Creating a cutout
Follow this procedure to select an area in a photo and cut it out. You can use the cutouts you create in other photos or projects.
You can define the area to be cut out in several ways: You can use a preset shape (for example, a circle, square, or rectangle) to enclose the area; you can trace the area with your mouse, either using the freehand tracing tool, or using the edge tracing tool; or, you can define the area by selecting colors.
Choose the method that is most effective for the shape or color of the area that you want to cut out. For example, selecting colors works best if the object you want to cut out is a distinctly different color from its surroundings in the photo. The edge tracing tool works best if the object has well-defined edges.
To create a cutout:
1 Mask the area you want to cut out, using the freehand tracing, edge tracing, color picking, or shape tool.
2 On the Mask/Cutout dialog box, click Create Cutout.
3 Choose the cutout type and click OK. The cutout type can be one of the following:
Cut it out: Cuts out the masked area and replaces the existing canvas with the masked area.
Create a new object: Creates a new object from the masked area without changing the photo. The masked area becomes a new object on the existing canvas.
Cookie cut it out: Creates a new object from the masked area and removes it from the photo.
Save masked area to a file: Creates a new file from the masked area. This option is useful if you are creating cutouts to use in other projects. If you choose this option, you specify a file type, file name, and file location.
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