Post by Stinky666 on Jan 30, 2008 23:55:40 GMT
Tutorial/Guide Compatible with Paint Shop Pro versions: XI & X2
Paint Shop Pro X has One Step Noise Removal, and Edge Preserving Smooth, but does not have Skin Smoothing.
Versions before are unknown.
I will show you a couple of ways how you can improve image quality in PSP.
This will more than likely only work on images of people stocks.
It won't work on signatures/tags and other similar things.
If you do use people stocks in your art, you should hopefully find this usefull.
One Step Noise Removal:
The "One Step Noise Removal" feature is a very very handy one for improving image quality.
This feature is located just above the tool options area. It's in a dropdown called "Enhance Photo".
Click the dropdown, and there it is: Click Here for Preview
For every time you click that, it will "apply the feature" to your image.
You can click it more than once, but just let it finish "applying" each time. You know how much has been "applied" by the "load bar" at the bottom of your Paint Shop Pro: Click Here for Preview
Once that has appeared and disappeared, it means the effect has been applied. Just hit the "One Step Noise Removal" again, and the same process will happen.
What I like to do, so that I can see the difference between the "before" and "after" image, is I duplicate the layer of my stock and do the "One Step Noise Removal" on the duplicated layer. After each time I click the "One Step Noise Removal", and it has been applied, I hide the layer of it, and then quickly unhide it, then hide it again, and keep doing this whilst moving my eyes around looking at the image. This helps you decide whether you want to (or need to) use the feature again.
Ok so lets get started...
So first of all, open up a stock that hasn't got great quality. Make sure it is of a real person.
The stock I am using is this: Click Me
As previously mentioned, I like to duplicate the layer, so right click on the layer and choose "duplicate". Now go to the "Enhance Photo" dropdown and select "One Step Noise Removal".
After the effect has been applied, this is what my image looks like: Click Me
(Note: The bigger your image, the longer the feature will take to finish applying, so just wait.)
As you can see, that is already looking much better than it was.
But if you want it to be better quality, do the step again.
So, duplicate that layer (right click the layer and choose "duplicate") and then go to "Enhance Photo", and select "One Step Noise Removal". This is what mine now looks like: Click Me
And there we go.
When you now resize to fit it into your design, the quality will be even better.
Other Ways of Improving Quality:
Believe it or not, there are other ways of improving image quality, besides the One Step Noise Removal. There are two other ways that I will now show you. They are: Edge Preserving Smooth, and Skin Smoothing.
Skin smoothing is best used on a person stock, which has lots of "skin" colouring. Edge Preserving Smooth can be used on more or less anything, such as gaming characters, people and so forth.
Edge Preserving Smooth:
First off, I will show you the Edge Preserving Smooth.
I will be using the same stock as above: Click Me
For this feature, it's best to have a stock that of which the quality of around the focal (in this case, the woman), isn't of great quality. As you can see, it's quite pixely and just not too great.
So, with your image open, duplicate the layer (right click on the layer and choose "duplicate") and then what we will do is go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Edge Preserving Smooth. Once clicked, a new window should open, which should have one setting, which is "Amount of Smoothing".
I never go above 4. This is because otherwise it messes up the person's hair and so on, which I obviously don't want.
In this case, I have used the amount of 3: Click Me
As you can see, the edges are still not at their best, so we will duplicate the top layer (right click it and choose "duplicate"), and we will go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Edge Preserving Smooth and again, use the same setting as before, which was 3. Posssibly, use only 1 or 2.
Now your image should be better quality. Mine after 3: Click Me
As you can now see though, the hair is slightly weird, so, because you have been duplicating each layer as you add a new Edge Preserving Smooth, we can fix this by using the eraser tool (X).
You should only have a total of 3 layers if you did exactly what I said. Hiide your top layer, by clicking the image that looks like this in the layer palette, next to the layer: Click Me
Now click on your middle layer. Grab your Eraser Tool (X) and use the following settings: Click Me
With a big image such as this, you can use the above settings, but with a smaller image, you might want to adjust the settings slightly. Mostly, you would need to adjust the Size and Hardness. But not by too much.
What we are doing here, is erasing parts of the hair, so the detail of the hair is still great and doesn't look odd. Be carefull not to erase the edges, cos thats what we have been fixing up. After you have erased enough and you are happy with what it is looking like, unhide your top layer and do the same. Then when happy with that, press A on your keyboard to select your Pan Tool, and now right click on your canvas and choose Copy Merged and then press CTRL+L to paste as a new layer.
This is what mine looks like after erasing and pasting: Click Me
Now you can duplicate that and use the Edge Preserving Smooth feature again, and erase etc again, or you can keep what you have. It all depends on what you want.
