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Though I blush to say it.... "Ditto on your second paragraph." Except I'll usually use something wa-a-a-a-ay less heavy-duty than GIMP for that.
There's probably some masking magic that will magically flow around curves and crannies without munging the desired parts, despite there being no consistent color or shading clues to say "this is the good part to retain, and that is the background-to-erase". But I haven't figured that out, so I just enlarge and then either use an eraser tool or apply repetitive chunks of white (or transparent, or....) to the clutter that I want gone.
So, yeah, I'd like a good step-by-step of the insider techniques that would reduce my brute-force, time-consuming method to a matter of seconds.
I rarely have the patience for tutorials, so if I'm forced to view one, then instead of following it religiously (using the provided files) I often try to parallel it with my own, meaningful example.... and often fail when it turns out I don't have some of the material and locations that the tutorial pre-supposes. But that's just me.
Ooo! Oooo... just thought of something to ask about.
I'll do it in a new reply....
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Chris Morton
Sent: February-19-13 12:37 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: What graphics tasks do you perform?
The only thing I use GIMP for is to (laboriously) cut desired product photos out from their respective backgrounds. (Operating on a shoestring, we've never contracted for a pro photo shoot using bluescreens.)
Although somewhat time consuming, I find this task easier to perform in GIMP than to use variants of PhotoShop's masking technique (with which I've had no success even after reviewing tutorials). To proceed, I zoom in tightly on the photo, then use the freehand tool to delineate background regions I want to remove.
> Chris
On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 9:07 AM, Nancy Allison <maker -at- verizon -dot- net> wrote:
> Hi, all. I hope you can take a minute to help me gather info for a
> book review I'm working on.
>
> I'm reviewing a book about GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and I
> want to be sure that I cover the subjects of interest to tech writers.
> I'm interested in everyone's response, but especially in the responses
> from those of us who have no graphics training but have to deal with
> graphics as part of their jobs.
>
> I have two basic areas of inquiry:
>
> One: What tasks do you perform? Here are the usual tasks I perform --
> please add to the list or clarify as needed:
>
> --Making modifications to line drawings --Making modifications to
> photos --Sharpening elderly graphics --Resizing high-res photos for
> use in user docs or online help --Creating new graphics from scratch
> (very rarely)
>
> Two: what are your biggest areas of difficulty (and what tools do you
> use?)
>
> Thanks very, very much. I'll write a more useful review if I know what
> kinds of info you are looking for!
>
> --Nancy
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