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MacGyver using the pixel tool

Retouching a photo is sometimes necessary. Primarily to get rid of some item that detracts from the overall appearance. There are a number of ways to do this. In MacGyver Photo Editor, the Clone function has been used to achieve that. This time I decided to use the Pixel tool instead.
mgpx.jpg
One weakness of MacGyver, is when you zoom up to a portion it is not pixelated as in Photoshop. That makes some things harder to do—except in Pixel. For the most part the various tools are fairly straight forward. You can often use the default setting, other settings are available on each screen.
mgpx01.jpg
A cropped section from a 2 MP smartphone image.
No, I didn't remove the lamp post under the horse.

Lookiing at the photo I see a number of things that are out of place or distracting. This tutorial is just concentrating on the top of the image. The very top left corner is a bit of the roof the needs attention and that metal sort of chimney thing toward the top right.

Do the easy bit first, Clone the diagonal bit of the top left roof so the 'line' disappears or is made darker. Save that as a new file (mgpx01a.png). Also, to the left of the chimney is a faint electric power line with some kind of thing in it, that can be Cloned out as well (don't worry if you mess up the chimney edge, that will be dealt with later). Then begin work on the chimney by saving the file again with a new name (mgpx01b.png).

Using the Pixel tool on the chimney

Take your time! This is slow work with a lot of Discards and Saves. Do a little bit, then Apply/Save/Overwrite (ASO), then repeat that often. You will have to move the image down, a bit at a time, to do the whole chimney.
mgpx02.jpg
Ready to begin.

mgpx03.jpg
Zoom up until you have the top portion of the chimney in the center of the screen. Then tap Pixel.

A short popup appears telling you to "Tap the point on what to which to edit pixel—tap the center of the top of the chimney. You will not use that color. Also, you must not move the image up until Apply has been done.
mgpx04.jpg
You will be presented with this screen. First you need the color of the sky—not the top of the chimney. Tap the menu bit just under the pencil. I did it this way just to be sure that I had the correct color I wanted the Pencil to be.
mgpx05.jpg
Now I'm taken to the color screen.
  1. Opacity must be all the way to the right.
  2. Tap the medicine dropper.
  3. A new screen appears where you tap the stylus, onto one sky blue pixel on the left side of the chimney near the edge of the screen.
  4. Once done, you are taken back to the color screen and the point will be in the correct color—OK that.
  5. Now you are back to the pixelated image section.
  6. Move the stylus over the section of the chimney and each pixel will be replaced with the sky blue color. ASO a lot, for each little bit.
  7. Move the screen down to get the entire chimney stack replaced with the sky blue. Keep Applying, Saving and moving down until you replace the last line of pixels that are even with the top of the roof. You will still have the base section of the chimney visible on the roof—that is a Clone job (fully save the image, shut down MacGyver, run CCleaner (you did install CCleaner didn't you?).
    mgpx06.jpg
    Note just to the right of chimney a paler than sky blue line, that needs pixeling out as well.

    MacGyver retains your sky blue color setting until the program is closed or you Restart. If your eyes get tired, ASO—then save the file with a new name (mgpx01c.png). You could end up with a lot of backup files. If you restart the program you will have to redo the Pixel settings exactly as you did to begin with. If you totally mess up (happens), restart from where you left off, on one of the backups.

mgpx07.jpg
Finished.
The statues are in the main piazza of Fiesole, Italy

If you are brave and feel like spending a couple of hours doing some more, you can get rid of the post under the horse, the person who seems to have been pooped out of the horse onto a bench, the flower pot behind the left horse's heel and change the modern window roll up on the right to a regular window, etc-etc. Make sure you recharge your tablet though. Doing this sort of thing eats up your battery.

Next: MacGyver drawing tool >>




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