[Gimp-user] Layer Masks - Channel Masks

[rich404 <forums gimpusers com>]

> I am a NewBee to Gimp 2.10. I was attempting to cut the background
> from an image.  My first attempt was using a Channel Mask following a
> tutorial online. The results were not what I expected, instead of
> background with nothing I got a background with a very faded image.
> Next, I attempted to do the same with a Layer Mask.  The results were
> the same.
> Would someone kindly help me out? Thank you

Was that a Photoshop tutorial by any chance?

Your description of a faded image, could be just a poor selection-to-channel ,
maybe you just made the channel visible, that does not do anything except dim
parts of the image.

There are different ways to use the channel, put it to a selection and cut the
selection or use a layer mask. A layer mask is non-destructive and a good way to
go.

Starting off with a channel. It does need to be mainly black and white, if you
have lots of grayscale then this comes out as semi-transparent. Need something
like this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/DteBKxV.jpg

Just turn the visibility of that channel off, go to the layers dialogue and make
the layer active. Now you can use Layer -> Mask -> Add Layer Mask and create a
mask from the channel: https://i.imgur.com/gUyyVZa.jpg

Which gives this: https://i.imgur.com/fZ1IBk1.jpg

Save your work as a Gimp .xcf which saves all layers, channels, masks. Export to
a png which will flatten to one layer but keep the transparency.

rich: www.gimp-forum.net

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rich404 (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)