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mollykitti
Known Participant
March 28, 2017
Question

delete transparent sections

  • March 28, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 677 views

I was using photoshop to create a color chart for a cross stitch pattern.  I was successful in creating the chart, but I had some issues with color matching (not a photoshop problem).  I found a web program that would create the color chart for me but unfortunately, it returns a hideous & distracting hot pink grid.  I removed the hot pink easily enough, but now I have large transparent lines between the color squares.  I'd like to remove these lines and push the squares together, but there are way too many to move them all manually.  Is there any way to either a) trim blank space between colors, b) expand the color patches so that the blank space is filled (or at least nearly filled)?

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    2 replies

    Chuck Uebele
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 29, 2017

    Is this for the DCM color chart? Just curious where you found the program to reproduce the colors. Does your chart have the number references? A screen shot would be great. I might be able to do something with it using a script to fill squares from a reference file. I've used Photoshop's Deco script patterns to create a cross-stitch effect, using a modified script that samples a base image.

    mollykitti
    Known Participant
    March 29, 2017

    Beautiful!!!  Are you cross-stitching as well or just the pic?

    The program I've found that does everything for you is:

    https://www.pic2pat.com/index.en.html

    The formatting is a little wonky and the parameters are really limited, but it does actually give all the info you need.

    I started with this one:

    Cross-stitch Pattern in Photoshop (with Symbols!) - 4

    No limits on the parameters, plus I like the idea of creating the pattern myself, but it does not give the color references, you have to figure those out on your own.  I thought I would create a program to match the colors in the pattern to know DMC RGB values, but the few lists I have found for DMC RGB values are incomplete and the values listed are wrong.  Maybe, eventually I'll come up with my own list, but too much effort for this project.

    Chuck Uebele
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 29, 2017

    Years ago, my wife was into needle point, well before the digital age. I thought I would guve it a try, so we would have a mutual intrest. I wanted to also do my own patterns based on photos. It was basically tracing a photo and attempting to match the colors. No so easy. Then with digital imaging I thought it would be cool to use Photoshop to create the patterns, but as I'm sure you've discovered, it's not that easy. With CS6, and the introduction on Deco scripting, I got interest in just making a digital cross point, as I stopped doing the real thing many years ago. I wrote a script that takes a light white cross stitch pattern and apply a color to it, as thatis that the sample above is. I had sime issues with this also in that the Deco engine was not translating the color that accurately either. I really haven't tried to take it further. I did think about creating a color table with all the DCM colors, but never really followed through. Rather than using RGB colors, as you mentioned, you should look for a referece for the colors in LAB color space. It's more accurate. I think I saw a chart on the web for that some time ago, but can't remember now where.

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 28, 2017

    Good day!

    a) trim blank space between colors,

    I am afraid that is not default functionality; what you call »colors« seems to actually be patches of non-transparent pixels on a layer and lifting them onto layers of their own and arranging the layers could be automated but it hardly seems worth the trouble. 

    b) expand the color patches so that the blank space is filled (or at least nearly filled)

    You could try Filter > Other > Minimum, but duplicating the Layer and manually offsetting it a couple of times might suffice.

    Could you post the file or a screenshot?

    Regards,

    Pfaffenbichler

    mollykitti
    Known Participant
    March 28, 2017

    I had kind of thought of your answer for b.  The problem is that this program created patches that are slightly different sizes.  When I copy the layer and shift it, this size difference becomes more pronounced.  It's still not a huge difference, and it wouldn't really effect functionality, but it's driving my OCD a little crazy.  I guess I was just hoping there was some sort of option to expand out from center by x pixels for all patches at once.

    mollykitti
    Known Participant
    March 29, 2017

    Have you tried the Filter Minimum?

    Could you post the file or a screenshot?


    Not sure what you mean here.  More please.