Tubing an image with a Single Color Outline (2012)

Tubing An Image With A Single Color Outline

You will Need:

Image of choice (be sure the Artist allows Tubing of his/her images)

I will be using the FTU General Permission artwork of TwoKinds

If you wish to use the same image you can find it HERE

***PREPERATION***

Layers> Promote Background Layer

Some image have a lot of excess depending on what within your image you are wanting to Tube

Let's cut down some of the excess from our image ... Activate your Selection Tool

With the following settings

Make a close Selection around what you are wanting to Tube

(in this case the character)

Once happy with your Selection ... Image> Crop to Selection

Ok next we want to change the images Canvas size

(if you simply Tube without this step you could end up with some

stray pixels around the edges of your canvas when you are done)

Image> Canvas Size

Using the Drop Down Box set to Pixels

Now set set your New Dimensions Width & Height to around

30pixels more than your Original Dimensions

Under Placement make sure the middle box (one with the diamond)

is the one pushed in and click on OK

Layers> New Raster Layer ... Flood Fill with a Dark color (I use #1b081c)

Layers> New Raster layer ... Flood Fill with a Light color (I use #f6f6f6f)

Activate the Image layer again ... Layers> Arrange> Bring To Top

SAVE your image here as a PSD file

Remember to save often so you don't lose what you have done

***TUBING***

Activate your Freehand Selection Tool

With the following settings

Ok now we need to strip away some more of the excess from our image

Draw a close Selection around your image like so

Selections> Invert ... Hit DELETE on your keyboard

Selections> Select None

Now change your Freehand Selection Tools to the following

If your image has a light colored background then Hide your Light Color layer so the

Dark Color layer is visible, this should make the excess a lot easier to see

Activate your Change To Target Tool

with the following settings

(these settings are not guaranteed to be spot on for your image as the settings can vary so you MAY need to play around with them)

Change your Foreground color to the same color as your images outline

Activate your Freehand Selection Tool ... Zoom in by 400% or 500% whichever you prefer

Move around til you have the area you want to start Tubing on in view

Make a Selection by clicking around the edge of your image (the closer to the edge the better)

make your clicks close together as this will give a smoother result

Be sure the First and Last clicks are in the Transparent area or your canvas

Once you complete the Selection you will notice it is covering more of the image edge

than when you where clicking, this is meant to happen so don't worry

your Selection should now look like so

Hit DELETE on your keyboard 4-5 times and you should have something like this

Activate your Change To Target Tool ... click and drag over the stray (wrong color)

pixels around the edge and you will notice they will change to match the color of the outline

If needed keep going over it til all the stray pixels match the outline color

Selections> Select None

Now swap the Dark & Light Color layers back and forth

so you can see that the edge looks OK on both

Now move on to the next section and repeat the processes above in Red

Continue with this until you have worked your way around the whole image

When working in corners or on pointy bits you should switch the

Freehand Selection Tools "Feather" to 1 it will give a better edge

Once you have worked your way around the image

Selections> Select All ... Selections> Float ... Selections> Defloat

You should have a Marching Ants around the character or whatever you Tubed

If you notice any Marching around the canvas (away from the Tube) then

it means you have missed erasing a pixel or two.

Stick its location to your memory ... Selections> Select None

Using your Eraser Tool delete the stray pixels then

Selections> Select All ... Selections> Float ... Selections> Defloat

Now hopefully the only Marching Ants you have are around your Tube

If so ... Selections> Select None

DELETE THE DARK & LIGHT COLOR LAYERS

Ok well most Artists state that Tubes made from their images must not exceed 72 dpi

(dots per inch) so now we need to check the image size and make sure it does not

Image> Resize

Change the Resolutions Drop Down Box to Pixel/Inch if not already set to that

And in the left box it should be 72.000 ... if not then change it to 72.000

Then at the bottom of this window make sure the

Resize All Layers box is checked and then click on ok.

Selections> Select All ... Selections> Float

Selections> Modify> Expand by around 25 pixels ... Image> Crop to Selection

Now you need to add a Credits layer ... Select your Font Tool ... here are the settings I use

Foreground - Null ... Background - Black

Be sure to use a clear/easy to read Font

move to a suitable position ... Layers> Convert To Raster Layer

If you have your own Tubed by Watermark (like SpawnTubed or a logo)

Add that as a New layer

In your Layer Palette rename your layers Tube, Credits, Tubed by

And rearrange them into the following order Top to Bottom

Credits

Tubed by

Tube

Ok now you have your Tube it is time to save it (again as PSD)

But seeing as we need to give it the correct name we need to Save As

When naming a Tube the correct way is ... Artist Name followed by Tube Name followed by Tubers Name

Example: TwoKinds-FoxgirlifiedColor-SpawnTubed

Now you can feel free delete the other PSD copy of the

Tube because you don't want to get the two mixed up now do you

I hope you found this Tutorial useful

Tutorial written on the 19th December 2012