The clone tool, as it is known in Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...

, GIMP

GIMP

GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...

, and Corel PhotoPaint, is used in digital image editing to replace information for one part of a picture with information from another part. In other image editing software

Comparison of raster graphics editors

- List :- General information :Basic general information about the editors: creator/company, license etc.- Operating system support :The operating systems on which the editors can run natively , meaning which operating systems have which editors specifically coded for them - List :- General...

, its equivalent is sometimes called a rubber stamp tool or a clone brush.

Applications

A typical use for the tool is in – more colloquially, "airbrushing" or "photoshopping" out an unwanted part of the image.

If a part of an image is removed simply by cutting it out, then a hole is left in the background. The Clone tool can fill in this hole convincingly with a copy of the existing background.

A common usage is in retouching skin, particularly in portraits; in this way one can remove blemishes (pimples, moles, or scars), and make skin tones more even. Cloning can also be used to remove other unwanted elements, such as telephone wires, an unwanted bird in the sky, and the like.

A more automated method of object removal uses texture synthesis

Texture synthesis

Texture synthesis is the process of algorithmically constructing a large digital image from a small digital sample image by taking advantage of its structural content...

 to fill in gaps. Of these, patch-based texture synthesis or "image quilting" is essentially an automated application of the clone tool, choosing the optimal source area so as to patch over with a minimal seam.

In some cases, the undesired object is mixed with the remained of the image, and a simple circular brush, even with feathering

Feathering

Feathering is a technique used in computer graphics software to smooth or blur the edges of a feature. The term is inherited from a technique of fine retouching using fine feathers.-Paintbrush feathering:...

, would not work. For these cases, some programs allow that object to be selected by color/outline so other areas are not affected. Other programs allow edge/color sensitive brushes to deal with such objects.

Healing tool

A similar tool is the healing tool, which occurs in variants such as the healing brush or spot healing tool. These incorporate the existing texture, rather than painting it over.

External links

• GIMP
  GIMP
  GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
  
  manual: 3.10. Clone