How to make a cut-out with Paint.net

I many cases you can get an acceptable and quick cut-out with the excellent free editor Paint.net.

The work-process can be like this:

How to mask the background

If your cut-out object has well defined edges and there’s a contrasting background, you can mask the background by simple use of the magic Wand and an appropriate tolerance setting.

If the edges are a bit trickier you can mask the object this way:

1. Create a new layer. Name it Mask
2. Adjust the transparency of the Mask layer to ex. 100, and choose ex. red as primary colour
3. On the Mask layer, paint over the background using lasso-/fill-, line- and/or paint-tool
4. Use the magic wand to mark the red

Create a smooth transition of the edges

1. Save your work as ex. mask.pdn
2. Fill the red background with white and the object with black
3. Save this work as ex. alpha-mask.png
4. Open mask.pdn
5. Go to Effects – Object – Alpha Mask and specify the alpha-mask.png as Mask File

Working with semi-transparency in Paint.net

Paint.net is not really equipped to deal with cut-outs of semi-transparent objects. However it is possible - to some extent.

In the picture we have 3 icicles. In the icicle to the right, the background shines through. We can achieve semi-transparency to part of the icicle this way:

1. Mask the area with the lasso-tool.
2. Go to Effects … Color … Color to alpha advanced

And you’re done!

Make a cut-out using filters

If you think outside the box, you can also benefit from the many filters in Paint.net.

The smoke in this picture was next to impossible to cut-out even with the specialized cut-out programs, but in Paint.net it only took a few clicks:

1. Menu: Adjustments … “Black and Alfa +” (Set the sliders to 0 and put a checkmark in “Invert”)
2. Hit Ctrl + Shift + I or Menu: Effects … Color … “Invert Intensity” (Part of the Ed Harvey Effects)

And you’re done! (Just click on the picture to see the cut-out)