Remove background from an image with Paint.net

My favorite graphics program for creating headers is "Fireworks" by Adobe. However, that's not cheap, and not everyone can afford that sort of money. So here's a tutorial using the free software, Paint.net. You can get paint.net here. Sorry, this is for Windows only, there is no version for Macs. I suggest keeping this page open and referring to how the various options are used.

In this quick tutorial, we are going to select an image, and remove the background from it. Paint.net isn't as easy as many other graphics programs with doing this, as it has no "feather" option, which I find surprising and disappointing.

However, we can get a plugin to improve things, so grab this download and unzip it inside the effect folder of your Paint.net program. (take all the dll files out of the folder they are in, and make sure they are in the effects folder....NOT in a subfolder).

You will also have to unblock the files so they become usable. Just right click on each one, go to properties, and click the unblock button. All set? Good, let's get started then.

Download this image, and save it somewhere on your computer, we are going to remove the background from the car, so all we will be left with is the Ferrari (this is a picture I took at the Melbourne car show a few years ago. So if you wish to use the image for your own purposes, then please feel free to do so).

ferrari


What we will end up with, is something like the image below. A Ferrari, with the background removed. We can then use this image in our header.

ferrari


Open the image with Paint.net.
Note. Use the Window/Reset window locations, to get all the windows you will need. Next, create a new layer, using the layers option in the top menu. Look to the Layers window, and make sure you can see 2 layers. One called background, and the other called "Layer 2" We could change the names, but with only two layers, there is no need, IMO.

The Layer 2 should be active. So check that it is blue....this means it is the layer we are going to be working with.

1.Go to View, and zoom in to get a better look at what you're doing.
2.Choose the line tool from the tools menu, and change size and color.
3.Outline the car, using as many lines as needed. Use the nubs to drag the line into tight corners.


You can see in the above image, Ive started to outline the car. So far, Ive used about 5 lines. Just go from one point to another, drag the line to suit with the nubs, then hit Enter. Then do another line, joining up with the previous one. It will probably take me 10 lines to complete the car. I'm using a brush width of 2.

Get as tight to the actual outline as possible. So short lines around the wheels, and corners.

Once the entire car is outlined, it's time to remove the background.

I have used the magic wand to select the car outline. Tolerance has been set to about 30%. While the marching ants are moving round the car (showing this is still the active selection), use Control/I to invert the selection. So the selection now becomes everything BUT the car. Then hit delete on your keyboard. (you want to make sure the background layer is the one you're working on, NOT layer 2, which you drew the line on).

This should remove everything but the car. If not, use Control/Z to go back and try again.

Feather the Edges

Now, with the car selected, go to Effects/Object/Feather. I used a radius of 3, and a strength of 2. Next thing is to UNTICK the layer 2 so it becomes invisible. Zoom back out on your image, and resize it to suit.

Crop the Image.

Just use the select tool, and draw a rectangle around the car. Then go to Image/Crop to Selection. This will crop the image to the size you want.

Save the image

I chose to save as a PNG. You get the chance to set the options with transparencies, but the defaults will generally work best. The finished image was up around 90KB, so a reasonable size. However, I prefer to have a high quality image to work with in the future...it can always be resaved later as a lower quality transparent gif.

I have put the image into a table with a colored background, so you can see how it looks. If you want to save that image rather than your own, just go ahead. We will be using it later as part of the header.

red farrari on black background






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