Making Objects from Scanned Laces PhotoImpact 5.0

This is a mini tutorial on converting scanned images of lace into a usable object so that the holes in the lace are transparent.

1.  Scan the lace with a black piece of paper on top of it.  I did not do the actual scanning.  I had someone else do that for me, so I won't give you any tips on that.
2.  Open the scanned image in Photo Impact.
3.  Convert it to grayscale.  (Format/data type/grayscale)
4.  Use the adjust contrast controls to make the contrast as high as possible.  If your background is not entirely black, your object will have areas around the outside that are mostly transparent, but not entirely.
5.  Open your mask library in your easy palette.
6.  Right click on one of the thumbnails and click on "store image as selection".
7.  Right click on your lace image and click on all.
8.  Right click again and convert to object.
9.  Click on your new object and drag it to the easy palette.  Let go of the mouse button.
10.  Click ok in the box that allows you to name the mask.

11.  Press Ctrl + N to open a new image.

12.  Click the circle in front of "Active image"  to place a dot there.

13.  Click the red, green and blue button beside data type to make your new image a 24 bit image. Click ok.
 
 
 
 
 

 14. Click the fill bucket and change the color to a dark color.

15.  Click in the new canvas to fill it with the black color.
16.  Set your background color to white.

17.  Double click the mask you made earlier.  This will apply the mask to your new canvas.

18.  Hit the delete key.  You will now see the shape of your lace filled with white.

19.  Right click and click on convert to object.  You can now choose to delete the mask.  Right click on its thumbnail in the easy palette, and click on delete.

20.  Save your new lace object to your easy palette and click on file/save to save as a ufo so you can share it with your Photo Impact friends.  <S>  I hope we can generate quite a few lace samples to use in our projects this way.