How to create PNG or separate image from background?

[gumbo23]

I will be scanning original artwork in order to produce a book.

We will be using artwork drawn using black ink.

When importing the scans into Af Photo or Designer, is there a way to separate the image from the original paper background - and create a PNG of each image?

The idea is to avoid having whites around each image which are different to the paper stock color.

I hope this question makes sense!

[Alfred]

Try ‘Filters > Colours > Erase White Paper’.

 

[MEB]

Hi gumbo23,
If the scanned images are black you can use Filters ▸ Colors ▸ Erase White Paper to remove the white background. You create a macro to record those steps then apply it to a batch job to speed up the process.

[gumbo23]

On 3/19/2019 at 3:51 PM, MEB said:

Hi gumbo23,
If the scanned images are black you can use Filters ▸ Colors ▸ Erase White Paper to remove the white background. You create a macro to record those steps then apply it to a batch job to speed up the process.

Is this in Photo or Designer?

[MEB]

Hi gumbo23,
Affinity Photo, only Photo has filters.

[gumbo23]

I can't get this to work.

How do I get this into Af Publisher as a PNG?

[MEB]

Hi gumbo23,
Can you be more specific please? What's not working? Open the file you scanned in Affinity Photo, go to menu Filters ▸ Colors ▸ Erase White Paper, go to menu File ▸ Export to export the file as a PNG, then place the file in Publisher.

If you attach a sample file i can advise you better/check if there's something i'm missing or any other issue.

[gumbo23]

I follow the steps but the final imported image always has the background. 

When I select erase white paper it looks like it has turned into a PNG, but then the final image imported still has the background.

Where could I be going wrong? 

I also select 'image without background' when exporting the PNG but when I insert the image it still has the original background that I am trying to remove. 

[MEB]

Are you placing the PNG over a white background in Publisher? If so you will not see any difference. Place a red rectangle below the image in Publisher just to check if it's transparent or not. Again if attach a sample file the output of the san) i can advise you better/check if there's something i'm missing or any other issue.

[gumbo23]

I am trying to end up with just the black and white image on a white background.

It will be published on a white page so I need the off-white background in the original art to disappear. 

I'm not sure I know what you mean by placing a red rectangle below the image - how does that tell me if something is transparent?

[gumbo23]

This is the image with white bg erased in Photo - and then the image placed in an image box in Publisher:

[John Rostron]

If you can see the red layer through your image background, then it must be transparent.

You can test this before loading into Publisher. Use Layer > New Fill Layer, set the colour of this to red, then in the Layers panel, move it below your target layer.

John

[MEB]

Thanks for the images. It helps a lot. The Erase White Paper only removes pure white, greys become semi-transparent and pure black is kept intact. Seems your scanned images don't have a pure white background - they are light grey and have some texture thus the results you are getting. If you attach one of the original scanned files i can advise you better. There's a couple ways to approach this - for example using a levels or curves adjustment to clean up the background.

[gumbo23]

12 minutes ago, MEB said:

Thanks for the images. It helps a lot. The Erase White Paper only removes pure white, greys become semi-transparent and pure black is kept intact. Seems your scanned images don't have a pure white background - they are light grey and have some texture thus the results you are getting. If you attach one of the original scanned files i can advise you better. There's a couple ways to approach this.

Is there a preferred file type to use when scanning the original?

I can then send you one of those versions.

[gumbo23]

12 minutes ago, MEB said:

Thanks for the images. It helps a lot. The Erase White Paper only removes pure white, greys become semi-transparent and pure black is kept intact. Seems your scanned images don't have a pure white background - they are light grey and have some texture thus the results you are getting. If you attach one of the original scanned files i can advise you better. There's a couple ways to approach this.

I'll attach both jpg and png here ...

[John Rostron]

You should save your scanned images as monochrome (black-and-white) png or tiff files. In Photo, you can use the Threshold filter which will render your image as pure black or white. Note that Photo will still regard your image as greyscale. You should then be able to Erase White Paper.

John

[gumbo23]

6 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

You should save your scanned images as monochrome (black-and-white) png or tiff files. In Photo, you can use the Threshold filter which will render your image as pure black or white. Note that Photo will still regard your image as greyscale. You should then be able to Erase White Paper.

John

How do I find the threshold filter?

[MEB]

The threshold filter will generate hard (non-antialiased) edges. Here's a sample file using a live levels adjustment to remove the background/texture. If you rasterise the first layer and apply the Erase White Paper filter to it, it should clean the whole background. You can delete the Fill layer i placed on the bottom (it was just to check the transparency).

sample_file_MEB.afphoto

The resulting transparent PNG: 

[John Rostron]

5 minutes ago, gumbo23 said:

How do I find the threshold filter?

Go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Threshold Adjustment. In your image,  I used a slider position about half way. This gave me the image here:

John

[gumbo23]

11 minutes ago, MEB said:

The threshold filter will generate hard (non-antialiased) edges. Here's a sample file using a live levels adjustment to remove the background/texture. If you rasterise the first layer and apply the Erase White Paper filter to it, it should clean the whole background.

sample_file_MEB.afphoto

Just to be clear - what is the full list of steps after creating the scan, using this method? 

you say I should rasterise the first layer - but how is that produced?

Do I have to duplicate something in order that there are two layers so that one can be rasterised?

[v_kyr]

It might be better to convert those then into vector drawings, that way you can reuse them in any desired or needed size in other apps like Publisher.

 

Here is an AD file with every drawing on layers, so you can copy/paste them over into other documents as vectors.

• FVscan.afdesign

[gumbo23]

2 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

It might be better to convert those then into vector drawings, that way you can reuse them in any desired or needed size in other apps like Publisher.

 

Here is an AD file with every drawing on layers, so you can copy/paste them over into other documents as vectors.

• FVscan.afdesign

What is the list of steps to produce this?

I don't do this for a living so am very out of practice ...

[MEB]

6 minutes ago, gumbo23 said:

Just to be clear - what is the full list of steps after creating the scan, using this method? 

After opening a scanned file in Photo, copy/paste the levels adjustment from the sample document above into that document, apply the Erase White Paper filter then export as PNG.

[John Rostron]

6 minutes ago, MEB said:

The threshold filter will generate hard (non-antialiased) edges. Here's a sample file using a live levels adjustments to remove the background/texture. If you rasterise the first layer and apply the Erase White Paper filter to it, it should clean the whole background.

Your message as posted did not include the Sample file, but it was quoted in @gumbo23's reply. Curious.

John

 

[v_kyr]

1 minute ago, gumbo23 said:

What is the list of steps to produce this?

I don't do this for a living so am very out of practice ...

1. When you scan a bw drawing image save it as a JPG or PNG  bitmap file.
2. Use a Tracer/Vectorizer tool to convert the bitmap file into a vector file, save the vectorization as SVG or PDF.
3. Open the vectorized file (SVG/PDF) in the desired Affinity app for usage, scale, transform and position it to your needs there.