How to Remove a Photo Background in Silhouette Studio

A common question from Silhouette crafters is how do I remove a photo background in Silhouette Studio?

While there is no magic button in the Silhouette software to do this, it is pretty easy to do and you can do it in the free version of the software. This step by step Silhouette tutorial will explain exactly how to remove a photo background.
Whether you are using Silhouette Studio as a photo editor, want to turn part of a picture into a cut file or need to remove a photo background for some other reason like creating mockups - the process is the same. If you have an iPhone you can also remove the background of the photo there before bringing it into Studio.

The trick is to drop edit points around the area of the image you want to keep then crop out everything else.

To start, open the image in Silhouette Studio.

From the left toolbar select the Draw a Curve Shape tool. This will allow you to create edit points wherever you want.

Start by dropping one point around the area of the image you want to keep - in this case we are going to keep the dog.

Now slowly move around the area dropping edit points directly on the edge. Once you get all the way around the two red end points will snap together.  You have basically created a cut line that we are going to use to crop out the background.

Open the Modify panel from the right sidebar.

Select both the image and the cut line you created then click Crop.

The background is removed.

If you need to adjust any areas to remove more background or reveal more of the image you have left you can click the edge and pull in or out. 
 
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