Nguyen's Tutorial -- Get The Outline Of A Render useful for abstract stuff or icons

[snlildude87 0]

Blurb

Today, I will show you how to get an outline of a render. I saw in one of Brooks' sig where he used an outline of zelda, and I was interested in how he did that. Instead of IMing him or looking on good-tutorials, I learned it myself. Why? That's how I roll.

Why?

If you're ever in a situation where you need a good outline of a render, you can follow this simple tutorial to get one. You can even use the outline to make an icon or whatever. The choice is yours. Keep reading this, and I'll show you the sig that I used my outline in.

How?

That's a good question, and a good question has to be answered thoroughly.

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Find a render where its outline would look good.

This is the most important step. Without a render, you will not have an outline, and if you choose a render where the appendages are close to the torso, you will not get a good result. I will be using the following Rise of Power render for this tutorial:

I uploaded that for someone, so it's already there. Convenient.

Now that you have your render, open Photoshop.
File -> Open (or ctrl+o) -> find your render -> click Open
Ctrl+click on the render layer so that only the render is selected and not the background. (When you press ctrl while hovering your mouse over the render layer, the little hand cursor will have a dashed box in the bottom right.)

Screenshot:

Now that only the character is selected, go to Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Color Balance. Actually, it can be anything, but I use Color Balance. The New Layer window should come up telling you what you want to name the new layer. Press OK. You should now get a bunch of radio buttons and sliders. Play around with them. It doesn't matter what values you choose for each one though because the result will be grayscale. Press OK when you're done.
Press ctrl+a to select all...including the background.
Make a new image (ctrl+n). Press OK.
Paste (ctrl+v)
Voila! The result should be a black and white outline. Now, you can play with the image size to make it an icon or whatever. There's a website out there that makes icons out of images. I don't have the website at the moment.
Anyway, this should be your result:

What about that Sig?

Aww. You remembered. Here it is:


If you have any questions, because one of my steps is too confusing, post below. This is a very easy trick to get the outline (and there's probably another way), so I should be able to answer easily.

Edit: Fixed a typo. Edited August 9, 2005 by snlildude87 (see edit history)

[Johnny 1]

What a ripoff. Get your own ideas.

 

[truefusion 3]

There's an easier way of doing it using blending options. Since you're using a render that has the background taken out, half the work is already done for you. Fill Opacity: 0%, Color Overlay: White - Modify Opacity, Stroke. Then just resize the image to your liking.

[Damann 0]

Meh, at least he figured it out by himself. Good tut, might never use it -_-rating- 9/10

[Johnny 1]

There's an easier way of doing it using blending options. Since you're using a render that has the background taken out, half the work is already done for you. Fill Opacity: 0%, Color Overlay: White - Modify Opacity, Stroke. Then just resize the image to your liking.

172721[/snapback]

That's how I do mine too. At first I did a different way, but after a while I figured out the easy way. So Nguyen, you made a big fat tutorial for someone else's idea that can be explained in a sentence.

[snlildude87 0]

That's how I do mine too. At first I did a different way, but after a while I figured out the easy way. So Nguyen, you made a big fat tutorial for someone else's idea that can be explained in a sentence. 

172724[/snapback]

Dude, I figured it out myself, and that's basically how I do it. :-/ Whatever. I love my technique, and I did not use any tutorials for that, so

[Johnny 1]

Dude, I figured it out myself, and that's basically how I do it. :-/ Whatever. I love my technique, and I did not use any tutorials for that, so

172788[/snapback]

Dude, it doesn't matter if you got it from a tutorial or not. The rest of us can do it in about 9 less steps. Lose the pride, jeez.

 

I mean, it's cool that you figured it out yourself and all that, but all you had to do was ask, and you would've saved quite a bit of time. Sometimes it's good to take the lazy Johnny way out.

[pilgrim_of_mini-monkeys 0]

Cool tut. I think it can be done the same way in Fireworks, will try it tonight thanks.I thought of a different way, but I am unsure if it works. How about masking an object?

[snlildude87 0]

How about masking an object?

173073[/snapback]

I have no idea what masking an object means. :-/ Sorry.

[pilgrim_of_mini-monkeys 0]

Doesn't matter, I think I got it wrong, but if I didn't, it means taking a solid coloured outline of the object you have selected. Just ignore me on that one.I just upgraded my PC (to windows 2K) so that I can use Photoshop CS, and I am stuck with it. So, thanks for the tutorial.

[Sprite 0]

Lol, nice tutorial... This will really come in handy...The render looks kinda wierd tho when it is repeated like that...

[Johnny 1]

Lol, nice tutorial... This will really come in handy...

 

The render looks kinda wierd tho when it is repeated like that...

179163[/snapback]

All of mine and his had different renders for the icon thingy. O.O

[Saint_Michael 3]

you girls take to long, i do it in two stepsload imagectrl+u and lower the lightness or raise it up.and oyu call yal selfs expertsbut either way its good tutorial for the beginners.

[Johnny 1]

you girls take to long, i do it in two steps

 

load image

 

ctrl+u and lower the lightness or raise it up.

 

and oyu call yal selfs experts

 

but either way its good tutorial for the beginners.

179845[/snapback]

Erm...color overlay. Done.

[snlildude87 0]

Erm...color overlay. Done. 

184449[/snapback]

That's nice. I like my method better. :-/

 

I might go back to this post and add an alternative method later.