Skin Smoothing:
Now to show you how to use Skin Smoothing. We will be using the same stock image used previously.
Open up your stock, and then duplicate the layer.
Now, go to Adjust > Skin Smoothing. Now a new window should have opened. The setting I like to use mostly is "80", but anything between 60 and 100 works fine in my experience.
Before Image: Click Me
After Image (Setting: 80): Click Me
As you can see, on the left side of her face, it hasn't been affected by the skin smoothing. And the background of the image is still "noisey" and messy, s, we will now be using One Step and Noise Removal to fix that.
Duplicate your Skin Smoothed layer (right click the layer > duplicate), and now go to Enhance Photo > One Step Noise Removal. Obviously let it "apply/load".
Now, I have it looking like this: Click Me
The beauty of duplicating the layers as you go along, means you can erase parts that you want to just incase bits look over smooth etc.
As you can see, on the above image, the left side of her face is still quite "noisey", so we will simply duplicate that top layer, and then do the One Step Noise Removal again.
Here is what mine looks like after doing it: Click Me
Again, that is much better than before.
Now, I am personally happy with her face, but if you still think it is still too "noisey", duplicate the top layer, and then apply another One Step Noise Removal. Keep doing that untill you are happy with what you have.
If you stopped where I have, then you should have a total of 4 layers.
These layers should be as follows:
- Bottom layer = Original Stock
- Second layer from bottom = Duplicate of Stock + Skin Smoothing
- Second layer from top = Duplicate of Skin Smooth + 1x One Step Noise Removal
- Top layer = Duplicate of Skin Smooth + 2x One Step Noise Removal
If you think that some parts are over smooth, simply do the following few steps:
- Press A on your keyboard
- Right click on your canvas/image and choose Copy Merged
- Press CTRL+L to paste as a new layer
- Hide all layers except the very bottom and very top
- Grab your Eraser Tool (X)
- Start erasing parts you dislike on the Top layer
(If you erase wrong bits: CTRL+Z to go back as many steps as you need)
Although I am happy with what I currently have, teh edges of my stock are slightly messed up. To fix this, I will duplicate my top layer and apply an Edge Preserving Smooth effect. Scroll up to see how to do so.
Keep duplicating and applying this effect until you are reasonably happy. Use the eraser tool to erase bits you dislike.
Here is what my final image looks like: Click Me
I hope this has helped some people.
Questions, comments, broken links, let me know.
Paint Shop Pro X has One Step Noise Removal, and Edge Preserving Smooth, but does not have Skin Smoothing.
Versions before are unknown.
I will show you a couple of ways how you can improve image quality in PSP.
This will more than likely only work on images of people stocks.
It won't work on signatures/tags and other similar things.
If you do use people stocks in your art, you should hopefully find this usefull.
One Step Noise Removal:
The "One Step Noise Removal" feature is a very very handy one for improving image quality.
This feature is located just above the tool options area. It's in a dropdown called "Enhance Photo".
Click the dropdown, and there it is: Click Here for Preview
For every time you click that, it will "apply the feature" to your image.
You can click it more than once, but just let it finish "applying" each time. You know how much has been "applied" by the "load bar" at the bottom of your Paint Shop Pro: Click Here for Preview
Once that has appeared and disappeared, it means the effect has been applied. Just hit the "One Step Noise Removal" again, and the same process will happen.
What I like to do, so that I can see the difference between the "before" and "after" image, is I duplicate the layer of my stock and do the "One Step Noise Removal" on the duplicated layer. After each time I click the "One Step Noise Removal", and it has been applied, I hide the layer of it, and then quickly unhide it, then hide it again, and keep doing this whilst moving my eyes around looking at the image. This helps you decide whether you want to (or need to) use the feature again.
Ok so lets get started...
So first of all, open up a stock that hasn't got great quality. Make sure it is of a real person.
The stock I am using is this: Click Me
As previously mentioned, I like to duplicate the layer, so right click on the layer and choose "duplicate". Now go to the "Enhance Photo" dropdown and select "One Step Noise Removal".
After the effect has been applied, this is what my image looks like: Click Me
(Note: The bigger your image, the longer the feature will take to finish applying, so just wait.)
As you can see, that is already looking much better than it was.
But if you want it to be better quality, do the step again.
So, duplicate that layer (right click the layer and choose "duplicate") and then go to "Enhance Photo", and select "One Step Noise Removal". This is what mine now looks like: Click Me
And there we go.
When you now resize to fit it into your design, the quality will be even better.
Other Ways of Improving Quality:
Believe it or not, there are other ways of improving image quality, besides the One Step Noise Removal. There are two other ways that I will now show you. They are: Edge Preserving Smooth, and Skin Smoothing.
