Vectorizing a Logo From an Image

Part IV: Separate The Orange Color

45. Returning to the Photoshop® file, we want to activate the layer containing the original logo art and turn off the visibility for the layers that were added above it. Click the layer visibility icon (the little "eye" icon to the left of the layer thumbnail) to toggle layer visibility and click the the layer itself to make it the a live layer. Please view the QuickTime® movie below to see how to do this step by step.

(click the picture to play video)

46. Click Select > Color Range to bring up the color range selection dialog once again. Use the eyedropper to select the orange color, then use the plus eyedropper (the eyedropper with the plus sign next to it) to add to the selection bit by bit. Use the fuzziness slider to increase or decrease fuzziness. Continue adding to the selection bit by bit by selecting orange around the fringes and patches of orange in the main selection area. I used "Black Matte" from the Selection Preview drop down menu, then inverted the selection to make it easy to see what I was selecting. I also zoomed in the document by pressing the the spacebar while holding down the Command key on the Macintosh®. On the PC you would hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the spacebar. Please view the QuickTime® movie below to see how to do it step by step.

(click the picture to play video)

Commands used in the movie: Macintosh to Windows translations

47. In this step, most of the desired orange color is selected. It will need a little manual cleanup with the Polygonal Lasso.

48. In this step, use the Polygonal Lasso to cleanup the selection so all the orange color is selected for separation. Please view the QuickTime® movie below to see how to do it step by step.

(click the picture to play video)

Commands used in the movie: Macintosh to Windows translations

Note: After you have made a complex selection, it would be wise to save the selection as a new channel then save the file. That way if you close the file or have a power failure, the selection won't be lost. Click Select > Save Selection then click File > Save.

49. Next we want to create a new layer and fill the selection with a single color. In this example, I chose bright red. You can also use straight black if you wish. This was just a random choice, but I did want a nice strong color that would be easy to trace in Streamline. Please view the QuickTime® movie below to see how to do it step by step.

(click the picture to play video)

Commands used in the movie: Macintosh to Windows translations

50. Next, click Image > Duplicate. In the Duplicate Image dialog, click the "Duplicate Merged Layers Only" checkbox. This will create a flatten image (single layer). Click File > Save As and give it a file name. In this example, I called the new file "logo map 300.psd".