belajar corel photo paint.pdf

5/19/2018 belajar corel photo paint.pdf

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The Art of

Masking


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2 CorelDRAWX4 Insights from the Experts

Michael Cervantes

Michael Cervantes is a Corel C-Tech volunteer, CorelDRAW Certified Expert, andCertified Instructor. He graduated from the Southern Institute of Business and Technology

in Dallas, Texas. In addition to being a desktop publisher, Michael has been a freelance

graphic artist since 1989. He has published several articles about CorelDRAW and

Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and he routinely helps Corel users in the Corel newsgroups.

Michael was a contributing author to CorelDRAW 10: The Official Guideand other

publications.


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CorelDRAWX4 The art of masking 3

The art of maskingCorel PHOTO-PAINT is an extraordinary bitmap-editing application that features many tools for

masking digital images according to user convenience and needs. Some of these tools are based

on techniques used traditionally in printing, photography, and painting, while others have

come from the imaginations of software engineers. These versatile masking tools offer the

skilled user many masking techniques, some of which are so creative that their use constitutes

a form of art.

The most important and efficient Corel PHOTO-PAINT masking technique is the clip mask. What

is a clip mask, and how does it work? Imagine a transparent piece of paper placed over a

photograph. You can paint over this paper with a magic ink that adds transparency to the

underlying photograph or subtracts transparency from it. The advantage of this method is that

the ink does not dry until you are satisfied with your work, and only then do the changes

become permanent. The original image is kept intact, because you are not painting directly over

the photograph.

Why is this so fantastic? First, the technique is nondestructive; second, you can use almost all

Corel PHOTO-PAINT tools and effects while working on the mask; third, changes are displayed

immediately; and fourth, you can apply or discard the clip mask whenever you want.

The clip mask is associated with an object, which is why you should convert the background to

an object if you want to use a clip mask on it. Converting the background to an object is not a

problem, because you can combine any object or layer with the background whenevernecessary, even if the background is clip-masked.

In addition to providing useful tips about working with clip masks, this tutorial also gives you

some general tips about masking. You will learn some techniques that will help you increase

your productivity and improve the quality of your masks. Learning these methods is the first step

in improving your masking technique.

Example 1: Use masking to createtransparent edgesYou need to create soft transparent edges on three sides of an image, because the image will

be used on the interior left-hand page of a magazine.

1 Open the sample image in Corel PHOTO-PAINT (locate the file strawberries.tifin the

folder Program Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4\Tutorial files). If necessary,

choose To fit from the zoom level list box on the property bar.


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2 Open the Objectsdocker (press Ctrl + F7, or from the menu bar, click Window

DockersObjects).

3 Convert the background to an object. To do this, click the Create an object from the

backgroundbutton at the bottom of the Objectsdocker, or from the menu bar, click

ObjectCreateFrom background.

4 Double-click the Rectangle masktool in the toolbox to create a mask around the image.

5 Click MaskMask outlineReduce, and set Widthto 50 pixels. This setting evenly

reduces the size of the mask 50 pixels from the border. This approach is faster, and more

precise, than drawing the mask and aligning it with the center of the image.

6 Right-click the object thumbnail in the Objectsdocker, and select Create clip mask

From mask, or from the menu bar, click Object Clip maskCreateFrom mask. A

clip mask icon is created to the right of the object thumbnail in the Objectsdocker. Theclip mask represents the special transparent sheet of paper mentioned previously. Notice

the red outline around the clip mask icon in the Objectsdocker (Figure 1), which tells you

that the clip mask is active. You can click the object thumbnail to deactivate the clip mask

and work directly on the image, or you can click the clip mask icon to reactivate it.

Figure 1: The red outline shows that the clip mask is active.

7 Now a magic moment: Open the Gaussian blurdialog box (from the menu bar, click

EffectsBlurGaussian blur), and play with the Radiusslider until the image borders

appear with a soft transition from solid to transparent.

