Tutorial : Changing the color of a car

fraga · 09-26-2003

This Tutorial was made at the request of Importz2k1 on how to Change the color of a car. Hopefully it will be helpful for him and any other member wishing to attempt this.

Step 1:
When you first open your picture, you may notice it is locked to the Background. Do a (Ctrl + A) to Select All, and duplicate (Ctrl + J) the layer. This will ensure that anything you do to the picture from now on, you’ll always have the original.

Now, there are numerous ways to do this, some are quick and easy, some are more in depth and time consuming. One way is just to use the Lasso tool and make a rough selection around the car and copy it to another layer, and then just delete or use a Layer Mask to erase what you don’t want. This Tutorial however will cover one of the more time consuming methods.

Step 2:
First, click on the duplicated layer and name it Color. Then, hit Q, which will take you into Quick Mask mode. You can now use the Brush Tool to paint the area you want selected. The Foreground/Background Colors should be Black and White. You can switch the colors back and forth to add or subtract. Don’t be alarmed if the only color coming out of the Brush is Red, because that’s what it’s supposed to be. You can switch the Foreground/Background colors by hitting the X key. Choose a hard edged brush at %100. You may find that using a smaller size brush to do the edges first is helpful, but you can experiment and find your own method.

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fraga · 09-26-2003

2.

fraga · 09-26-2003

Step 3:
After getting the entire car painted, excluding tires, windows, and lights, hit the Q key again. This will take you out of Quick Mask Mode and will actually show your selection. Now, go to Select>Inverse. This makes sure that only the car is selected.

fraga · 09-26-2003

Step 4:
Duplicate this selection to another layer by hitting (Ctrl + J). You should now have 3 layers. The Original, the Color layer and now your new car layer. Name this Car.

Now that you’ve got the body of the car on it’s own layer, you can now change it’s color to whatever you wish. Before you do that however, you may want to duplicate this layer (Ctrl + J) so you can have an original of this one as well. Changing it’s color can be done in a number of ways. You may want to play around with settings to find which works best for you. With the Car layer selected, go to Image>Adjustments. Here you’ll see a number of options you can use to change the color. Hue/Saturation, Brightness/Contrast, Selective Color, Channel Mixer. Play around with these for a while and see what colors you can come up with. Please feel free to add on to this with any other Tips/Techniques you use to accomplish this effect as I know others will want to know.

Boosted · 09-26-2003

I found that you can use the paint brush with an opacity of about 57%.
This seems to work the best for me

TKS Fraga for the Tutorial.

Derek-CEO · 09-26-2003

I'm stumped, as soon as I get to the painting part, I can't, doen't appear to do anything.

fraga · 09-26-2003

You may want to swtich your Foreground/Background Colors. One will erase the red color, the other will make the red color. Hit the X key to toggle between the two.

importz2k1 · 09-26-2003

Thanks Fraga, you are the man!!

importz2k1 · 09-26-2003

I did everything up to the point of choosing the color, I was not able to see the colors, or find a way to apply it to the car. Help!

fraga · 09-26-2003

Image>Adjustments...

Channel Mixer
Selective Color

Should see a color change.

importz2k1 · 09-26-2003

Ok, the colors change in the box on the left (foreground/background) Is this right?
If so, how do I apply it to the car?

importz2k1 · 09-27-2003

fraga · 09-27-2003

More on Quick Masks
And even more...

Hope those can explain better.

importz2k1 · 09-27-2003

Here it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope Skillzster doesn't mind.

Derek-CEO · 09-29-2003

so what were u doing wrong? i have the same prob?

fraga · 09-29-2003

Hmmm interesting Derek. You get stuck at the Quick Mask Mode.

Click on Layer.
Hit (Ctrl + D) to deselect everything.
Hit Q for Quick Mask Mode.
Click on the Brush Tool.
Make sure your brush is at %100 opacity.
Make sure your Foreground Colors are Black/White.
Try and paint with the Brush Tool.
If you don't see a color of red, swith between the black and white.
You should now see some red.

Hope that helped.

EviLMyStS · 09-29-2003

Wow thx alot fraga !!!

Can u pm me how to drop a car as well ?

fraga · 09-29-2003

Since Photoshopjunkie.com is still down, I'll try and make a Tutorial for that one as well.

importz2k1 · 10-02-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Derek-CEO
so what were u doing wrong? i have the same prob?

I was not in the right layer, so the color was changing in the background only and not the car.

ssmshortie · 10-02-2003

thats way cool i like your sig importz

nuffsed · 10-03-2003

that worked perfectly... can't wait to try it on my other pics..

Amplify · 10-04-2003

Woo-hoo, so cool! Gives me something else to mess around in with Photoshop now. I swear, I got that program and don't know how to do crap in it. Thanks!

d17a2x3oy · 10-10-2003

Step 3:
After getting the entire car painted, excluding tires, windows, and lights, hit the Q key again. This will take you out of Quick Mask Mode and will actually show your selection. Now, go to Select>Inverse. This makes sure that only the car is selected.

show my selection.. more like the whole box not the car i just painted.