Advanced Photoshop help

[Septimus]

OK, I have a question for the Photoshop wizards in the room. Say I have two images, one image with an image and/or text that I would like to isolate and a second image with a background for a comparison. I have tried to use difference and exclusion to separate them out, but this converts the non-difference areas into a black background, but as I need to get an accurate sampling of the transparency. Is there any way that I can exclude the background yet save the transparency and color ratings the text and the areas around it? Also, would said method work with a partially transparent image that is over a solid background while obliterating the background color?

This is fairly important, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Elcura]

Only thing I can think of is to create a selection around the areas you want to keep then seperate them to a new layer. Can you post the images you're using? That might help.

[Septimus]

Only thing I can think of is to create a selection around the areas you want to keep then seperate them to a new layer. Can you post the images you're using? That might help.

OK. But I will neither confirm nor deny that this is for a possible front page update.

Any thoughts of how I can separate that out while preserving the transparency and color?

[Baelorn]

I was able to separate the text from the backgrounds and put it onto new layers but I'm not sure if that's what you wanted to do.

[Septimus]

I was able to separate the text from the backgrounds and put it onto new layers but I'm not sure if that's what you wanted to do.

The question is, did it save the transparency and color around the letters? Like if you put them over the background, does it look realistic?

Also, how did you do it?

[Baelorn]

I used Color range and cut the text into a new layer. Trying to upload but the PSD file is bigger now and I can't attach it.

[Elcura]

Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem!

That's basically what I did. Seperate the top layer from all the black and do little touch ups around the letters. Also, I think the middle layer on Lighten could work if you lower opacity a bit, with that you could increase brightness if you layer them right.

[Baelorn]

Mine is basically the same except I separated the text from both backgrounds and left them in their own layers. The end result is the same though.

[Septimus]

Thanks for the help, at some point in time (maybe next month) you will get to see the fruits of that labor.

But I still need to know how to remove a semi-transparent object from a solid background while keeping the opacity in tact. From this, it makes me doubt that it can be done. >_>

[Kiarax]

With the file you were using you could just set the top layer (text with the solid black background) to Screen or (maybe) Linear Dodge mode and it should show perfectly on whatever background you throw it on. Depending on what semi-transparent things you were trying to remove from their background (and what the background was) it might require more work though.

[Isiolia]

You can have partial opacity in a selection via masks - using Quick Mask is probably easiest, as you can toggle that, "paint" your selection (including partial opacity) then swap it back to being a selection.

The catch is more that your partially opaque parts will have part of the old background in 'em unless you do something to remove that. Offhand, I can't think of a great way to do that by actually copying it.

If you're recreating FFXi text though, it's a single color to begin with, before the partial transparency for smoothing and all. I think if you set up a mask/selection properly based on the text, you could use that selection - rather than copied data - and fill it with the color of your choice to get a "clean" copy of the text.
The catch would be creating the selection in a reasonable amount of time. -Might- be able to get something close by feathering a color range selection, but I dunno. I'd try it, but I'm at work, and I don't have PS on this machine.

[Elcura]

Sometimes the only answer to questions like this are brute force labor and taking the long route lol

It sucks but usually produces results quicker than trying to do it the quick, smart (sometimes impossible) way.

[zoobernut]

Sometimes the only answer to questions like this are brute force labor and taking the long route lol

It sucks but usually produces results quicker than trying to do it the quick, smart (sometimes impossible) way.

Yeah I was just typing out that the short answer to the question is there is no easy way to preserve partial transparency of an object that has already been flattened. The best way to approach this problem is to separate the text as best you can into another layer and then re-create the effect and touch it up, then save off your alpha channel so you can get that selection back any time.