healing brush tool help

superkoax · #1 08-17-2007, 02:46 AM

well, I have searched the forums here, but haven't found anything regarding this problem...I know everyone have encountered this problem is some degree...

WHat can you do with healing brush when it smudges details?

I don't know how to even get remotely close to a good result...

I'm just giving you an example picture...I'm struggling with the hair....

So anyone?

Cheers

gerry

EternalTomorrow · #2 08-17-2007, 03:36 AM

what percentage is the brush hardness?

duwayne · #3 08-17-2007, 03:59 AM

Pick a sample point that is the same distance from the hair as the target point.

pixel_monkey · #4 08-17-2007, 04:13 AM

The blurry looking stuff is caused the nature of the healing brush. To make a long story short, the healing brush was born from the idea of how heat diffuses when interact with metal. It works great with small defects on large continuous surfaces. I'm no scientist, but when you try to diffuse pixels from 2 large discontinuous surfaces together, something just doesn't feel right at the boundary where they meet. You can stop the healing effect of the tool by setting its mode to Replace, but then it turns into a cut and past tool. I just avoid the healing brush completely when retouching hair. I use old school cloning and switching a lot between Darken and Lighten, and might have to tackle each individual strand at a time...it's pain. If you're using CS3, check out Auto-Blend Layers under Edit...It works like a charm blending uneven surfaces, such as backgrounds and skies.

superkoax · #5 08-17-2007, 05:18 AM

eternal: It varies...maybe around 10% and down...
Duwayne: Thanks, tried that as well...it gives a better result, but still some areas look healed...I tried a new thing, zoom way in to the picture and work with smaller brush and work yourself out...that worked out nice...abit more work to do until the final result is finished....

cheers

thanks for replying my painfully newbie questions

gerry

rramsey · #6 08-17-2007, 05:33 AM

The healing brush samples areas around it. You will not get good results working on an edge the way your doing. You must use some other technique to accomplish what you want done ( possibly just the rubber stamp). Try the healing brush in an area like I have suggested and see if you have the same problem.

byRo · #7 08-17-2007, 07:54 AM

As pixel-monkey said, if you want details then you'll need to clone. Healing is best used for taking out spots in a surrounding flatter area.

The tool you are thinking about (healing + details) is usually referred to as "inpainting". As of yet I haven't seen a good commercial implementation of it, but you can be sure that when the rocket scientists are through with their developing, it will be about the most useful tool in the box.

Maybe CS4. Adobe?

Rô

KR1156 · #8 08-17-2007, 08:08 AM

for stray hairs, always clone. healing brush not reliable. put one of those solar curves on top, and use that when you're cloning the bkgd this way you see that those minute differences in tone are matching up. if not it, those areas can print and your moves can be obvious.

des151 · #9 08-17-2007, 09:17 AM

Superkoax,
Make a large enough selection of the area that you want to use the healing brush on. Then sample from and clone or heal in the selected area, you won't get the bleeding effect.
Ray

Syd · #10 08-17-2007, 09:21 AM

Gerry, as KR1156 and others have said, for those stray hairs, the clone tool is best. But, if you absolutely must use the Healing Brush, then there are ways of minimizing its 'smudging'.

Make the brush size only slightly larger than the area you are using it on.

A softer brush will pull in pixels from a larger area and, when close to edges, this can be undesirable.

If you use one of the selection tools to mark off an area, you will be able to work much closer to the edge without smudging. It will still occur but if you stick to what Duwayne said above:Pick a sample point that is the same distance from the hair as the target point. then you should be okay.

The more you use the tool, the more you will get used to its little idiosyncracies and the better you will become.

Attached is an example where I have used the Lasso tool to mark off a sensitive area under the chin and then used only the Healing Brush to clean it up. Remember not to feather your selection otherwise you will get smudging.

Syd

edgework · #11 08-17-2007, 10:53 AM

Brush size seems to be the major variable that determines how much of the surrounding pixels are sucked into the healing region. Keep in mind, this is not a bug, it's precisely how the brush is meant to work. It's one of the ways that it avoids the obvious stroke edges from the cloning tool (those unsightly cloning worms). It's a great feature when you want to blend a harsh transition without losing texture.

Making your brush smaller will mean that you need to use more strokes for the same region, but the radius of attraction will be smaller for each stroke, allowing you to get much closer to the edge without smudging.

Dave.Cox · #12 08-17-2007, 04:58 PM

The heal brush tool uses samples not only your original sample, but the area surrounding the area that you are painting too. The idea is to blend your sample into the destination. That is why you are getting the hair color drawn into your sample. To heal an area where there is a pattern, you need to pick up the pattern in your original sample, and then paint into the same area of the pattern. This is a little hard to explain, so maybe this will help.

http://davesdfr.com/_images/HealExample.avi

I use the heal brush when repairing areas like this quite often, but you do have to pay attention to the pattern. Otherwise its better to use the clone tool in these areas. Also, it is best to use a soft brush for this kind of work.