Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Stroke selection outline color doesn't match the color selected
#1
I'm trying to make an outline around a selection but the outline color isn't turning out right. It's a white dot that I want a blue outline around. I have it selected then go to edit>stroke selection yet the outline color turns into a cross between white and the blue color I want. How do I get the outline to show up as the blue I chose? 

Also, not necessary but would be convenient, is there any way to get the outline to come up beyond the selection, basically making it bigger, instead of stroking it within it?
Reply
#2
In the Stroke Selection dialogue, are you using "Stroke Line" or "Stroke with a paint tool"? If you are using "Stroke with a paint tool" and have a soft brush selected you will get the effect you are describing.

You can also uncheck "Antialiasing". This will give a hard edge, but introduces jaggies.

Note the 3 layers that I used. Make editing easier.


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
Reply
#3
When you do Edit>Stroke selection the selection is "suspended" and the stroke straddles the selection boundary (more accurately,  the line that separates pixels with Selection<50% to those where Selection>=50%) so in practice the stroke extends outside the selection.

When you do Select>To path followed by Edit>Stroke path (which is usually cleaner), the selection is not suspended, so if you don't do anything you only get the part of the line which is inside the selection. To get a full line width straddling the selection boundary you would have to remove the selection before the stroke step (you can save it to a channel if you think you'll need it later).
Reply
#4
Some things to note when stroking a selection.

Even with antialiasing 'on' an even number of pixels does not have antialiasing https://i.imgur.com/hmsJota.jpg

Use an odd number of to stroke the selection. https://i.imgur.com/ksVIaac.jpg

Want outside the selction? Add a layer under, stroke with 2 x the required width. https://i.imgur.com/31efl9M.jpg
Reply
#5
(11-21-2019, 10:22 AM)rich2005 Wrote: Even with antialiasing 'on' an even number of pixels does not have antialiasing https://i.imgur.com/hmsJota.jpg

What you get when using an odd number of pixels isn't really anti-aliasing either.
Reply
#6
Thank you everyone!! Testing out your suggestions helped me realize what was wrong. What happened is the fuzzy select tool wasn't exact enough on the pixels, meaning it selected the really white part and leaving a border of the in-between colored pixels outside it. Then the stroke tried to blend with the outside, which was whiter than the true background, making the stroke too light colored. So I darkened the blue and in that way got the effect I wanted.

(11-21-2019, 10:22 AM)rich2005 Wrote: Some things to note when stroking a selection.

Even with antialiasing 'on' an even number of pixels does not have antialiasing https://i.imgur.com/hmsJota.jpg

Use an odd number of to stroke the selection. https://i.imgur.com/ksVIaac.jpg

Want outside the selction? Add a layer under, stroke with 2 x the required width.  https://i.imgur.com/31efl9M.jpg

Thank you for these tips!!! The outside selection thing I couldn't get to work though, it would still color inside the selection. Perhaps it's not possible to get it not to I suppose? Because of its blending inclination?
Reply
#7
(11-21-2019, 03:07 PM)marigolden Wrote: The outside selection thing I couldn't get to work though, it would still color inside the selection.

Try using Select > Invert before stroking


Quote:Because of its blending inclination?

You have full control of the blending. In the Stroke Selection dialogue:
"Stroke Line" with Antialisaing off will not give any blending
"Stroke Line" with Antialisaing on will not give a small amount of blending
"Stroke with paint tool" will have a variable amount of blending, depending on the brush that is set. A soft brush will give more blending than a hard brush.

Here is another method of creating an outline. No need to stroke selection. Have a look at the layers in the xcf. Use the eye in the layers dialogue to look at the layers one at a time to see what each contains.


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   

.xcf   CreateOutline.xcf (Size: 25.71 KB / Downloads: 102)
Reply
#8
(11-21-2019, 03:32 PM)Blighty Wrote:
(11-21-2019, 03:07 PM)marigolden Wrote: The outside selection thing I couldn't get to work though, it would still color inside the selection.

Try using Select > Invert before stroking


Quote:Because of its blending inclination?

You have full control of the blending. In the Stroke Selection dialogue:
"Stroke Line" with Antialisaing off will not give any blending
"Stroke Line" with Antialisaing on will not give a small amount of blending
"Stroke with paint tool" will have a variable amount of blending, depending on the brush that is set. A soft brush will give more blending than a hard brush.

Here is another method of creating an outline. No need to stroke selection. Have a look at the layers in the xcf. Use the eye in the layers dialogue to look at the layers one at a time to see what each contains.

I did do select>invert but the stroke still went inside it Sad
Not a big deal besides, as I'll make the circles bigger to roughly compensate. 
That is a wonderful example!! I would do that but unfortunately I'm trying to match the look of the dots on the original image around it and they have the pixelated stroked look not the clean look.

Also, I did try your recommendation to turn the antialisaing off, an excellent option to know about...annoyingly however it was *too* harsh compared with the original dots>< They're in some kind of more thinly distributed blending than Gimp allows.
What I actually ended up doing was fuzzy selecting and then pressing shift to additionally select the inbetween colors around the original dot, copying it and pasting, so it was as identical to the original as possible. If it had been too big of a selection to feasibly do that (these were little cartoon snowflake dots) I would've probably just done a path and copy pasted. Despite my color fiddling it never turned out to be satisfactory after all because of the lack of exactness of antiliasing thickness.
Reply


Forum Jump: