finding edges in photoshop

[stevebuk]

i really want to outline a picture of a chopper motorbike with a nice thin line so i can scrollsaw the picture out of wood following the line, anyone know how to "find the edges" so to speak in photoshopCS2

 

[Kalimna]

Not specifically in Photoshop CS2, but if you happen to have Illustrator CS2 or CorelDRAW, then you can manually trace the contours. A bit slower, but might make life easier for you.
Failing that, CorelDRAW has a tracing utility in it, CorelTRACE (either built in or a separate utility depending on version number) which you could probably tweak to allow you to do what you want.

Good luck,
Adam S

 

[Gill]

CorelDraw is expensive. Inkscape is free and performs well enough; I used it a lot for scroll saw pattern design before I acquired CorelDraw.

From memory, you need to import your graphic into Inkscape and choose the 'Trace Path' option.

 

[Kalimna]

Thanks for the tip - I shall go and have a look at Inkscape now.

Adam S

 

[Smudger]

Steve - I can only refer to CS on a Mac.
The easiest way to do what you want is to go to Filters > Artistic > Poster Edges. Set Edge Thickness to 3/4 or above, Edge Intensity to about 7 and posterisation to any value you want.
You can then use the Magic Wand to highlight and delete areas of colour you don't want. Should look good.

 

[stevebuk]

many thanks, i will try that later on today. Over at the Serif forums i asked the same question, only i also tried it using Draw from serif, they say do it by hand, hmmmm.

 

[Drea]

Something else that might work.

Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast > fiddle until there's as much difference between your shape and the background as possible.

Layer > Duplicate Layer

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Set radius to 1.0 pixels > Ok

In the layers panel, change the blend mode from Normal to Difference.

And you should be left with white where the edges are and black everywhere else.

Cheers,

Drea

 

[The Bear]

Magnetic lasso tool?
Helps to zoom right in first, then restore to original size
Mark

 

[stevebuk]

thanks guys, both smudger's and Drea's suggestions work although i added a bit extra to the end of drea's and it turned out really well.
do what drea has written, then add:
Image> invert
then Image>levels and change the level definition, i needed it a touch darker than that, and it saves loads on Ink too, when i am printing out the pattern.
I will post a photo when i have cut it out.
Once again, many thanks.