Skin smoothing is best used on a person stock, which has lots of "skin" colouring. Edge Preserving Smooth can be used on more or less anything, such as gaming characters, people and so forth.
Edge Preserving Smooth:
First off, I will show you the Edge Preserving Smooth.
I will be using the same stock as above: Click Me
For this feature, it's best to have a stock that of which the quality of around the focal (in this case, the woman), isn't of great quality. As you can see, it's quite pixely and just not too great.
So, with your image open, duplicate the layer (right click on the layer and choose "duplicate") and then what we will do is go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Edge Preserving Smooth. Once clicked, a new window should open, which should have one setting, which is "Amount of Smoothing".
I never go above 4. This is because otherwise it messes up the person's hair and so on, which I obviously don't want.
In this case, I have used the amount of 3: Click Me
As you can see, the edges are still not at their best, so we will duplicate the top layer (right click it and choose "duplicate"), and we will go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Edge Preserving Smooth and again, use the same setting as before, which was 3. Posssibly, use only 1 or 2.
Now your image should be better quality. Mine after 3: Click Me
As you can now see though, the hair is slightly weird, so, because you have been duplicating each layer as you add a new Edge Preserving Smooth, we can fix this by using the eraser tool (X).
You should only have a total of 3 layers if you did exactly what I said. Hiide your top layer, by clicking the image that looks like this in the layer palette, next to the layer: Click Me
Now click on your middle layer. Grab your Eraser Tool (X) and use the following settings: Click Me
With a big image such as this, you can use the above settings, but with a smaller image, you might want to adjust the settings slightly. Mostly, you would need to adjust the Size and Hardness. But not by too much.
What we are doing here, is erasing parts of the hair, so the detail of the hair is still great and doesn't look odd. Be carefull not to erase the edges, cos thats what we have been fixing up. After you have erased enough and you are happy with what it is looking like, unhide your top layer and do the same. Then when happy with that, press A on your keyboard to select your Pan Tool, and now right click on your canvas and choose Copy Merged and then press CTRL+L to paste as a new layer.
This is what mine looks like after erasing and pasting: Click Me
Now you can duplicate that and use the Edge Preserving Smooth feature again, and erase etc again, or you can keep what you have. It all depends on what you want.
Skin Smoothing:
Now to show you how to use Skin Smoothing. We will be using the same stock image used previously.
Open up your stock, and then duplicate the layer.
Now, go to Adjust > Skin Smoothing. Now a new window should have opened. The setting I like to use mostly is "80", but anything between 60 and 100 works fine in my experience.
Before Image: Click Me
After Image (Setting: 80): Click Me
As you can see, on the left side of her face, it hasn't been affected by the skin smoothing. And the background of the image is still "noisey" and messy, s, we will now be using One Step and Noise Removal to fix that.
Duplicate your Skin Smoothed layer (right click the layer > duplicate), and now go to Enhance Photo > One Step Noise Removal. Obviously let it "apply/load".
Now, I have it looking like this: Click Me
The beauty of duplicating the layers as you go along, means you can erase parts that you want to just incase bits look over smooth etc.
As you can see, on the above image, the left side of her face is still quite "noisey", so we will simply duplicate that top layer, and then do the One Step Noise Removal again.
Here is what mine looks like after doing it: Click Me
Again, that is much better than before.
Now, I am personally happy with her face, but if you still think it is still too "noisey", duplicate the top layer, and then apply another One Step Noise Removal. Keep doing that untill you are happy with what you have.
If you stopped where I have, then you should have a total of 4 layers.
These layers should be as follows:
- Bottom layer = Original Stock
- Second layer from bottom = Duplicate of Stock + Skin Smoothing
- Second layer from top = Duplicate of Skin Smooth + 1x One Step Noise Removal
- Top layer = Duplicate of Skin Smooth + 2x One Step Noise Removal
If you think that some parts are over smooth, simply do the following few steps:
- Press A on your keyboard
- Right click on your canvas/image and choose Copy Merged
- Press CTRL+L to paste as a new layer
- Hide all layers except the very bottom and very top
- Grab your Eraser Tool (X)
- Start erasing parts you dislike on the Top layer
(If you erase wrong bits: CTRL+Z to go back as many steps as you need)
Although I am happy with what I currently have, teh edges of my stock are slightly messed up. To fix this, I will duplicate my top layer and apply an Edge Preserving Smooth effect. Scroll up to see how to do so.
Keep duplicating and applying this effect until you are reasonably happy. Use the eraser tool to erase bits you dislike.
Here is what my final image looks like: Click Me
I hope this has helped some people.
Questions, comments, broken links, let me know.