What software do professionals use for cut-outs?

AF
Posted By
Anthony_Frost
Dec 7, 2007
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510
Replies
11
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Closed
My efforts at extracting images from backgrounds are far from perfect – in fact, they’re pretty lame as a whole. But then I look through a catalogue from "Argos", say, or "Littlewoods" (yeah, I’m English, as you’ve probably gathered already from my spelling of "catalogue"…), and see umpteen beautifully executed cut-outs of the products for sale. How do they do it? What app do they use? Presumably Photoshop’s own "Extract" command isn’t all they have in their armoury…?

I’d love to know how it’s done by the professionals.

Thanks for any assistance forthcoming…

Tony Frost.
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cut pro software use

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DM
dave_milbut
Dec 7, 2007
check this out:
<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?7@@.1de5f905.3bb80e5d/5>
AF
Anthony_Frost
Dec 8, 2007
Thanks very much, Dave – there’s quite a bit there for me to get my teeth into. Guess there’s no substitute for practice, honing one’s technique, etc etc…

Cheers

Tony Frost.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 8, 2007
there’s quite a bit there for me to get my teeth into.

true. it lists several techniques. my advice, master one at a time. the most powerful thing you can learn in photoshop that will help you always is how to make good selections!

good luck!
dave
H
Ho
Dec 8, 2007
Guess there’s no substitute for practice…

Exactly. There is no magic bullet when it comes to isolating a subject. Some software that has looked promising in the past (Knockout, Fluid Mask) usually ends up being effective on certain kinds of images (the kind they use for their demos) but falls short in every day use.

MUCH has been written on this subject as the link above attests. If you really want to be good at extractions, it will take some effort on your part.
P
Phosphor
Dec 8, 2007
"the most powerful thing you can learn in photoshop that will help you always is how to make good selections!"

And then, refining and applying that accumulated knowledge so that you can quickly assess which techniques need to be used for any given task. Every image presents its own unique set or requirements, and the more tools and techniques you have in your arsenal, the better.

Despite what many folks think—those folks who only ever see the end results—the things we do are only facilitated by the software, not rendered a simple "button-pushing" bit of easy magic.

This learning is never-ending.
JJ
John_Joslin
Dec 8, 2007
…. and learn to recognise which technique is the best for any given image, there’s no hard and fast rule, only experience will tell you.
DM
dave_milbut
Dec 8, 2007
only experience will tell you.

sometimes phos will tell you. but you have to rub his belly the right way! 😛 🙂
P
Phosphor
Dec 8, 2007
Heh @ Dave.

You can rub my belly, peel me grapes and funnel fine Belgian brews down my throat, but that still won’t allow me to do someone else’s homework.

I’m always happy to steer someone toward info, and offer some philosophy about the whys and hows of learning. The rubbing and peeling and funneling is helpful to get me to compose entire tutorials anew in response to questions.

🙂
JJ
John_Joslin
Dec 8, 2007
You can rub my belly, peel me grapes and funnel fine Belgian brews down my throat, but …

Keep offa his blue suede shoes!
P
Phosphor
Dec 8, 2007
Oh, and if your R.G.C., you can slander my name all over the place as well.

And I’ll laugh at how much of an ineffectual twit you are!
BO
Burton_Ogden
Dec 10, 2007
I’m not a professional, so I guess I shouldn’t respond here, but I use Corel KnockOut < http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CorelCom/Lay out&c=Product_C1&cid=1152105061771&lc=en> for difficult "knockouts". KnockOut is not a quick and easy way to get good knockouts of difficult subjects, but I find that, with some investment of my time, I can get the results I want from it.

Some masking products depend on you selecting "inside colors" and "outside colors" and, in the real world, that frequently doesn’t hold true along the border of an object. Colors that are outside the object along one section of the boundary can be inside it along another section of the boundary. The inside colors and outside colors can change continuously along the border of an object. KnockOut doesn’t fall into the trap of inside colors and outside colors, and that is one of the reasons why I prefer it.

Another reason why I prefer KnockOut is that it doesn’t attempt to define the object in terms of a path around it. The motto of the original product (Ultimatte Corporation developed it originally before Corel acquired it) was "There are no edges. There are only transitions." That philosophy of bitmap images appeals to me.

— Burton —

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