Well I have a MacBook from work, so I use the Preview app that came with it. It’s not as effective as Photoshop (which is nice for being able to adjust the order of layers and having more refined controls), but it’ll do since I don’t have PS anymore. Here’s a slight tutorial. This is how I do these things, I don’t know if it’ll be exactly the same with other programs but it should at least be somewhat similar.
PREPARING
If you export your characters with transparent backgrounds (the 400×600 PNG size) all you have to do is copy/paste them onto a background of your choice.
However, I like to export my guys in the larger format, which means they all have a solid white background. This is how I use the app to clip the backgrounds out and get them ready for groupshots:
ERASING BACKGROUNDS
Step 1- Open up an image in Preview (for example’s sake let’s say I want to create a family portrait of the Danford-Daley clan from my Kid Chaos Universe). I’ll start with Howl.
Step 2- I hit EDIT in the toolbar and use the WAND item to smart-select the background by dragging and holding it over the white. (seen in red, the WAND is great because it will automatically spread and highlight similar colors)
Step 3- I let go of my mouse and the WAND highlighting reverts to a normal select, contoured around my character.
Step 4- Tap that little DELETE key on your keyboard to erase the selected area and BAM! Instant transparent background.
Now comes the actual group shot. So I repeat the above process for all of the characters I want in this group shot and get them nice and ready for pasting together. I’ll need a background. Since I don’t mind white, what I usually do is export a blank heromachine portrait (no items whatsoever) in the largest possible widescreen format. I can then use Preview to alter it’s dimensions as necessary. So I have my background, now here goes:
CREATING THE GROUP SHOT
Step 1 – I have my background. Start copying/pasting characters! Preview is tricky because once an image is pasted in and positioned there’s no shifting the order of layers or repositioning/re-scaling. I just have to plan these out somewhat or Command+Z a bunch of times. No big deal
Step 2- Add more characters! Here I pasted Eidolon in to the shot, you’ll notice the box around him. This is a nifty feature that lets you scale the image to larger proportions…
Or smaller proportions…. Choose a scale and position that guy, and then onwards!
Step 4- Building the image. This is simply pasting the rest of the characters onto the background, and scaling/positioning relative to the characters already there.
Step 5- Once you have all of your characters there, use the SQUARE selector tool (pops up when you hit EDIT) and crop to your liking.
Step 6- Now we have our group image. A lovely portrait of Howl + Eidolon with their twins. Hooray for Preview!
