will probably be quite tricky.
If you don’t then parts of the window frame will need to be reproduced, which could also be tricky.

Also, your original picture was taken on what looks like a sunny day so it might be tricky to match a snow scene background with the sunny lighting.

Also, your example snow scene will probably not look good as a background because it’s not to scale with the foreground, if you are looking for realism.

Posted

Hi Garry,

I don't need to keep the blinds. I thought it might look cool, but I just wanted to put something in the window and not sure how to do that. I haven't decided on the exact image I want to put there yet, I was just using it as an example so I could learn the technique to put something there.

Thank you so much for your reply!

Chris

Posted

To change the scene outside a window.

Find an image that will work, then just erase/mask the windows

If this is a "Christmas card" intended for kids, you may want to change the scene to some sort of a fantasy one. (Which should be easier)

 

 

snowfin.jpg

snowfin2.jpg

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

Posted

Hi Carl,

This is SO good. Exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you very much. LOL on the thought bubble version.

It's my mom's dog and she dresses her up and makes a Christmas card each year. This is going to be a great card this year.

Really appreciate your taking the time to demonstrate this!

Chris

 

Posted

If you were going for further realism than carl123’s examples you might want to look at two areas.
The first area is that the blinds have been removed completely including the thickness of the ‘window inside area’ (whatever that’s called, I’m not a glazier/builder) where the blinds ‘sit’. That makes the walls look a lot thinner than they are and, to me, looks a bit odd.
The second area is that the examples still show the shadow of the blinds, which aren’t there any more. The shadows being there makes little sense if the blinds are not there.
These areas are why I said earlier that it could be tricky.
If, on the other hand, you’re fine with how it looks then that’s absolutely okay, you did say you only wanted it to look “somewhat” realistic.

Posted

Yes, Garry, thank you, you are correct in that I wanted some realism. The problem is that I am not sure how to keep the blinds in there? I'm still learning. My mom is anxious for me to get this finished for her so she can have Christmas cards printed. So I thought if I could maybe remove the blinds and keep the sills looking good, that might work, too. 

Posted

So, I'm still not understanding how to make this work so I can try some different scenes. I've put a selection around the window with a pen tool and tried to click delete, but it won't delete. How do I put the image in the window? Is there an easier way to make an accurate selection of the windows as a whole and then replace the scene rather than using the pen tool? I'm just not understanding why clicking delete doesn't make the scene go away so I can put in the new scenes. Sorry for the hassle. Thank you for walking me through this.

Chris

church-g6075916f0_1920.jpg

moon-ge7635c953_1280.png

timbe.afphoto

Posted
12 minutes ago, chriscaldwell said:

I've put a selection around the window with a pen tool and tried to click delete, but it won't delete. How do I put the image in the window.

The pen creates create a path, not a selection you can delete. Instead of deleting any pixels you can use this pen drawing as a clipping mask for the image in the window.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

Posted

Hi Thomaso,

Good to see you. I'm alway grateful for your help. I'm very rusty at this, and under pressure to get this done asap.

So, I'm assuming I trace around a window with pen tool, then click Selection then mask. Then I'm lost as to what to do next. I can't even seem to make a good selection to maintain the outline of the windows and don't have any time to practice. I was thinking either of the two images above with Santa and his sleigh or the holiday village image would work.

 Here's what my screen looks like. Thank you so much.

 

 

Screen Shot 2021-11-21 at 7.53.03 PM.png

Posted

Hi @chriscaldwell :)

I recommend checking out the following tutorial, as this should show you how to best create your selection, remove this area from the image and replace it within another image - 

I personally used the Selection Brush Tool (without using the 'Refine' feature) to select the window areas, then simply hit 'delete' to remove this area from the image.

Unfortunately it would be very difficult, if not impossible to retain the original blinds in the image. One option could be to draw your own into the image, I used the rectangle Quick Shape tool & set to 50% opacity to create these, then added a very slight amount (0.1px) worth of gaussian blur to the shapes to make them appear more natural with the rest of the image -

I hope this helps!

 

xmas 2021_b.afphoto

Posted

Hi Dan,

Thank you VERY much for this tutorial and explanation on creating the blinds. I just completed several versions, and my mother loved these final attached versions. One with Santa Claus and blinds, and the other a landscape without blinds. I've learned a whole new skillset that I can use for many other projects and now I don't feel so rusty anymore.

I really appreciate your taking the time to do this. I appreciate everybody that helped me here as all suggestions were wonderful. Thank you

Timbe_2-I.pdf Timbe_2-Santa_Brighter.pdf

  • 1 month later...

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