Tutoriel: AKVIS Retoucher

Remove an unwanted area in PSP9

Michael Foutty offers us a tutorial created in PSP 9.

The tutorial demonstrates the ability of AKVIS Retoucher plug-in to remove unwanted text areas quickly and effectively through the use of 'selection' tools.

The subject of this restoration project is a scanned 'Sheet Music' cover. Immediately you will notice an 'ink stamp' placed onto the cover by the store owner way back in 1909. Our goal is to remove the stamp and restore the underlying image.

It's good practice to isolate the area[s] of the image that are to be restored.

• Step 1. So begin by choosing the Selection Tool S and drag out the region to be restored.
• Step 2. Now promote the selection to a layer Selections -> Promote Selections To Layer Ctrl+Shift+P.
• Step 3. Then clear the selection by clicking Sections -> Select None Ctrl+D.

Next we will utilize the Magic Wand tool to select with precision the areas of the image that the Retoucher plug in will be applied to.

• Step 1. First, with the promoted selection layer active, zoom into the text. Then select the Magic Wand tool.
• Step 2. Note the tools settings. These will vary from image to image so experimentation is necessary to achieve the best selections.
• Step 3. Click with the Magic Wand tool on the blue area of the text. You may notice some of the blue text areas have not been selected. Just hold down the Shift key and click an area that has not been selected. Continue this procedure until satisfied with the results. [Tip - should you over select just Ctrl+Z to return to previous selection].

Once the selections are made our next step is to adjust the 'Selections' properties. These steps are very important to assure that Retoucher has enough data/information to work with.

• Step 1. First go to Selections -> Modify.
• Step 2. Next click on Recover Anti-alias and a new dialog window opens. Adjust the setting as shown below.

• Step 3. Then adjust the selections further by going to Selections -> Modify -> Expand. Adjust the expansion as necessary.

Understand that these settings may vary from project to project. Experiment for yourself with different adjustments and you will soon get the hang of it.

Make the final preparation for the plug-in by:

• Step 1. Turning off the layer visibility for the promoted layer.
• Step 2. Making the background layer active.
• Step 3. Now it is the time to apply the Retoucher plug in. Go to Effects -> Plugins -> AKVIS -> Retoucher and click to activate it.

Once the Plug-in is active, scroll to the top of the window and click on the 'green button/arrow' to begin the process...

....and watch it perform it's wonders! When the processing is completed click on the 'green button/check' to close the plug-in and return to PSP9. [Tip - This tutorial uses all the default settings of Retoucher. Should you desire to fiddle with the settings do it prior to committing the results. Simply make setting changes and run the process again].

Remarkable results! All that remains to be done is to:

• Step 1. Go to Layers -> Merge -> Merge All(Flatten);
• Step 2. Then go to and select Selections -> Select None.

The results of the plug in are truly amazing! Naturally, if necessary, additional corrections can now be applied with the AKVIS Stamp plug-in and/or available PSP9 tools

Useful for all types of text/object removal [knock-out] challenges, the AKVIS Retoucher plug-in produces superior restorations that would be difficult to produce using traditional cloning tools.