I was hoping the last 'hint' thread would have prompted folks to share thier little tricks...didnt work out that way :) Lets try again. Here is another little hint.

In photodeluxe, if you want to cut a knife out of a pic to stick it on another background then you normally go to the change background mode. From there you choose 'smart select'. One problem I see with smart select is that it is not very accurate. If you try and go from point to point outlining the knife, when you click to make a new start/stop point, the cursor is not very accurate. You will notice that if you stay right on the outline of the knife that smart select can 'chew' into the knife a bit and make the knife look a little ragged. Most people therefore use smart select and leave space around the knife, then use the paintbrush to go back and remove the background left around the knife. Sometimes that is still difficult to be accurate with, and you still end up with the knife being a little ragged looking.

Now, do as you normally do, and go to the change background. Instead of choosing smart select, look on the main menu bar and choose the 'select menu', in that menu choose the 'selection tools', from there choose 'polygon'. Now, the polygon tool will do the same thing as smart select except that it is far more accurate. You can then go around the knife without having to leave any space around it, and that keeps you from having to use the paintbrush to clean it up as well. Your knife will look cleaner, and you can cut the time spent in half easily.

Sometimes I have a little trouble explaining things, so I hope the above is understandable. Go practice with it, and you will see what I mean.

Richard, I think your tips are most generous. Saying that, it takes alot of practice to remove the jagged look. You have the talent to do it. Thank you from all of us hackers.
Sincerely,

Hey Richard ...

Nice tip!

However, my similar tip is to dump all other image editing programs and go with the professional's choice ... PhotoShop 6.0 with ImageReady. :)

Anyone else agree?

Alex

Alex, I disagree in that whatever works you use. How many people are experienced enough to use Photoshop 5.5 and 6 ???
Maybe being a website builder makes these programs easier to use, but a perfect picture makes them useless. Saying the above, it's easier to touchup good pics than rehabilitating poor ones. Work on your strengths and you will take better pictures, don't wait for photoshop to bail you out.

Steve,

Photoshop is not a bailout. It's the premier image processing software on the planet. Without the compression algorithm built in to it, or another top-shelf processing package, you can not convert your raw images with the same compression quality.

The fact that it has additionally superior manipulation tools and special effects filters built in, especially for guy's of Richard's tallent, makes it the one piece of software that a person who desires ultra-quality finished work can't do without.

Ask someone like P7 what they recommend, and you'll see.

That was my point.

Alex

Ah, photoshop....I actually have that sitting here as we speak....I have not installed it yet, guess I have been a little intimidated about trying it. Sometimes change scares me a bit, so I can be slow about trying new things. Maybe since I have most of tomorrow free I will slap it on here and mess with it. I do hope its all everybody says it is :)

Steve, I dont mind passing along the things I have learned. Some of the things I have figured out on my own, but the vast majority are just things I have learned from others. They have helped me greatly, so I do hope they are of some help to others.

Well ...?

Results next week ... right? :lol:


Alex

I do hope to have a result next week. I should be taking delivery of what should be one of the coolest customs around...just wait until you see it.....has a cool factor of a million :)