Fix a Character Cutout: Missing Parts and Extra Background

Start with one person or anime character

Open Character in the Maker and load a PNG, JPG or WebP image. Wait for the selection model to finish loading. Tap inside the character, or draw a short stroke over their body. A stroke tells the tool which subject you mean; it is not a precise outline brush.

For a group photo or a busy illustration, use Focus on one and draw a box around the whole character before selecting them. Include their hair, hands and any accessory you want to keep. Leave nearby people outside the box where possible. A box that cuts through a hand can also limit the resulting selection.

Use a clear source with enough separation between the subject and background. The tool can still need repair on pale hair, overlapping bodies, intricate accessories or a drawing whose background has similar colors. Check the result rather than assuming every selected edge is correct.

Match the repair tool to the problem

On mobile, use Select & refine for the initial selection and Repair for brush corrections. The desktop workspace exposes the corresponding selection and brush controls beside the image.

A hand, hair tip or accessory is missing

Try Add missing part on the missing region. For a small edge, switch to Keep and paint over the pixels that should remain. Reduce the brush width for fingers and thin strands. Keep restores pixels from the original photo; it does not invent material that was absent from the source.

Another person or some background is selected

Use Subtract selection on an unwanted selected region. If it touches the character you want, use a smaller Erase brush for precise corrections. Work in short strokes and use Undo if a stroke removes too much.

There is a hole or a detached leftover

Fill gap helps with an enclosed transparent hole. Remove island removes a detached piece. A background patch connected to the character is not an island: use Erase instead. Recheck intentional gaps between an arm and the body before filling them.

Inspect the cutout before adding it

1. Switch between the mask and cutout previews to distinguish selected pixels from the original background.
2. Zoom in on hair, shoulders, hands and any overlap with a second person. Use Move image to reposition the view while inspecting.
3. Check at normal size as well. A very soft edge may hide small errors when enlarged but look blurry in the final layout.
4. Open Finish on mobile, review the edge treatment, and choose the action that adds the character to the layout.
5. Move and resize the new layer on the Maker canvas. Wait for Saved in this browser, or download a JSON backup to preserve the editable project.

Adding the character creates a transparent image layer. It does not replace the other decorations. You can then export a transparent PNG of the complete layout for a video overlay.

If the tool stalls or the result is still wrong

If model loading fails, use Retry loading. The first load needs a network connection to fetch the selection tools. Image selection and mask repair then run in your browser; this local cutout workflow does not upload the source photo for recognition.

If detailed selection is taking too long, Cancel keeps the earlier cutout. Try the quick result and use Keep or Erase for the remaining edges. You can also start from a smaller, clearer source; uploaded source files must be under 12 MB.

When overlapping people cannot be separated cleanly, isolate one subject with Focus on one and repair the shared boundary manually. The tool cannot recover hidden body parts behind another person. For a difficult anime illustration, a deliberate brush repair is often more reliable than repeatedly selecting the same ambiguous area.