Vector Masking Difficulty: Someone Please Help

jasonchan483 · 07-19-2005

Hi, Im tryin to cut out part of an image in a picture but i have a lot of problems. I am new at using Photoshop so bear with me. I know i am suppose to use the pen tool. I trace around my image but then it is covered with black so i can even see it anymore. Im basically creating a shadow figure of what I want. Does anyone get what i mean? How do i turn it off and what is the next step to cutting out the image???? Someone please help. thanks.

**Bub** · 07-19-2005

If you could post the image, we could probably get a better idea of what you need.

jasonchan483 · 07-19-2005

Its pretty much the area that i want to be cut out is black. Can anyone help>??

jasonchan483 · 07-19-2005

okay this is how it looks like when i connect the dots. i know its a bad job im noob, but im just tryin to show u what i mean.

**Man1c M0g** · 07-19-2005

Other people have had a similar problem. The solution is here: http://forums.biorust.com/thread1466-tool.html

jasonchan483 · 07-19-2005

thanks mog that helped but i am stuck once again lol. I read the tutorial and the forum u linked to but i cant seem to isolate the image by itself. After drawing the path and choosing the direct tool, the option to create a vector mask is there but i cant access it. do you know why???

**Man1c M0g** · 07-19-2005

Are you sure the path is closed? The options for vector masking are totally disabled until you join the ends of the path together.

jasonchan483 · 07-20-2005

yes it is connected bc i am able to make a selection which shows the dotted lines of the shape and I am able to move the shape of the lines but the option to create vector mask is greyed out. What could it be??

jasonchan483 · 07-20-2005

Also the arrow shown in the tutorial is white, while mine is black (called a path selection tool and not a direct selection too). Is that the problem??

jasonchan483 · 07-20-2005

nope its the same thing.. great. I changed it to direct tool like it says in the tutorial but after i click make selectiona and see the image dotted, i cant do anything else with it.

jasonchan483 · 07-22-2005

yea im lost. sigh... can anyone help?

jimmy1012 · 07-23-2005

try and trace the image in a seperate layer, ctrl click the little window for the layer you just traced ( it should be under a "layers tab" in a pop up box in the bottom right corner), It should start showing the dotted lines, next turn off the visibility of this layer by clicking on the eye to the left of the window you just clicked. Next select the original picture in the "layer" tab. Select the magic wand tool on the toolbar (which is the popup with all the icons), the magic wand is the second one on the right side. Finally right click the image and select layer via copy/cut*.

I hope this helped you, and if it didn't then I am lost too.

*Copy will make a new layer with just the area you selected,and it will leave the original layer intact
Cut will literally cut that part of the image out and make it a new layer, leaving the original layer wil a hole in it

jasonchan483 · 07-23-2005

Thanks a lot MOg and Jimmy:

I ended up extracting the image by filter>extract and i cleaned up everything with the magic wand. How do I isolate the image by itself, crop it so theres no background (just the figure). I have cropped it so that there is less negative space, just a box and the logo itself.