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How to make the outline on this project smooth not jagged? Please see screenshots


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Hi,

Im working on a project that involves  removing the heads of puppies and kittens ( Sounds macabre I know! ) then putting a white or coloured outline around each one.

I've tried using the outline and outer glow tools in layer effects but can't get the smooth rounded edge I'm looking for. The second pic is what I'm trying to achieve. (not my work)

Please see the attached screenshots and advise if you know a method to achieve this.

Many thanks

Paul

 

puppy with outline.PNG

smooth dog cat.PNG

 

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Hi @Paul240z,

I got slightly better results when making the selection of the head with soft edges disabled on the selection brush and then applying an outline, however it still isn't the perfect smooth outline you're looking for.

image.png

You could try tracing the image with the pen tool, placing the curve behind the pixel layer and then applying an outline to the curve like the below:

image.png

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I would suggest an alternative approach for those who want to avoid vector layers:

  • create / re-select the original selection of head by selection brush
  • grow/shrink selection by suitable radius, e.g. 20px
  • use smooth selection
  • Apply selection as mask to fill layer below the masked head 

 

 

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

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Hi Guys,

Nathan, I think the tracing with the pen tool and applying an outline might be the way to go, I'll just try NMF's suggestion and see which is the fastest method. 

NMF, I'd like to try this can you walk me through the process step by step for a newbie.

I've a mountain of heads to work on so whichever method is quickest.

Many thanks

Paul

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47 minutes ago, Paul240z said:

NMF, I'd like to try this can you walk me through the process step by step for a newbie.

I've a mountain of heads to work on so whichever method is quickest.

Sure. Can you upload one unedited image, this will help to show all steps from scratch. In case all heads are already separated vs. a single color background, this would speed up the process.

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

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ok, let's start with the cat on white background. I assume that you have only one single layer in the document.

  1. select flood select tool
  2. set tolerance to 6%
  3. click on the white area outside of the head
  4. Selection>Invert Selection
  5. you get a relative clean selection of the head
  6. Selection>Smooth Selection by 6px, apply
  7. create mask from selection (click symbol "dark circle in light rectangle"). The mask should be nested to the background layer (not on top)
  8. Select>Grow/Shrink Selection, enter 10px, apply
  9. Layer>New Fill Layer
  10. Choose white color
  11. Move the fill layer below the cats head
  12. This should do the job.

Note that the values for tolerance, smooth, grow depend on the actual image and might need to be adjusted.

cat with white edge.afphoto

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

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For the dog, I would recommend a variant of NathanC's approach. It will provide a cleaner edge, and a defined smooth outline of single width 

  1. Use the pen tool
  2. set mode to "smart"
  3. create as few as possible nodes to trace the edge of the dog (10-20 nodes should do)
  4. close the curve (set the last node to the starting node)
  5. fill the curve in white
  6. add layer fx, white outline, about 10px
  7. Now move the bitmap / image layer with the dog as child layer to the curve
  8. you get a ver sharp edge, and a white outline.
  9. You can adjust the nodes any time with help of the node tool

dog.afphoto

Mac mini M1 A2348 | Windows 10 - AMD Ryzen 9 5900x - 32 GB RAM - Nvidia GTX 1080

LG34WK950U-W, calibrated to DCI-P3 with LG Calibration Studio / Spider 5

iPad Air Gen 5 (2022) A2589

Special interest into procedural texture filter, edit alpha channel, RGB/16 and RGB/32 color formats, stacking, finding root causes for misbehaving files, finding creative solutions for unsolvable tasks, finding bugs in Apps.

 

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