8 We want to return the right side of the image to normal (hard edge) while keeping a soft

border for the other three sides. To do this, activate the Painttool (press the Pkey, or click

the Painttool in the toolbox), and select Airbrushfrom the Paint toolpicker on the

property bar. Click the Open advanced optionsbutton on the property bar to expand

the advanced options, and set brush Transparencyto 95. Set Foreground colorto white

(click the Whiteswatch on the color palette), and paint on the right side of the image. The

edges are now complete (Figure 2).


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9 To make the changes permanent, combine the clip mask with the object (right-click the

clip mask icon in the Objectsdocker, and select Combine clip mask, or from the menu

bar, click ObjectClip maskCombine).

Figure 2: Transparent edges are created on three sides.

Example 2: Use masking to change imageluminosityThe clip mask is useful not only for masking transparencies, but also for masking color and

correcting luminosity. Frequently, you find images that are highly contrasted or that haveshadows that cover large areas of the image. By using image luminosity to mask these types of

images, you can bring out image detail.

The process is simple: you invert the image luminosity, so that what is white changes to black,

and what is black changes to white. The black area of the mask protects the highlights, and the

white area exposes the shadows to changes and gradually exposes the rest of the image. Study

the following example to see how this works.


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A travel agency is promoting a destination. You have been assigned to enhance the shadows

in this photograph to expose important details (Figure 3).

Figure 3: The photograph contains shadows that need to be adjusted

without affecting the highlights in the image.

1 Open the sample image with Corel PHOTO-PAINT (locate the file

seaside_village_shadows.tifin the folder Program Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics

Suite X4\Tutorial files). If necessary, choose To fit from the zoom level list box on the

property bar.

2 Duplicate the image (click ImageDuplicate).

3 Convert the duplicate to Lab Color mode by clicking ImageConvert toLab color (24

bit).

4 Press Alt + 1to open the Channelsdocker and activate the Lightness channel (or from the

menu bar, click WindowDockersChannels, and then click Lightness channel).

5 Copy the Lightness channel to the Clipboard (press Ctrl + C, or from the menu bar, click

EditCopy).


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6 Activate the original image (click Windowseaside_village_shadows.tif).

7 Duplicate the background object by pressing Ctrl + Dor clicking ObjectDuplicatefrom

the menu bar. (You can also right-click the Backgroundobject in the Objectsdocker and

choose Duplicate selected.)

8 Rename the new object. To do this, right-click the object in the Objectsdocker, and

choose Properties. In the Object propertiesdialog box, type Enhanced in the Name

field, and click OK.

9 Activate Paint on maskmode (press Ctrl + K, or from the menu bar, click MaskPaint

on mask).

10 Paste the Lightness channel from the Clipboard into the Paint on maskimage (click

Edit PastePaste as new selection).

11 Invert the mask by clicking ImageTransformInvert. Note that the highlights are nowblack and that the shadows are white (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The highlights and shadows have been inverted.

12 Deactivate Paint on maskmode (press Ctrl + K, or from the menu bar, click MaskPaint on mask).

13 Create a clip mask on the Enhanced object by right-clicking the Enhanced thumbnail

in the Objectsdocker and choosing Create clip maskFrom mask.

Note: You can also invert a mask by right-clicking the thumbnail and choosing Create clipmaskFrom inverted mask.


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14 Activate the Enhanced object, and deactivate the clip mask, by clicking the Enhanced

object thumbnail in the Objectsdocker.

15 Open the Tone curvedialog box (press Ctrl + T, or from the menu bar, click

Adjust Tone curve). Adjust the curve to enhance the shadows and reveal detail. You

should observe how the shadows become lighter while the highlights remain unchanged,

and how the other tones change gradually.

16 To see the changes to the Enhanced object, hide the background object by clicking the

background eye icon in the Objectsdocker (Figure 5).

Figure 5: The highlights are enhanced.

Example 3: Use channel masks to replacethe image backgroundThe perfect result of using this efficient, magical technique depends on how fast and how

precisely the initial mask is created. Corel PHOTO-PAINT beginners tend to activate the Magicwand masktool too often, and intermediate users do the same to the Pathtool, but you

should remember that masks are 8-bit channels. More often than not, the mask you are looking

for can be found inside a channel, especially complex masks that would be difficult and tedious

to create with conventional mask tools. If you want to mask like a pro fast and easy take

a good look at the following example.


