Removing white or solid colored backgrounds from images can be a laborious process, with masking and cleaning up images in your favorite image editing software. Removing a colored or detailed multi-tone background would normally be even more of a challenge, but with the FluidMask add-on module, this feature packed tool makes removing even the most complex backgrounds a simple task. FluidMask can be used in SignLab as well as Digital Factory.
The first task is to remove all the unwanted areas. With the image selected:
- Go to the “Image” menu
- Launch “FluidMask”
The first stage is kind of an auto edge detection process, whereby the software will seek out and highlight any natural edges that are present within your design. The number of edges detected will vary depending on the image itself. You can set the strength at which this edge finding scale is set using the menu in the bottom right.
The tools found on the left of the FluidMask window allow you to mark areas to keep and areas to delete. For example, using the red brush, you can simply draw on the image and the delete masks will automatically flood to the edges that have already been defined by FluidMask. You can zoom in and out and adjust the size of the brush to make flooding smaller areas easy.
With some images, not all the edges will be detected. It is possible that the delete mask will flood over onto a part of the image you intend to keep. To overcome this, simply use a different style of brush and manually mark out the area to be kept, adjusting the size of brush as needed.
When all the selections are made, you can perform a cutout. Performing the cutout will remove the background as selected with FluidMask. From here, you could now save and exit to the main SignLab or Digital Factory screen, where the image can now be placed on its new background.
When it comes to removing unwanted areas from your images FluidMask provides a quick and easy alternative to hours of editing.