Adobe PHOTOSHOP 6.0 Manual page 166

CHAPTER 5
156
Selecting
Use Smart Highlighting to trace sharper edges.
Use a large brush to cover wispy, intricate edges
where the foreground blends into the background,
such as hair or trees.
If you use Smart Highlighting to mark an object
edge that is near another edge, decrease the
brush size if conflicting edges pull the highlight off
the object edge. If the object edge has a uniform color
on one side and high-contrast edges on the other side,
keep the object edge within the brush area but center
the brush on the uniform color.
If the object has a well-defined interior, make
•
sure that the highlight forms a complete enclosure.
You do not need to highlight areas where the
object touches the image boundaries. If the object
lacks a clear interior, highlight the entire object.
• To base the highlight on a selection saved in an
alpha channel, choose the alpha channel from the
Channel menu. The alpha channel should be
based on a selection of the edge boundary. If you
modify a highlight based on a channel, the channel
name in the menu changes to Custom.
To erase the highlight, select the eraser tool ( )
•
in the dialog box, and drag over the highlight.
To erase the entire highlight, press Alt+Backspace
(Windows) or Option+Delete (Mac OS).
Define the foreground area:
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If the object has a well-defined interior, select the
•
fill tool ( ) in the dialog box. Click inside the
object to fill its interior. (Clicking a filled area with
the fill tool removes the fill.)
• If the object is especially intricate or lacks a clear
interior, make sure that the highlight covers the
entire object, and then select Force Foreground.
Select the eyedropper tool (
and click inside the object to sample the
foreground color, or click in the Color text box and
use a color picker to select the foreground color.
This technique works best with objects that
contain tones of a single color.
Click Preview to preview the extracted object,
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or skip to step 10 to extract the object without a
preview.
Selected area highlighted and filled, and extracted object
Zoom in as needed, and set any preview options:
Use Show menu options to switch between
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previews of the original and extracted images.
Use Display menu options to preview the
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extracted object against a colored matte
background or as a grayscale mask. To display a
transparent background, choose None.
Select Show Highlight or Show Fill to display the
•
object's highlight or fill.
) in the dialog box,