- Part 1: Extracting the flower from the background and convert it to an object.
Open the Dover Hortensia image. First let us remove the leaf on the left side of
the image. I have included 2 methods to do that. I hope you will use the first one ;-)
Method 1: Paintbrush: Size: 3 - Soft Edge: 2 - Color: White Mode: Paint as Object.
Start with a brush size of 10-15.
Paint on top of the left leaf to remove it. Zoom in if needed. Decrease the size of your brush when you come to the right part
of the leaf. I used Size 1-3 for the edges. Make sure that you don't paint on the second leaf. When you are happy with the results,
click out of Mode and Merge All.
Method 2: If you find the above steps
diificult, open the white paint-ufo from your hortensia folder and drag it on top of the leaf.
Richt click: Properties - Position and Size tab and use these settings:
It should be in the correct position now. Merge All.
Pick up your Magic Wand from the Tool Panel. We will extract the flower from the white background. In the Attribute Toolbar use
these settings:
Click the Options button and make sure that Anti-alias has a checkmark. Click on the white background and the white pieces
within the flower. You should have 3 selections. (Using the +button on the Attribute Toolbar will allow you to make more than
one selection at the same time).
Right click: Invert. Right click: Convert to Object. Your flower is now an object and separated from the white background. Deselect.
The image looks good on white, but how does it look on a dark background? Let's check. Go to Edit: Fill and fill the background with black.
The flower has some damage at the top and on the left side and there are some nasty white edge pixels on the leaves.
Pick up your Paint Brush from the Tool Panel: Size : 3, Transparency: 25. Soft Edge : 0. Color: #476744. Click on Mode
so your paint will be on a separate layer.
(Adjust the color as needed for the individual parts of the leaf). Zoom in to 200%. Click View in the Menu Bar and
click on: Show Marquee. Your Selection Marquee will be invisible, so we can see the edges better.
Click on the white and very light
pixels on the leaf. Don't drag your brush, just click. At this stage my image looks like this :
Change the Brush size to 5 go to the pink flower and repair the petals that were damaged by using the Magic Wand.
We could have used a different Similarity setting for the Magic Wand, but that would not work right for the leaves.
Sometimes we have to make a choice and deal with the consequences. ;-) Just
click, don't
drag your brush.
Work your way around the flower, adjusting the color where needed.
Click out of Mode and right click: Select All Objects. Merge as a Single Object.
Go to View again and click on Show Marquee. Your Selection Marquee should be visible now. With your flower still selected and your
background color set to white, drag the flower onto a new canvas. Close the black canvas. You may want to store the flower object
in your EasyPalette now. We need to resize it. Go to Adjust: Resize - and resize your image and object to 50%. Use these settings:
Go to Photo in the Menu bar - Focus - 3rd thumbnail on the top row.
Save as flower.ufo to your desktop folder. Minimize your flower object..
- Part 2: Making the background and frames:
Open a new white canvas of 550 x 450 pixels. Right click: All. Right click: Convert to Object.
Menu bar: Edit - Fill - Gradient tab. Set the first color box to color #516B52 . Set color box 2 to #6E946F
Fill type: Top - Bottom like this:
Click OK. With the gradient object still selected, change to theTransform Tool and adjust the
height of your object to 225
pixels. Make sure the the lock is open.
Right click: Duplicate. Right click: Align: Bottom. In the Attribute Toolbar: Flip the object Vertically.
Right click: Merge All. Save this file as hortensia.ufo to your desktop folder.
25%
The Frame: Right click: All. Right click: Border. 3 pixels Inward. Anti-aliasing: checked. Convert to Object. Edit : Fill - Image tab.
Browse to your Hortensia folder and click on the wd-gold image. Make sure that: Tile the image is checked.
Keep selected. Menu bar: Photo - Focus - click on the 3rd thumbnail of the top row. Keep selected.
Shadow: 5th Icon -
and use these settings:
Transparency: 65. Size: 99%. Soft edge: 0. Merge All.
Change to the Outline Drawing Tool.
Shape: Rectangle. Mode-2-D. Color: White. In the Path Panel click the Options tab and make sure
that Anti-aliasing is checked. Click the Outline tab and copy these settings:
Draw an outline shape of any size. Right click: Properties - Position & Size:
Uncheck the Keep aspect ratio box
and use these settings:
Right click: Align - Center Both. Keep selected. Open your Material Box - Color/Texture tab - Check: File and browse to the
gold fill image in the Hortensia folder on your desktop. Click on it. Keep selected.
Shadow: First icon: (right/bottom shadow) 1 - 1 - 40 - 100 - 0. Menu bar: Photo - Focus - 3rd thumbnail on the top row.
Deselect.
