Image editing system including masking capability

In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of editing an image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising the steps of:

• providing an image in digital form;
• identifying a color of each pixel of the image;
• storing data representing each identified color in an original first list on the memory of the computer system;
• identifying a user-selected color at a user-selected location on the visual display of the image wherein the selected color comprises a single discrete hue;
• deleting the data representing the selected color from the first list;
• and
• manipulating, independent of inputs representative of any other image, pixels of the image on the visual display having colors of a preselected relationship to the colors identified in the first list so as to change a visual feature of the image.

In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of creating a color mask for an image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color;
• interactively selecting a plurality of colors from among those present in the image at at least one location on the visual display to form a set of selected colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue;
• and
• storing data representing the colors from the set of selected colors in a list on the memory of the computer system, to thereby define the mask.

In a computer system having a memory and a visual display, a digital method of creating an inverted color mask for an image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color;
• identifying the color of each pixel of the image to form a set of identified colors wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue;
• interactively selecting a color at an arbitrary location of the image in the visual display;
• and
• deleting the selected color from the colors in the set of identified colors, thereby defining an inverted mask.

A Digital system for editing a digital image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color, comprising:

• a computer having a memory and a visual display;
• means for providing the image to the computer;
• means for identifying a color of each pixel of the image on the visual display wherein each color comprises a single discrete hue;
• means for storing data representing each identified color in a first list on the memory of the computer;
• interactive means for identifying a selected color at an arbitrary location of the image on the visual display;
• means for deleting the data representing the selected color from the first list;
• and
• means for manipulating pixels of the image having colors corresponding to the colors identified in the first list, independent of inputs representative of any other image, so as to change a visual feature of the image.

In a computer system having a visual display, a digital method of recoloring an object having a plurality of pixels, comprising the steps of:

• providing a digital background image having a plurality of pixels;
• interactively selecting an area from the background image on the visual display;
• determining a hue of a selected pixel in the selected area;
• repeating the determining step until the hue of all pixels in the selected area has been determined;
• determining an average hue of all the pixels in the selected area;
• selecting an object on the visual display to be recolored;
• and
• changing the hue off the selected object to the determined average hue.

In a computer system having a visual display, a digital method of recoloring an object having a plurality of pixels, comprising the steps of:

• providing a background image having a plurality of pixels;
• interactively selecting an area from the background image on the visual display;
• identifying the selected area as a first object;
• determining a hue of a selected pixel of the first object;
• repeating the determining step until the hue of all pixels of the first object has been determined;
• determining an average hue of all the pixels of the first object;
• identifying a second object on the visual display to be recolored;
• and
• changing the hue of the second object to the average hue of the first object.