Transparency

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doug
Posts: 111
Joined: April 24th, 2009, 10:06 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D-500
Location: Toledo, Ohio USA

Transparency

Post by doug »

Is there a way in PWP 7 to make a portion of an image transparent?
Without going into detail of the exact situation, I want to render as transparent, just a selective portion of an image (through the use of a mask) so that if the result is cloned onto an actual photo, the underlying image will show through the transparent portion (as if it were not there) while the non-transparent portion will be layered on top of the target image.
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Transparency

Post by jsachs »

Yes, this is usually done using the Composite transformation.

For more information see the following white paper:

http://www.dl-c.com/Temp/downloads/Whitepapers/Mask.pdf

You can also use masks with the Clone tool to protect parts of an image from being modified.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
doug
Posts: 111
Joined: April 24th, 2009, 10:06 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D-500
Location: Toledo, Ohio USA

Re: Transparency

Post by doug »

Thank your Jonathan. I'll check out the white paper.
I know how to use masks on the target image to insure that a clone is applied only to a selected area. But in this situation it is the source image (the image from which the cloned item is coming) from which I only want a selected portion to be transferred to the target. So unless a mask can be applied to the image that is the source of the clone to prevent that portion from being part of the clone, I don't think that is going to work.
Perhaps the Composite transformation will be relevant assuming a mask can be applied to either of two images being merged.

The situation is that a Logo was designed in a Word document and it included both text in a special font and some shapes surrounding the text. This artwork on a page of a Word document was transformed into a png image through a Windows 10 "Snip & Sketch" function (sort of like a creating a screen shot). I want to apply only the text and the surrounding design onto a photographic image without including the white background that is part of the screen shot. That white area represents the white page on which the Logo was created. So with the Brightness Curve function of the mask tool, I can easily create a mask that represents only the text and shapes (or conversely, only the white background).

Further complicating the matter is that the png of the logo is very small and will not match the dimensions of the target image.
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Transparency

Post by jsachs »

Composite lets you specify masks for both the base and overlay images and lets you resize the overlay image to align with the base image,
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
doug
Posts: 111
Joined: April 24th, 2009, 10:06 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D-500
Location: Toledo, Ohio USA

Re: Transparency

Post by doug »

Jonathan, that sounds like just what I need. Today, I'll read the white paper you referenced. Didn't get to it yesterday as I attended a pot luck dinner and then watched my alma mater destroy Notre Dame.

The only other time I used the Composite transform, I had done something like tone mapping an image in sns-hdr and the result was a little too post-cardy. By blending it with the base image I was able to moderate the effect to perfectly match my "vision". But that was years ago, so a review is certainly in order.
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