A ramp, not a slab
Posters and slides are rarely one flat colour behind the words: they fade from one hue to another, or brighten towards the middle. A single median colour leaves a visible slab on a fade. This route fits the fade itself from the pixels around each piece of lettering and paints that ramp into the hole, so the cleared area continues the gradient it sits in.
The fit is measured, not assumed: after each run the Fill section says which ramp was used for each piece and how many colour levels it sits from the real ground around it. One or two levels means the ground really was a ramp.
Reuse the layout
When the point is to put new words on old artwork, the cleared poster is a template. Save it as PNG, and save the layout file beside it: a short JSON listing every rectangle that was cleared, in pixels from the top-left corner, so the new text can go back in the same places.
Where this mode goes wrong
- Photographs inside the poster.A ramp cannot rebuild a face or a street; the residual says so, and Patch is the better fill there.
- Patterned backgrounds.Stripes, halftone dots and textures are not ramps; use Patch, which copies real ground from beside the words.
- Words over a hard colour edge.Where two panels meet under the lettering, a smooth surface blurs the edge; split the box at the edge and clear each side.
What stays on this device
The poster is decoded and cleared in this tab; the picture and the layout file are written by your browser and never uploaded.
Questions about posters
How is a gradient rebuilt behind text?
From the ring of ground just outside each piece of lettering. Each colour channel is fitted by least squares, first as a straight ramp, then as a curved surface that takes a radial gradient or a vignette; the curved one is used only when it fits the ring clearly better. The fitted ramp is painted into the hole, and the page prints how far the fit sits from the real ground, in colour levels.
Can I save the cleared layout as a template?
Yes. Save the picture as PNG for the cleared artwork, then press Save the layout (JSON): it lists every removed rectangle in the picture's own pixels, the fill that cleared it and, for gradient fills, the ramp shape and its residual. Both files are written in this tab.
What about text over a photo inside the poster?
A ramp cannot rebuild a photograph. Where the residual comes out high — above about 8 levels — the page says so; revert that region with U and use Patch, which copies real ground from beside the words, or the structure-aware fill.
Does the flat colour fill still work here?
Yes. A flat panel behind the words is exact with Flat colour, which paints the median colour of the ring. Gradient fit is the default on this route because posters and slides so often fade.
Where the job goes next
- Edit text in an image Remove the old words, then retype in their colour, size and angle, in the closest local font by shape.
- Remove text from a PNG Transparency rebuilt on its own and colour on premultiplied values, saved back as PNG.
- ImageTextRemover Draw a box over the lettering, keep the boxes you meant, and get the picture back with the ground painted across them.
