Many people assume that the primary use of the Clone tool is to duplicate
people or things in an image. The process of cloning one object over another
is commonly used both in still photography and motion pictures.
Figure, below, is an image that is the perfect example of the value of a
clone tool. Using PHOTO-PAINT's Clone tool, it was a simple matter to replace
the man in the image with pixels from the surrounding background, effectively
removing the man from the image. The process is simple but time-consuming. |
|
While the Clone tool can be used to replicate images or portions of them
for effect, it's more often used in photo-editing for repair and restoration.
The principal role of the Clone tool is to copy (clone) a portion of an
image and apply it to another part of an image.
The resulting cloned area can be on the same image or even on a different
one.
The Clone tool is most handy when you are removing things from photos like
dirt, fingerprints or other unwanted faults.
How the Clone Tool Works
Once you select the Clone tool in the Toolbox, five modes are available
in the property bar, the first of which is the Clone tool. The Clone tool
is composed of two basic parts, as shown right. It has a part that copies
(called the source-point), which is represented by the crosshair
cursor; the other part is the Clone brush that applies what
the source-point copies.
The brush tool appears as either a shape cursor (represented by a circle
that depicts the size of the brush) or a tool icon cursor, depending on
which mode the cursor is in: the shape cursor lets you see how much area
the Clone brush is covering.
Cloning from what to where: when Clone tool is first selected
or reset, the two cursors are aligned with the source-point cursor blinking.
Clicking the left mouse button anchors the origin (at the first
time, click left or right mouse button to anchor the origin, after only
the right one): the Clone brush cursor continues to follow the mouse (left
button to work) or stylus movement until next new right click on it, at
which time the Clone brush begins to paint the pixels copied from the source-point.
As you move the Clone tool, the origin moves, operating in what is called
aligned mode.
The source-point and the Clone brush tool can be on the same image or on
different images, it is also possible to clone from a selected object to
another in the same image or even an object in a different image.(ndt: different
objects are different layers in the same file)
Resetting the Clone Tool: there are two ways to reset the
source-point, click the right mouse button or press the C key. Applying
either of these actions resets the source-point of the Clone tool to the
area of the image covered by the Clone brush cursor. Using the C key aligns
both cursors without anchoring them at the new location; so you must click
the left (or right) mouse button to anchor the source-point, just as if
you had opened the Clone tool for the first time.
Constraining
the Clone Tool: as with the other brush tools, the constrain features
allow the creation of straight lines.
Holding down the CTRL key constrains the Clone tool to horizontal/vertical
movements: the image shown right is created using the constrain feature
in Clone tool.
The size of the Clone brush nib can be set numerically either in the property
bar or interactively. To change the size on screen, hold down the SHIFT
key, click and then drag the mouse either up or down. As you do, the size
of the Clone brush cursor will either expand or contract until you release
the mouse button. If for some reason the shape cursor in the Option (CTRL-J)
is not selected (and it should be), the change in size can be viewed in
the property bar as the mouse is dragged.
The quickest and best way to select the Clone tool is to press the C key
on your keyboard.
The Clone Tool Settings: like the other brush tools, the Clone
tool contains many different tool types. It can operate as an optimum Undo
tool or let you paint patterns with a brush. You can make a pointillist
painting, mantaining the colors of the original image, with surprisingly
good results or copy a portion of an image, different portions of the same
image or portions of many images on separate layers all times you want.
The Clone toolbar contains the entire set of Clone tool types. The five
tool types and their icons as they appear on the property bar .
Clone: in Clone mode, the Clone tool does not modify the pixels.
As you drag the origin over an image, the pixels are copied and are simultaneously
painted by the Clone brush.
To make your cloning activities less evident, use a soft edge and a greater
transparency setting.
Impressionism Clone: in this
mode, the pixels from the source are modified using the Impressionist effect.
This effect applies Clone brush strokes to the image, causing it to look
like an Impressionist painting. If you look up Impressionist paintings in
an art history book, it seems they are marked by the use of unmixed primary
colors and small brush strokes to simulate reflected light.
Pointillism Clone: the brush stroke made with the Pointillism
Clone tool incorporates a selected number of dots in colors that are similar.
The size, shape and qualities of the Pointillist Clone tool are set from
the property bar or the Dab Attributes of the Brush Settings docker.
In Pointillism mode, a dot-like appearance is added to the cloned image.
Colors in the image are selected and then painted in a pointillist style.
It does not reproduce areas in an image as does the Normal Clone tool: in
other words, you may not recognize the image you have cloned. To create
a similar scatter effect, the secret is to make the clone brush size very
small (like 1 or 2 pixels).
Clone from Saved: this
is the ultimate Undo tool. It uses the last saved version of the image file
as a source, allowing you to selectively remove any changes that had been
made since the last time the file was saved. Obviously, you must be working
on a saved version of a file (PHOTO-PAINT will give a warning to that effect
if you are working with a new file). Cloned from Saved has three presets
that are unique to it, each producing a different effect: Light Eraser,
Eraser and Scrambler After you have cloned a portion of
an image, you may end up with cloned material that you do not want.
The Eraser and the Light Eraser allow you to restore the original pixels
from the last saved version of the image.
The Light Eraser allows you to control how much of the changes
you want to remove, requiring multiple passes to achieve the full restoration.
The Eraser removes all of the cloned pixels.
The Scrambler option is a pointillism version of Clone from Saved,
so it allows you to distort the current image from a saved version.
You must have already saved a copy of the image to use this mode. If you
attempt to use it with an unsaved image, you will get a warning message.
Clone from Fill: the Clone from Fill tool uses the current
fill as the source and applies the fill to the image with the clone brush
(the fill does not need to be into the file). The advantage of
Clone from Fill lies in its capability to selectively apply fills with a
brush tool without the necessity of a mask.
Most of the controls and settings for the Clone tool are common to the other
brush tools. The exceptions follow:
Cumulative/Merged Objects
Operations: clicking the Toggle Cumulative button on the Stroke
Attributes roll-up of the Brush Settings docker, enables the Cumulative
option.
When enabled, the source-point copies all pixels that are on the current
image, including not only the original pixels but also any cloned pixels
that have been added to the original. The result is multiple copies.
When this option is not enabled, the Clone tool makes a copy of the image
contents and uses it as the source-point. Any changes made to the image
by the Clone brush are not "seen" by the source-point. The Cumulative
option is a nice feature that prevents accidental duplications and, in some
ways, makes cloning work easier.
The Cumulative button and the Merge Source button in the Brush Settings
docker are mutually exclusive. When one of the buttons is enabled, the other
one is no longer visible.
Merged Objects: until now
we have only considered cloning operations using a flat image (no objects).
Normally, when the source-point of the Clone tool is on an image containing
objects, only the selected object or background is visible to the source-point
part of the Clone tool.
For example: suppose an image were
composed of a background, and several objects and the background were selected.
Placing the source-point of the Clone tool on this image would only clone
the background and the objects (even though they were visible) would not
be cloned. If the Merge source button on the Dab Attributes roll-up were
enabled, all of the objects that have not been hidden and the background
of the image would be cloned. If an object is hidden, it will not be
cloned.
The Lock Transparency option does not affect the ability of the origin to
copy an object. It does limit the action of the Clone brush in the same
manner as any brush tool. This only scratches the surface of what you can
do with the Clone tool. As you gain experience, you will begin to discover
that it is one tool that can solve many photo-editing problems. |
|
|
|
