Photoshop Question: Cut /Paste To Layers / Shadows
Novica
Posts: 23,924
I haven't experimented much with Photoshop other than playing around with the cool plug-ins, and am trying to do the following:
One layer has Person A. I wanted to cut out B and put her in the scene. I used the Polygonal Lasso Tool (so awesome!) and cut out B, then right clicked and Invert Selection. Okay, she's cut out. I assume I should next use the Move Tool, to pull B over into A's layer. Or should I create an empty layer and pull B into that one? The move tool didn't want to grab B, and I assume I have to unlock some layers? (how?)
Then, is there a way to create shadows for the figure once B is in the new scene, or is that a hard topic to delve into? I couldn't find any Youtube videos on it, but wasn't quite sure how to phrase it.
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Well, I am reading an article that states
"Now, once you've done whatever editing you want to do, make sure you turn your background layer into an editable layer. You can unlock it by double clicking it and pressing OK on the dialogue box. Or you can just create a duplicate later (Layer } New } Layer via copy OR Command+J [It's better to use this tool instead of copy/pasting because by duplicating you aren't putting anything on your clipboard aka using memory]) and hide the background layer."
I may have found the way to do this- but still don't know what to do about shadows. How do you handle compositions with characters casting shadows onto the scene, when they haven't been in the scene? (Am I making sense?)
There is a way and I think the Dreamlight tute 2d Postwork Master has it in it. If yer not in a huge hurry i'll scan through it later today and let you know. I'm off to bed atm.
oooh, thank you! No hurry.
It is always a good idea to learn to work as non-destructively as possible. If you are trying to add a figure to a different scene, lasso your figure, don't invert, and press the button for the layer mask. Everything within the lasso remains visible and the rest is set to alpha. By keepting it non-destructive, you have the ability to refine your mask if needed later.
Now you can go on to add your shadows or whatever.
The more you keep on different layers and do non-destructively, the more you can continue to edit cleanly.
Learn to use smart objects and smart filters; these continue the good work that a non-destructive workflow begins.
One way to do a shadow:
Duplicate the layer.
Select the figure on the bottom layer.
Fill selection with black.
Blur the shadow shape and reduce the opacity. (Setting blend mode to multiply can also help.)
The tricky(ish) bit is then to use the transform tools to adjust the shadow to the right position. (Actually, it's sometimes easier to do this first, then blur etc after.)
It has been a while.
What I can remember is you take a copy of the cutout person; make it grey scale/black and white; paste i to a new layer and line it up with its counterpart; go to Edit/Free Transform and lay it flat to match the other shadows; I can't remember now if I used Dissolve, Multiply or Difference on the layer to get the shadow to look see through. Try them all to see which looks best to you
I did that with this image.
Cast shadows graduate out; they won't have the same density away from the object as under it. This is a good tutorial:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/cast-shadow/
Just FYI, I did a short tutorial on using layer adjustment masks:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/918186/#Comment_918186
Thanks Cris and everyone. I'll re-read the thread and see what I can figure out. I got sidetracked with Life and haven't been able to get around to experimenting.
You need to use the layers panel. That's normally in the bottom right hand corner. If not you can open it in windows > layers.
I assume person A and B are in different documents?
The first layer is usually locked, so you cant move it around. Another problem is that if you try delete the background of this layer, it will automatically fill it with your foreground colour, so it wont actually have a transparent background. you have to first unlock it. Double click on the name in the layers panel and a window will appear to confirm that you want to create a new layer. Another way is to duplicate the layer, and then delete the first, locked one. Now if you delete the background, it will fill the background with a white and grey checked pattern. which means it is transparent. You will also then be able to use the move tool to move person B around the scene.
to add the two people into the same document. (I assume they're in two separate documents) Open both windows side by side. make sure image B is the active document, and that you have selected the move tool in the tools panel. (its a diagonal arrow). click on person B's icon in the layers panel and drag that over onto image A
Another way is to select the layer that you want to move in image B. click select > all. then Edit > copy. Go into image A and Edit > paste.
Shadows can be a bit tricky. A simple way is to ctrl+click the icon of person B in the layers panel. (Assuming they are cut out.) This will then draw a selection block around person B.
Create a new layer.
Fill the layer with a dark colour- Dark blue for example using Edit > fill. Now you should have a dark blue image in the shape of person B. Deselect. Go to filter > blur > gaussian blur. This will blur the dark blue shape a bit. Now go to Edit > transform > distort, and distort the shadow, so that it looks like it's running along the ground. In the layers panel, drop the opacity of the layer and you can then play around with blending modes. That's the drop down box in the layers panel that says "normal." Lastly, move the shadow layer underneath the person B layer.
Thank you Bradrg, when I get a chance, I will try that. You sure took a lot of time typing all that, and it's greatly appreciated.
My pleasure. If you have any follow up questions, or would like a few images to go along with it, then please let me know.
Don't forget you can use DAZ models like Victoria and Genesis and pose them so that they will cast a shadow onto a background, in a quick render. The "background" could be a couple of simple planes, or a morphing plain or there are even some actual background MODELS - like a no-seam background in a photography studio say. Just grabbing Genesis' arms and legs allows you to do a quick and dirty job of posing him or her.
Be sure to create one or two "distant lights", and in the parameters pane, turn shadows "on" for the light(s) you create. Raising and lowering the light(s) will suggest shorter or longer shadow possibilities; you may play with the settings until you get something that you like.
Once I have an idea of what I want my final "shadow" artwork to look like, I will often draw it in a vector drawing program. Then I'll paste it in as a new layer with the transparency set to somewhere around 50, where the available range is from 1 to 100, "1" being invisible and "100" being 100% opaque.
Curves in your vector drawing will allow you to easily "alter" the shape of the shadow some more, and once you've exported your shadow as a bitmap, PS filters will let you further fudge and/or warp and modify the edges as desired.