Is it possible to cut a portion of an image with a freehand slice

[jdd]

I would like to cut selected 'pieces' out of some images (jpeg, png, bmp).

I know that it is possible to crop or slice a rectangular or circular section but is there any software that allows a cut of an irregular shaped line that is drawn by freehand around the portion to be saved.  An example would be to cut out and save only the shape of a head of a person in a portrait.

Xara Xtreme has a function called 'Slice Shapes' but I have v2.0 and haven't been able to make it work.

Any other software out there that can do this?

[jgpaiva]

I think paint.net would do.. You only have to use the "lasso select", and then select "image -> crop to selection". From what i know, this is a pretty standard feature in image editors..

[mouser]

lasso select is usually what its called..
but there is an entire market of plugins and tools and tutorials on "MASKING" which aim to help you do good selection of people and objects from a background so that you can reuse it on a different background.

[app103]

If you have Paintshop Pro, look for a good tubing tutorial for your software version.

It will show you how to isolate an object in an image and remove the rest of the image, leaving just that object with a transparent background. (you could skip the part where you make the actual .tub file from it, and save it as a .psp or .png instead, and then use it as you wish)

Since I wouldn't know what version of PSP you have (or if you have it at all), I can't really recommend a tutorial for doing it. It's slightly different in each version. Older versions don't have all the same tools that a newer version of the software has, and hence, the process used to get the best results is different.