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The sky in the image below is flat and pale (Figure 6). You want to enrich this beautiful

composition by using a different sky and adjusting the sea color slightly.

Figure 6: The sky in this photograph lacks color and contrast.

1 Open the sample image with Corel PHOTO-PAINT (locate the file

seaside_village_detail.tifin the folder Program Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

X4\Tutorial files). If necessary, choose To fit from the zoom level list box on the property

bar.

2 The main color you want in the sky is cyan, and the unwanted color is yellow. If you want

to mask the sky, the channel to look at is the yellow channel. Press Alt + 3to activate theyellow channel, or click Yellow channelin the Channelsdocker. This channel shows an

almost perfect mask for the sky (Figure 7).


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Figure 7: The sky has been isolated in the yellow channel.

3 Copy the yellow channel to the Clipboard (press Ctrl + C, or from the menu bar, click

Edit Copy).

4 Select the composite channel (press Alt + 0, or click the CMYK channel in the Channels

docker).

5 Activate Paint on maskmode by pressing Ctrl + Kor clicking MaskPaint on mask

from the menu bar.

6 Click EditPastePaste as new selectionto paste the mask from the Clipboard.

7 Deactivate Paint on maskmode (press Ctrl + K, or from the menu bar, click Mask

Paint on mask).

8 Import a photo of a sky that you want to use for the background. To do this, press Ctrl + I,

or from the menu bar, click FileImport. Locate the file sky.tifin the folder Program

Files\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4\Tutorial files. Drag the sky object, as necessary,

so that it covers the original sky area.

9 Create a clip mask in the new sky object by using the current mask (right-click the skyobject thumbnail in the Objectsdocker, and choose Create clip maskFrom mask).

You can also create the clip mask by clicking ObjectClip maskCreateFrom mask

from the menu bar.

10 The main problem with the original sky was the lack of cyan. Change the merge mode of

the sky object to cyan (right-click the thumbnail of the sky object in the Objectsdocker,

click Properties, select Cyanfrom the Mergelist box, and click OK).


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11 The new sky is darker than the original image. To reduce the objects opacity, right-click

the object in the Objectsdocker, click Properties, and move the Opacityslider until the

sky illumination looks natural compared with the original image.

12 The new sky color is covering part of the original houses, so we want to increase the clip

mask contrast. Select the clip mask by clicking the clip mask icon in the Objectsdocker,

and open the tone curve (AdjustTone curve). Drag to adjust the tone curve until you

are satisfied with the result (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Use the tone curve to increase contrast.

13 Open the Infodocker by clicking WindowDockersInfo. Move the cursor over the

sky area while reading the color values in the Infodocker. The values show that the sky

has almost no magenta. To add magenta, duplicate the sky object (right-click the objects

name in the Objectsdocker, and choose Duplicate selected), and then change the

merge mode of the duplicate object to magenta (right-click the thumbnail of the object in

the Objectsdocker, click Properties, and select Magentafrom the Mergelist box).

Decrease the objects opacity, and click OK.

14 The sea area also needs enhancement. Activate the object that has cyan as the merge

mode, and duplicate it (right-click the objects name in the Objectsdocker, and choose

Duplicate selected).

15 Discard the clip mask from the new object by right-clicking the clip mask icon and selecting

Remove clip mask. Move the object down to cover the sea, and change the object's

opacity to approximately 10%.

16 Create a clip mask to hide the object. To do this, right-click the original sky object

thumbnail in the Objectsdocker, and choose Create clip maskTo hide all.

17 Activate the Painttool (press P), click the white color swatch on the color palette, and

brush over the sea to let the cyan come up through the clip mask.


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18 Combine all objects with the background (click ObjectCombineCombine all

objects with background), and save the file. The image is now finished (Figure 9).

Figure 9: The sky has been replaced to enhance the photograph.

When used properly, Corel PHOTO-PAINT is a friendly and capable tool. Remember: when a

mask is needed, the first step is not necessarily to activate a masking tool, but to take a good

look at the channels.

Copyright 2007 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the

property of their respective owners.

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belajar corel photo paint.pdf