How to Remove an Area of an image?

Support and Advice General Questions
1

Hi, does Krita have any tools, other than the Contiguous Selection Tool, to help me remove a sky like in this photo?

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image500×667 142 KB

2

I would begin by using the freehand select tool in “add” mode. Once you have selected the big pieces to remove, just use the delete key. Then contiguous selection can be used to remove the tiny bits that are too fussy to go after with the freehand selection tool.

3

I would roughly select it (with margins; make sure none of the super bright buildings are inside of the selection, but the whole sky is) using the Freehand or Polyline Selection tools, then use Filter → Color to Alpha with low Treshold.

Ahh and if you wanted to use precise selections instead, then instead of Contiguous Selection Tool, better to use Similar Color Selection Tool, it would work much better especially in the area with the tree leaves. If any of the bright buildings was selected, you could easily deselect it using any selection tool in “Subtract” mode. (And then of course Erase, for example using Edit -> Clear).

4

Thank you both.
So I turned my selectin into a “selection Mask” so it’s non-destructive. Good Idea?

Question: If my selection is deselected can I re-select it using the mask?

I didn’t know there was a “Similar Color Selection Tool”. I will have to check it out. Still learning Krita. :wink:

5

Sure, why not? :wink:

Yes. You can always save your image (I recommend getting used to “Save Incremental Version”, it’s an amazing feature) and then check it (and other things) if you’re anxious :wink:

6

Thanks so much. 2 things I’m stuck on.

  1. I have 2 Layers. I have a selection mask on one layer and my image on another layer. Currently my image layer has the magic ants or selection going on it which I added to using “Freehand Selection Tool”. But how do I update the Layer Mask so it includes the new areas I selected with the selection tool?

This image layer I have used the “Freehand and Contiguous Selection Tools” to select more shapes.

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image408×423 47.9 KB

On the Layer Mask layer you can see it has not masked the areas I selected in the image layer. How do I update the layer mask with the new selections?

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image408×448 19 KB

  1. I do not know how to re-select or load the selection from the mask. Can you explain please.
7

I think you have selected the Selection mask layer. Select any other layer it will turn the selection mode to marching ants. Also while showing screenshots it is helpful if you show full window.

8

Thanks. I’m obviously not getting this. When I deselect the selected area the Selection Mask disappears and I can no longer select it. I think I need to watch a tutorial on how to convert a selection into a mask so I can paint on the mask. I thought it worked like Photoshop but for some reason I’m not able to turn the selection into a mask.

9

Unless you show a video or a screenshot it is hard to guess what you are doing wrong.

10

Ok, here is a screenshot. Let me explain what I am trying to achieve.

I want to knock out the sky so I can replace it with another sky image, but first I have to select the sky using the “Contiguous Selection Tool”. Once the sky is selected How do I save that mask (selection) so I can go back and edit it? When the sky is selected I could just hit the “Delete” button but then if something was selected that I needed again it would be too late. I want a non-destructive mask so I can paint back that object or paint out that object if need be. I hope this explains it.

Please explain how to do this. Thanks

In this image I have used the Contiguous Selection tool in Krita to select the sky.

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image1508×895 150 KB

11

Okay. Thanks for the explanation and the image. To save a selection for editing later you need to attach the selection to one of the layers. This is known as local selection. To add a local selection

  1. While the selection is active. select any layer on which you want to attach this selection.
  2. Right click on the layer and go to Add > Local selection in the context menu.

Now this selection will be saved and attached to this layer and can only be used along with this layer.

Now step by step to edit the selection
You already have a selection.

  1. Click on the “Selection Mask” layer in the layer docker. The selection should turn red on the canvas you are now in edit mode.
  2. Choose any brush or anything, paint on it . Or use any filter like Gaussian blur on that “Selection mask” layer.
  3. Now you are done with editing the selection. Click on any normal layer your selection will show as marching ants. Use the selection in any way you like.

https://imgur.com/a/rIxBstD

P.S. I have done a youtube video on selection masks here - May be it will help you. Pardon the indian accent

1 Like
12

You don’t have to limit yourself to one particular selection tool when making an overall selection.
In the Tool Options docker for selection tools, there is Action: which can be set to Add or Subtract (and other options) so you can Add parts to an existing selection or Subtract parts, using different selection tools.
This is useful for particularly complicated selections on ‘difficult’ images.

Another ‘trick’ is to make a copy of an image layer and use filters to boost contrast or whatever is needed to emphasise an area required for selection so that the selection tool can more easily detect it.
Then you can use the resulting selection on the original image layer.

1 Like
13

Thank you very much. This was so helpful and I watched both videos.

One question arose while trying this.

  1. if I have a “Selection Layer” and need to add or take away parts of my image, then it’s better to do it on the “Selection Layer” and then just duplicate the “Selection Layer” and convert it to a Transparency Mask with the new updates. This way I will have both a “Selection Layer” and a “Transparency” layer intact. Correct?
14

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