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Preview Tutorial - Extract Shape
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With Preview alone, you can do the most basic image editing, such as Extract Shape.
Pick Your Image
If your image is in the form image type file, i.e. JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc, you can highlight the file and then choose Open With ▸ Preview (if Preview hasn't been set as your default application) or simply use Command-A.
However, if you want to pick your image from existing Application's icon, you can do these steps :
- Highlight the icon
- Copying it into clipboard (Command-C)
- Open Preview
- Select File ▸ New From Clipboard (Command-N)
I picked : MacBook Air which I just captured from Apple.
Pick the Object
Let's say you only want the MacBook Air's pic. I'll remove the background (and the envelope) from MacBook Air.
The initial image looks like this inside Preview.
Select Extract Shape Tool
Extract shape tool can be selected from your Preview tools collection. It's under the tool named Select, click and hold on it then a pop up menu will appear. Then you can now select Extract Shape Tool.
Draw the Region
Next, draw an enclosing region using your cursor. After drawing the region, you can adjust it by dragging and dropping some of its nodes.
Press Return if you've done. The area outside the region will be deleted while the area inside will remain as it is.
Clear Background
If you've noticed, after pressing Return your working tool is automatically changed to Instant Alpha. This tool is used to adjust the alpha transparency of particular portion of your image.
Click and hold on area outside the MacBook Air and then drag your mouse around. You can see while the percentage is decreasing, the enclosed red region is shrinking. After you released your mouse, the enclosed area will be cut off.
Erase Unnecessary Details
Repeat the step before. But this time, it's for the small details around the main object. It will be a little bit tough and tedious because you need to be careful not to wrongly erase the necessary parts of the image. If you happen to wrongly erase some parts, Command-Z or Undo comes for rescue.
Utilize Zoom Tool
You can use Command [+] to zoom-in your image or Command [-] to zoom-out followed by clearing out (setting the opacity to 0) certain parts of the image using Instant Alpha Tool.
After 5 Minutes of Cutting Here and There..
You can save it, publish it, or maybe teach other fellow Mac users how to make it.
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16 Comments
Himavanth B
thanks great work i used to have a problem of making png files but not now... thank u very much once again..
kelly
wow thanks! :)
Chris G
Um....Photoshop?
Matt
This is a very useful tip
Phil
Chris G, I don't have Photoshop.
Chop
there is no reason you couldn't have photoshop. if you know were to go, it costs you nothing. if you are morally opposed to this then GIMP is a great open source alternative.
Andrew
This is a very very trick. I knew Preview has a lot of tricks up its sleeves. Very helpful indeed
Peter
Chop: You're suggesting a solution that is not only more difficult than what this post is suggesting, but also involves installing extra, large software. How is that any easier than using what's /built in/?
Bruno
Obrigado !
Claudio
I'm stuck at 'Select Extract Shape Tool'. I'm no getting that option. I'm doing exactly as described by 'click and hold on it then a pop up menu will appear' and it's still not working for me. Any ideas?
Wendy
As far as I know, Extract Shape Tool option is only available for image files, not for PDF files. Perhaps what you experienced is with PDF file, just a wild guess…
Tomas Lysak
That is what I was looking for a while. Thx very much veru usefull for me.
Bill Batchelder
You have no idea how much I almost spent on software to do this. Thank you. After you save it can you extract just the object to layer it on another picture? I am trying to make a poster of several images and I do not want the background at all.
John Danty Sr
Extract Shape Tool missing in the new Preview 5.0 in Snow Leopard?
Joescoe
I'm baffled, too. In Snow Leopard (v. 10.6.1), Preview (5.0) has no Extract command of any kind that I can find, though in the Select pop-up menu it has "Smart Lasso", which doesn't appear in the screen shots above. Thought they might have just changed the name, but Smart Lasso allows no editing of a selection after it's made. I'm working on a standard jpg image. Can it be they've eliminated this powerful Extract feature?!
Dennison Berwick
Yes, it appears they have - I've spent two hours searching all over the web for information. Looks like Extract Shape has been replaced by Smart Lasso - except it's a DOWNGRADE because, as you say, it doesn't allow manual adjustment. You'd think it would be in iPhoto but I couldn't find it - but then again Apple's help menus are absolutely useless except for the first two minutes of using a new program.
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