Skip to the guide
Filafy Make a free accountSign up
  1. 1Model
  2. 2Setup
  3. 3Design
  4. 4Download

Remove a background

Only the subject prints. The rest shows the image below it, or prints in the background color.

About 1 minute · 5 steps

Any model, once its face is picked.

  1. DesignOpen the Layout tab

    On Design, open the Layout tab.

    On Design, open the Layout tab.1
    On Design, open the Layout tab.1

  2. DesignOpen your image's row

    Click your image's row to open it.

    Why

    Each image has its own switch. With several images, open the one you want to cut out.

    Click your image's row to open it.2
    Click your image's row to open it.2

  3. DesignTick Remove background

    Tick Remove background.

    Why

    Filafy cuts the subject out of the photo. Each cutout counts toward your background removal limit of 100 per hour.

    The preview after Remove background
    Tick Remove background.3
    Tick Remove background.3

  4. DesignAdjust the edge

    Drag Sensitivity until the edge looks right.

    Dragging it does not count as a new cutout. Drag it very fast and Filafy asks you to wait a few seconds.

    Drag Sensitivity until the edge looks right.4
    Drag Sensitivity until the edge looks right.4

  5. DesignPick the color around it

    Open Filament & colors. Pick a Background / base color.

    Why

    That filament prints everywhere the subject does not cover.

    Open Filament & colors. Pick a Background / base color.5
    Open Filament & colors. Pick a Background / base color.5

If it goes wrong

Design it and convert

Remove background cuts an image’s subject out of its photo so only the subject prints. It works on every model. Open the image’s row in the Layout tab and switch it on, per image. A Sensitivity slider fine tunes the edge. Anything the subject does not cover shows the image below it, or prints in the background color. To fix a cutout by hand, see Fix a cutout by hand.

Fix a cutout by hand

Edit background fixes a cutout by hand. If the cutout misses part of the subject or keeps some background, press Edit background under the slider. Paint over that part with Add to subject or Remove from subject. The zoom buttons let you paint close to an edge. Press Apply to keep the edit. Your edit stays when you move Sensitivity, and the row shows Edited.

Magic wand changes the cutout by color. Switch the tool from Brush to Magic wand. Click a color in the image. The parts with a similar color join the subject or leave it, as Add to subject or Remove from subject is set. Move Tolerance up to take in more colors, or down to take fewer. With Contiguous off, the color changes everywhere in the image, not only where it touches the place you click.

Scroll to move around a zoomed image. When you point at the image with the magic wand, the parts that a click changes show bright and the rest goes dark. The wand does not keep spots or holes that are too small to print. The editor warns you when a brush stroke or a wand click is too thin to print. It also warns you when an edit makes too many separate pieces, and shows in amber the pieces that the print leaves out. Press Reset to go back to the automatic cutout.

Also on Design

Next stage: 4 Download, Download and print