Hey, total newbie in need of advice...


Mmmm cheesy pose :D. So I've spent a few hours playing with vectoring and this is the result. I've used Gimp and Inkscape so far. Should I remove the white border? If so what's the best way of removing it?
Color to Alpha turns the image semi-transparent and trying to select the areas I need is almost impossible.

Any tips much appreciated!
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:47, archived)

Theres a JEW outside
Poisoning the well!
( Koba http://sexycooladventures.blogspot.com/, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:48, archived)

oh noes! not ANOTHER plague!

( Sheehan forevermore owes Ttssattsr beer, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:51, archived)

*cough*


-edit "hahaha" to all your replies :D
( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

HAHAHAHAHA
*clicky*
( hexachordal la la la la la, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

hola senior!

( McBadger JESUS RAVES!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

dirty sanchez?

(cs192 is sucking on a Koala at, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:02, archived)

Leave my nose along please!
/Speedy Gonzales voice
( mediocre HONKA HONKA, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:03, archived)

hahaha
Aces!

...hmmm considers growing a tash
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:04, archived)

You'd look good with one.
:D
( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:04, archived)

Haha
:D
( planearm, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:13, archived)

Blimey. That's very good, first off. The hair is astounding.
But yes, get rid of the white border, the easiest way to do this being to put a white background on it :)
( hexachordal la la la la la, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:48, archived)

lol, yeah i tried this
but a bold colour background really seems to lift the image
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

you filtard

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:56, archived)

you pilchard

(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:15, archived)

you are fail

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 19:39, archived)

I'd colour-select the blue, then reselect with a feather on the selection brush

( cr3, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:49, archived)

This might not work, I'm fairly bad at tips, but it should

( cr3, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:49, archived)

is that a filter?

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:49, archived)

^this
It's either REALLY good, or a filter :D
( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

looky like a filter
because of the white bits...
( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:51, archived)

i'm going to assume it until proven otherwise

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:53, archived)

I was afraid to say it, but it looks like VectorMagic or a colour-reduction filter :(

( cr3, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

be not afraid for this is the internets!

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:51, archived)

^This

( ClanSoul thanks, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:52, archived)

it is filtered
and not particularly vectored either.
( Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:11, archived)

heres a brief step by step...
in gimp
1) get source image, remove background
2) increase contrast
in inkscape
3) path bitmap, vector
in gimp
4) fix imperfections in vector image with clone tool
4) cut features out of old source pic, eyes/hair/mouth etc and layered them over the vector image.
5) then traced over the hair, edited colour levels and generally touched it up by eye
6) finally worked on removal of seams :)
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:57, archived)

Yeh...
That's not a vector. :p

(Well not all of it, anyway)
( Incredibly Ordinary Dave needs your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:00, archived)

you have failed
this is not a vector
( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:54, archived)

paint bucket tool, white, on the blue
but then you lose the blue background

'edit' ashally, I tried that, it leaves a blue border around the edges :s
( McBadger JESUS RAVES!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

Looks like a young Simon Le Bon

( planearm, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

SPOOKY
I am currently listening to Duran Duran.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:51, archived)

*sings*
"Her name is Rio and she dances like the wind!"
( planearm, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:52, archived)

It was Hungry like the Wolf
and is now Save a Prayer
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:54, archived)

save a prayer is PURE GENIUS

( planearm, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

One of my favouritest songs ever.
Unfortunately I was 6 at the end of the 80s so I don't remember it the first time around.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:56, archived)

i was drunk at the end of the 80s, listening to U2 on the radio live from Dublin welcoming in 1990

( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:59, archived)

I think I was drunk as well.
My cousins used to like to get me pissed on babycham.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:59, archived)

6 years old and drunk
that explains a lot :p
( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:03, archived)

NOT MY FAULT.

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:04, archived)

Pomagne was my tipple
of choice between the ages of 6 and 12.
I used to enter into everything and anything at the village fétes because there were always bottles of pomagne to be won. nobody gave a thought to giving perry to minors in those days. You fucking chavs have spoiled it for the country piss head youths ;)
( Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:22, archived)

DOUBLY SPOOKY
I'm not.
( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:53, archived)

How shit for you!

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:54, archived)

No, because I am listening to Depeche Mode, who win everthing

( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

I just bought a vinyl collection of their singles
for 3 quid from the local charity shop.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:58, archived)

cool
although it does to an extent depend what singles that covers, as some of the early ones were pish.
( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:00, archived)

Right.
People are people, master and servant, it's just called a heart, see you, shake the disease, everything counts, new life, blasphemous rumours, leave in silence, get the balance right, love in itself and dreaming of me.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:02, archived)

ah... sorry, i misunderstood, it's Singles 81-85 yeah?

( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:05, archived)

YUP

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:05, archived)

cool
It's Called A Heart is total pish though, the B-side (Fly On The Windscreen) should've been the single.
( mutster101 fell over, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:08, archived)

Depeche Mode V Duran Duran...
...FIGHT!

(in Harry Hill voice)
( planearm, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:58, archived)

I am currently listening to ROB MANUEL ^_^
I am so B3ta it hurts.
( hexachordal la la la la la, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

Really?

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

Really.
It's a song from his new project mr. pitchy that's now no longer up on the internet... he wanted me to listen to some of his musics, and it's really very good.
( hexachordal la la la la la, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:59, archived)

simon le bon was never young

( Sheehan forevermore owes Ttssattsr beer, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:52, archived)

Always been sexy though.

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:52, archived)

( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:53, archived)

Yeah you know it.

( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:54, archived)

Oh yes.
Of course.
( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

Gordon Ramsay on a particularly good day?

( ClanSoul thanks, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:56, archived)

hahahahahaha!

( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:57, archived)

Would.
He looks a bit like BT there. BT USED to be fit, but now he has LazyTown hair.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:57, archived)

are we talking maureen lipman
or busby?
( spacefish portable wetnork graphic, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

Brian Transeau.
You WILL have heard some of his music.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:04, archived)

*wikis*
yup, i have at least one of his albums
( spacefish portable wetnork graphic, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:12, archived)

lmao, i've never heard that one before
but I can be whoever you want me to be ;)
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

a young SImon Le Bon Julian Clary

/hides
( Mushroom, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:03, archived)

Is that all vector?
if so then it's very impressive!

Although if it is, how did the white outline get there in the first place? =/
( Incredibly Ordinary Dave needs your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:50, archived)

I must admit
I did cheat a little
www.b3ta.com/board/8096775
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:06, archived)

he's a FILTARD!

( Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:12, archived)

Be honest,
is that a filter?
( ClanSoul thanks, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:53, archived)

am I doing it right?
www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/avta/images/oil_bypass/puradyn_filter.gif
( McBadger JESUS RAVES!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

Cor look at the layers on that!

( SkUG >_O i got a couple of stitches in my eyeball... ow, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG
I made your "Hmmm" animation into an msn icon :)
( ClanSoul thanks, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:55, archived)

heh nice!
my msn has borked up, I thing my emails may have been haxxcored :s
( McBadger JESUS RAVES!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:58, archived)

I think we've broken b3ta :(

( hexachordal la la la la la, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:01, archived)

Honestly no, honestly I'm flattered that b3tans think it is!
www.b3ta.com/board/8096775
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:07, archived)

Butch up a bit.
YOu'll never get picked at games looking like that!

EDIT:

tips
( riverghost Full on. Robot. Chubby!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:57, archived)

lol
I never was good at sports, thus I became a real-time embedded programmer.

hmm, but I am looking to get into the computer games market! If that counts?
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:11, archived)

I'm confused about how a vector
would have a white border in the first place.
Perhaps if you explain how the white border got there, I might have some suggestions.
( mofaha sitting quietly, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:03, archived)

^this
I won't give suggestions, but I'd like to know how that outline got there.
( head-doctor ololololo, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:04, archived)

levers and pulleys!

( riverghost Full on. Robot. Chubby!, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:05, archived)

smoke and mirrors

(cs192 is sucking on a Koala at, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:07, archived)

lies and statistics.

( The Alchemist king of the needlessly complicated, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:13, archived)

does this help?
www.b3ta.com/board/8096775

Tbh I couldn't find a decent tutorial on how to achieve something like this with vectoring. Google was not my friend.
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:13, archived)

Ok
then I'm guessing your problems stem way back from step one, when you removed the background.
I don't use Gimp so I'm not going to give a step-by-step, but here's a general idea of how to fix this quickly.
Turn off the background and merge all of the foreground, white outline included, onto one new layer.
Set the new layer to 'preserve transparency'.
Now use the clone tool to 'extend' the edges of the coloured area onto the white... just click right near the edge of the colour to set the sample position, then move a few pixels in and clone onto the white.
Messy, but it should basically work.
( mofaha sitting quietly, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:25, archived)

hmm sounds tedious but...
I've investigated all the other possible quick fixes and failed, so it looks like more manual grafting is necessary.

Thanks for the tip, I'll go away, take a break then get cracking with it. cheers!
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:35, archived)

Here:

I fixed this using the method above. It left it looking pretty jaggy, so I smoothed it by selecting everything except the background, masking it, gaussian blurring the mask, then playing with the levels of the mask until the jaggies smoothed out.
( mofaha sitting quietly, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:35, archived)

wow
much much much appreciated thank you!
(MrWizard, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 18:38, archived)