Erasing numberplates on car pics

[NiceCupOfTea]

I know I've asked this before, but how can I do this quickly and neatly?

I have tried all manner of selection / freehand / magic wand tools and it's always a bloody mess. I can never get to the edges of the numberplate neatly, and even though the magic wand tool does it also selects the letters and won't deselect them

Doing a fill always looks odd and stands out as it's the wrong colour. Blurring works best but even that doesn't look great.

Seriously thinking about investing in some show plates for when I take pics of the car so that it looks half decent!

[scorp]

Use the colour picker tool to pick the colour from the background orange or white, and then use the filled polygon tool to trace the edges of the plate (only 4 clicks needed, one for each corner).

Magic wand is evil

>> Edited by scorp on Friday 24th February 15:26

[slapmatt]

I use the clone tool on PhotoShop

[UncleDave]

slapmatt said:

I use the clone tool on PhotoShop

Or send them to one of us if you want it doing..

You really need to use a good program like Paint Shop Pro/Photoshop to get the best result, but I think there is a free one 'The Gimp' the does the job, but I have no experience with it..

As above, either clone brush or using the selector to get the plate colour, and simply painting over it will do the job

If you want a few doing, chuck them over here (drop me an email).

Dave.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Dave, thanks for the advice but I'm always taking snaps of the car () so would like to be able to do it myself.

I used to have PSP but have lost it, currenly using paint.net which seems pretty versatile but sadly doesn't seem to have a polygon tool

[scorp]

Clone brush is the best technique, i forgot about that.

[stu_the_flat]

Why do people hide the number plate of there car when selling?

[scorp]

stu_the_flat said:

Why do people hide the number plate of there car when selling?

to prevent cloning? (i imagine a crim would scour google images for an exact model and colour match to the car he wants to clone)

[srebbe64]

Personally, I can't see the point of blanking out the number plates at all. I mean, we drive along the road and everyone can see the number plates so what's the point of blanking them out on the net. To me, it's a kind of "political correctness" that doesn't, from a pragmatic perspective, need to be done.

[scorp]

srebbe64 said:

Personally, I can't see the point of blanking out the number plates at all. I mean, we drive along the road and everyone can see the number plates so what's the point of blanking them out on the net. To me, it's a kind of "political correctness" that doesn't, from a pragmatic perspective, need to be done.

Searching for a picture on the net is a lot easier and faster than driving round all day looking for a similiar car.

[BliarOut]

UncleDave said:

slapmatt said: I use the clone tool on PhotoShop Or send them to one of us if you want it doing.. You really need to use a good program like Paint Shop Pro/Photoshop to get the best result, but I think there is a free one 'The Gimp' the does the job, but I have no experience with it.. As above, either clone brush or using the selector to get the plate colour, and simply painting over it will do the job If you want a few doing, chuck them over here (drop me an email). Dave.

Gimp is very good Not that intuitive if you're not a graphics bod, but once you get the hang of it you can do pretty much anything.

[tinman0]

srebbe64 said:

Personally, I can't see the point of blanking out the number plates at all. I mean, we drive along the road and everyone can see the number plates so what's the point of blanking them out on the net. To me, it's a kind of "political correctness" that doesn't, from a pragmatic perspective, need to be done.

this is all very hazy but iirc its started from two different places.

the first place was on celebrity cars where the number plate could be tracked by all and sundry through the DVLA. then people started doing it to their own cars for some unknown reason.

the other place is the BBC. apparently BBC lawyers or something came up with some conclusion that if the number plate was showing on TV they needed permission from the owner. so they started blanking plates on static shots to get around this. i know it was something pretty daft like that.

the bit about cloning - i'm not sure if thats true. driving around car parks gives you the opportunity of nicking the plate as well. i mean - someone who needs a cloned plate may as well nick it off the car direct and be done with it, rather than having to leave the house to get the plate made up from a car they saw on the net.

[scorp]

tinman0 said:

the bit about cloning - i'm not sure if thats true. driving around car parks gives you the opportunity of nicking the plate as well. i mean - someone who needs a cloned plate may as well nick it off the car direct and be done with it, rather than having to leave the house to get the plate made up from a car they saw on the net.

I thought cloned plates involved the actual cloning of a plate as opposed to nicking it off your car?

Secondly, my post was a suggestion as to why people obscure their plate, not an assertion of a fact, so how you can comment on the behalf of everyone who has ever posted a car picture on the internet is puzzling.

>> Edited by scorp on Friday 24th February 16:04

[UncleDave]

Attempt at a quick tutorial for paint.net
Just downloaded a screenshot from their site



Select the colour select tool #1
Left Click at point #2 to select the colour of the number plate
Select the paint tool (I think it is #3, but if not just use the paintbrush tool you usually use)


Then just paint over the plate!
If it looks a bit dodgy try selecting the colour from a different area of the plate, otherwise try The Gimp and come back to us

Dave.

[aldi]

I would add, don't work on it at 100% like the pic above, zoom RIGHT in so the plate or even just the letter your working on fills your whole screen, much easier to work on and will look ace when you zoom out again.

[Donut]

scorp said:

tinman0 said: the bit about cloning - i'm not sure if thats true. driving around car parks gives you the opportunity of nicking the plate as well. i mean - someone who needs a cloned plate may as well nick it off the car direct and be done with it, rather than having to leave the house to get the plate made up from a car they saw on the net. I thought cloned plates involved the actual cloning of a plate as opposed to nicking it off your car? Secondly, my post was a suggestion as to why people obscure their plate, not an assertion of a fact, so how you can comment on the behalf of everyone who has ever posted a car picture on the internet is puzzling. >> Edited by scorp on Friday 24th February 16:04

We have a car in stock that has been cloned.

Scumbag sees car for sale, nicks the same car - model and colour etc and applies for the log book as if they had brought it. DVLA issues the log book, scumbag changes plates and chassis number and sells the car.

We have the legal car here and some poor sod is driving around in there new car, unaware it is stolen!

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks guys, will give that a try!

[NiceCupOfTea]

Dave, just using the paint tool and colour dropper is a million times quicker than what I was trying to do and looks as good! Only flaw is that it still looks a bit artificial as it's a flat colour - will investigate using clone

[UncleDave]

Not sure if there is a clone tool on paint.net (think there may be one on Gimp)

Once you master it in one bit of software you can easily recreate it in another as they icons for the tools are pretty much exactly the same.