How to extract a picture from Manipulate, without frame, sliders and axes?

Question

I would like to extract some pictures from a Manipulate that uses a slider, but when I do it from the pop-up menu, I get all the frame and slider with it. How can we export the picture (to PNG, say), for a given slider value (say $k = 0.5$, for the example below), without the Manipulate frame, slider, and even without the axes and ticks?

And probably trickier: how can we extract the graphics with an higher resolution than what the Manipulate shows? (say 1024 x 1024 pixels in PNG format, instead of the lower resolution of 600 below).

Here's a semi-cool MWE to play with:

Manipulate[
 ContourPlot[
  Cos[x + y] Sin[k x - 3 y],
  {x, -2, 2},
  {y, -2, 2},
  PlotPoints -> 20,
  PlotRange -> {{-2, 2}, {-2, 2}},
  Axes -> True,
  AxesOrigin -> {0, 0},
  AxesStyle -> Directive[GrayLevel[0.5]],
  AxesLabel -> {
    Style["X",  Bold, 14],
    Style["Y",  Bold, 14]
    },
  ColorFunction -> "Rainbow",
  ContourStyle -> Black,
  Contours -> Automatic,
  ImageSize -> 600
  ],
 {
  k, -5, 5, 0.1,
  ImageSize -> Large,
  Appearance -> {"Labeled", "Closed"},
  AppearanceElements -> {"InputField", "Slider"}
  },
 ControlPlacement -> Bottom,
 FrameMargins -> None,
 FrameLabel ->  {None, None, 
   Style["Some Funny Title", Bold, 14, FontFamily -> "Helvetica"]}
 ]

Answer 1

Manipulate[
  plt = ContourPlot[
    Cos[x + y] Sin[k x - 3 y], 
    {x, -2, 2}, {y, -2, 2}, 
    PlotPoints -> 20, 
    PlotRange -> {{-2, 2}, {-2, 2}}, 
    Axes -> True, 
    AxesOrigin -> {0, 0}, 
    AxesStyle -> Directive[GrayLevel[0.5]], 
    AxesLabel -> {Style["X", Bold, 14], Style["Y", Bold, 14]}, 
    ColorFunction -> "Rainbow", 
    ContourStyle -> Black, 
    Contours -> Automatic, ImageSize -> 600
  ], 
  {k, -5, 5, 0.1, ImageSize -> Large, Appearance -> {"Labeled", "Closed"}, AppearanceElements -> {"InputField", "Slider"}}, 
  ControlPlacement -> Bottom, 
  FrameMargins -> None, 
  FrameLabel -> {None, None, Style["Some Funny Title", Bold, 14, FontFamily -> "Helvetica"]}
]

Export["~/Desktop/test.png", plt, ImageSize -> {1024, 1024}]

            (* or *)

Export["~/Desktop/test.png", plt, ImageResolution -> 300]

            (* EDIT *)

Export["~/Desktop/test.png", plt[[1]]//Graphics, ImageSize -> {1024, 1024}]

This saves the frame generated by the slider setting to a variable called plt. Every time the slider changes, plt is updated. Then, I typically use the Export command so that I can more easily control the various parameters. A bit of an aside: one export parameter that I quite like is Background -> None. Not really relevant here, but it allows you to export PNG images with no background. Looks really slick when adding to a poster or presentation if the graphics have sufficient contrast with the background.

To get just the graphics form the ContourPlot I used @andre314's method of taking the first element of plt and turning it into a graphic, namely plt[[1]]//Graphics.

The result of the above code with ImageSize -> {1024, 1024} is:

The result of the final export statement from above is:

Answer 2

EDIT

I have found something simplier than my first answer:

Apply Setting to the Manipulate to obtain a normal graphic.

Then to remove all the options of this graphic, one way is to take the first part and reapply Graphic

END EDIT

OLD ANSWER

You can use the Snapshot function in the Manipulate.

Then remplace DynamicModule by With (this may not be necessary),
then the evaluation of this gives a normal Graphics. To remove all the options of this graphic, one way is to take the first part and reapply Graphic