Cut Matte look

[Cheesefood]

Does anyone have a good technique they can share to make a "cut matte" in PS? I'd like to apply a red fill layer, select an area to remove and put a white bevel inside the removed area.

Thanks!

[YrbkMgr]

Cheesy,

I don't know what that is - can you post an example? Do you mean a beveled border?

[E. Segen]

Easiest way would probably be to make a red border on a new layer using the method of your choosing and then simply use one of the beveled layer effects in Photoshop.

This is the quickest and easiest method I can think of not knowing which version you are using (it should be effective with version 5.5 - 7)

[Cheesefood]

No, that's not exactly what I want, but thanks.

You know the mattes used to frame a picture? You can have a red matte that's fileted (is that the past-tense of filet?) The "inside" of the matte is white, so you have a white strip the width of the angle of the bevel.

The cuts would be a lot sharper than I've been able to bevel using the layer effects.

[YrbkMgr]

I get it (I think). In a physical Matte border, it's red, but when cut away (beveled), it's white inside. Is that it?

Peace,
Tony

[Cheesefood]

Tony, you got it.

I'd like to replicate that so I can make a double-matte for some graphics.

[E. Segen]

Ok, how about this? Make a rectangular selection that is the minimum size you want the red border to be; invert it and fill it with red. Then make a duplicate copy of the layer and make a selection of the red area. Then go to Select> Modify> and enter the number of your choice. Then fill this selection with the white… Then go under layer styles and apply a slight drop shadow to the red… possibly one to the white layer as well…

Am I getting close?

[gertie hansen]

Your link gets an error message Daryl for the last one "Create a "mat-like"effect"
it takes you to the thread but when you click on the thread link it is an error message.

[dave milbut]

very nice daryl. I'm gonna grab that thread for ref when I get home

[Cheesefood]

Daryl,

Your example is exactly what I'm looking for.

By flattening it, I'm able to rasterize the effects I want. Then I can do a magic wand selection (at a minimal tolerance) then do a fill. It maintains the bevel, and allows for some nice matting options.

Daryl, thank you very much for your wonderful reply and for allowing me to use your file.

[Cheesefood]

If it were possible, I'd nominate your linked thread as a "Keeper Thread" for the amount of useful and helpful information in it.

[Cheesefood]

Hate to keep adding to this thread, but if I may offer another suggestion to anyone else using this:

Remove his beautiful garden scene picture from the frame. Yes, it's a shame to do so.

Merge the layers. Select the inner square using the magic wand with a tolerance of 1.

Invert the selection.

Now, cut to a new layer (Cntrl Shift J)

The double matte is now more useable. You can select the inner or outer matte and color them and you'll maintain the bevel.

You can now place any graphic behind the mattes.

BTW, am I spelling it right? Is it matte or mat?

[YrbkMgr]

Cheese,

Merge the layers




Why? There are three layers: the frame, the picture, and the matte. The matte is already on a transparent background so... why flatten?

Dave,

I'm more interested in creating the mattes from scratch!




Me too; From what I read of Daryl's method, it was a manual brushing/painting/penciling. Although the finished result speaks for itself in that it is quite excellent, I was hoping to learn of an effect to use or something that obviated the need for manual painting.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a criticism of Daryl's work - I love it. I was just more interested in seeing if there was a "technique" so to speak.

Peace,
Tony

[Daryl Pritchard]

Thanks for the compliments and kudos folks. I'm glad I can contribute helpful things like this at least on occasion.

Actually, the flattening of some of the layers in the image was something I did at the time of providing this example only for the sake of keeping the file size small for downloading. I kept the park scene in Holland as an intact layer in the example file so that others could move it around to experiment with different crops, if not using an image of their own. Originally I kept each mat layer, image layer, and frame layer separate so that all could be moved around to also pre-visualize offset crops. I also tried penciling in a darker 1-pixel edge to the upper mat bevels where they meet the lower mat, to see if that would add any apparent sharpness to the bevel cut. Overall, I find my first approach pleases me more.

Apart from this useful application of Photoshop to visualize artwork, I recently explored another idea that also worked wonderfully. This may not be all that unique an idea, but after having recently moved into a new house, I needed to decide how I wanted to hang various framed art, photos and collectible dishes. Well, with digital camera handy and my parents visiting me, I had my mother hold up each of my collectible dishes as I snapped a photo of each. Then I snapped photos of my framed art that I'd already hung on the walls. Taking the images into Photoshop, I easily cut out the dishes as individual layers and and then composited them into new images with the framed art, moving them as desired to visualize different layouts. It worked great and saved me from too many holes in the walls from trial and error. While interior designers may not like the result, it worked well for me and really showed me yet another way Photoshop and digital cameras can be put to quite practical use! Here's one image that illustrates the end result: <http://www.jazzdiver.com/homes/images/P7080268.jpg>

In yet another idea where I was buying a large media storage cabinet, an online image was combined with one I'd taken of my family room, to determine how well the cabinet would blend with my other furniture. With a little masking and repositioning of the cabinet, I decided I did like it well enough to order. Too bad I couldn't also pre-visualize that the doors wouldn't be hung as squarely as I'd like, but I kept it anyway.

Regards,

Daryl

[Daryl Pritchard]

You know, as I go back and look at my example matted image (by the way, I think "matte" refers to a texture or appearance and "mat" refers to an object), I do recall once trying to create an action that would do this for me, using marquee selections, strokes, fills, etc, to try and achieve a similar result. I'm not that great with making actions though and stopped shy of finding anything that satisfied me. I think one of the challenges is getting bevels that have realistic yet subtle differences in shadows from areas that have relatively narrow dimensions. If there aren't many pixels to blend, feather, etc., then a more manual approach as I took may provide a better, albeit more time-consuming solution. Still, once such a solution is obtained, saving it for reuse works well and other color fills can then be more readily explored.

Daryl

[YrbkMgr]

Daryl,

Gotta hand it to you. That's a lot of work - both the attention to detail in your matte, as well as manipulating your images of dishes, etc. for placement in the house.

The best I get is when we rearrange furniture - I have all the major pieces in my house in Visio and do a floor plan.

Peace,
Tony

[Cheesefood]

The best I get is when we rearrange furniture - I have all the major pieces
in my house in Visio and do a floor plan.




You're lucky. My girlfriend can't "picture" anything unless it involves me physically moving the furniture.

[dave milbut]

The best I get is when we rearrange furniture - I have all the major pieces
in my house in Visio and do a floor plan.




The best I get is a sore back as my wife goes... "Put it there." "Hmm" "No. Over there" "Hmm" "No back there".... etc.

edit: cheese, you were thinking the same thing I was... that line was too good to pass up! :)

[Cheesefood]

Yeah, well fortunately for me, she believes in purachasing excercise equipment. I get plenty of exercise moving a 200 pound treadmill with 5 miles on the odometer from one room to the next.