I just upgraded from CS4 to CS6 and have been looking forward to using the incredible masking tools. I found a video by Russell Brown on Adobe TV that was very good....but it was for CS5 and I just wasted an hour of my life trying to figure out where the "Refine Mask" window was in CS6. I finally called support and AFTER the support person watched the video while I was on hold, she was able to tell me that in CS6, you double click on the mask to open the properties tab and have access to the sliders. They are different than in CS5, though.
I did a rough selection on the photo. When I'm trying to refine the edge, I increase the radius in edge detection, but nothing happened at all.When the Radius is set at 0.0px
When the Radius is set at 250.0px, there was no changes.
I have tried it all and cannot say that I can use Refine Edge/Mask successfully. I have seen tutorials in youtube, in [URL]...... etc and they make it look so simple! I keep getting horrible grayish tones in the edge of hair. I am attaching a the mask used, the base image and the resulting image and the settings I used in the Refine Edge dialog box.
Whenever I try to use the Refine Edge tool for a mask, it will not add what I have selected to the mask, rather it will take it away. This always happens when I use the tool, no matter what view I am in.
Still getting mixed results using "Refine Mask" feature. I have seen the tutorials on this -Russel B, and Juleane Kost. Sometimes the results are outstanding, other times I have to resort to contrast masking, etc. I currently have a series of portraits shot against blue (basically a blue screen). Some of the subjects have good hair contrast (very dark brown or grey). There are many parameters to set in the refine mask dialog. I need a clean, sharp silo of hair edges.
I have tried many combinations, and typically use "smart radius". But I am particularly disappointed with the results of one subject who has grey hair -good contrast against the blue. They mask tool keeps including too much of the BG blue. I have also tried decontaminating colors, but prefer to do that later with a layer set to "color". Some of the tutorials sneer at the use of Contrast Masks (which I typically get good results from). But the the Refine Mask options often produce flawed results -which is surprising with these blue screen portraits.
After using Refine Edge in CS5.5 and removing the background from an image, I set it to output as a new layer mask. Next I place the image on top of a background and see that it needs some additional adjustments. How do I now get back to the Refine Edge window where I can see the changes I made previously and modify some of the settings? When I reopen the Refine Edge window the settings from before are no longer there.
My subject line pretty much sums up what I want to ask.
The thing is I've learned how to do both of them, but every textbook exercise I've done regarding one I found out that I can pull off with the other too.
Are they simply two different mechanisms for doing the same thing?
In PS CS4, I've been working with the "Refine Edge" feature. Or, at least trying to. I open up the feature and I adjust the settings to make the photo look like I want it to. Then I press "OK" and everything disappears. Then, while everything is still selected, I clicked on the pointer arrow to move the selected image to another canvas and the feathering effects don't carry over! Nothing sticks! ? I have a book about Photoshop CS4, but it doesn't tell what to do when something doesn't work right.
I am running CS5 and for some reason, the Refine Edge Brush doesn't appear as normal, It has been working fine in the past. Instead it's a circle with a line through it and I can't refine any edges, regardless of what view I select. I have restarted my PC, as well as Photoshop but I can't refine edge. I sent the jpg to another PC with CS6 and it worked just fine.
When using Refine Edge with a Wacom tablet is there any way to change the brush size (when using the Refine Radius and Erase Refinements tools) other than with pen pressure?
I realise that most tablet users like changing brush size this way but personally I am more comfortable using the keyboard shortcuts.
I display an image and i take quick selection tool and make a circle or some formation and if I paint on either side of the selection I get a very distinct line of where I have paint and it is separated perfectly where the selection is. In other words where I painted it is pure and only the color I painted. and this the way it should be and the brush is 100% opacity. OK this is the easy part..if I take the same selection and do a refine edge on it and make a adjustment in refine edge...ie...move the radius slider or any other control that moves the selection and we will say the selection get larger or smaller does not make any difference and I say OK and then I get back my image and I go to paint it there is always some discoloration within the painted surface it is not even the color is discolored or contaminated...even when I give the command remove contaminated colors it is still there and even on a layer you can see the little square in varying shades of grey...it makes no difference if say get rid of the contaminated colors....I still get that discoloration..
I took this pic and try cs5 refine edge with it, then drag the cut image of the cat with no background, on to a new canvas. and save as a png (no background) . but then I've upload it to photobucket, and put it as an avatar on a cat forum. once there the background came back.
I am using photoshop CS3 to edit some pictures for a catalogue. Usually i cut around the picture, select magic wand, select inverse, and refine edges to soften the pictures jagged edges.
Now all of a sudden refine edges doesnt behave this way! It doesn't do anything! it shows a preview, but once i click ok, nothing happens. I know this has nothing to do with layers as have checked and there is only one, otherwise i wouldnt see a preview either.
One curious thing it does do is, once ok'd, refine edges actually changes my selection field radius to what it would be had i actually refined the edges. But no change to the graphic itself.
I'm using CS3 and I'm applying a feathered edge to a photo using the refine edges command. The only thing I can't for the life of me figure out, is how to get the now white border to be transparent, so that when it's placed into my InDesign document (overlayed onto another photo) the underlaying photo isn't blocked by the white box.
I've been trying to select some fine hairs with the Refine Edge tool, but it always ends up looking terrible. This image is my from my most recent struggle. I shot on a gray muslin backdrop and either a ton of gray bleeds through or almost no hair is selected. I've tried viewing tutorials online, used the exact same settings shown in those tutorials, and my images still look messed up. It doesn't matter what settings I use either, nothing looks natural.
I can't give an image to a client looking like this, but I can't really reshoot it either if the results are just going to be the same.
What's a good way to refine a selection when it's a similar color to the background? I have a photo of a dark skinned, black haired person in a white hoodie against an off-white background. I got a pretty good overall selection with the Quick Selection Tool; then I went to Refine Edge.That worked good on his hair, but it made the edge of the white hoodie blotchy, as if it had worn part of it away.
I'm practicing with Refine Edge and moving subjects from one image to another. What do you look for in an image that you use Refine Edge with to determine if it looks good/believable after an object or person is extracted from a background. Besides making sure that the edge is not jagged, hairs are not clumpy, details around an edge are not too soft, are there other things that will make someone looking at an image know that it was extracted from another location?
I'm trying to get the refine edge tool to work. I selected my image using the quick select tool, then I click refine edge. When I move my cursor around the edge pressing the mouse button to make my adjustments the image is being erased instead of picking up the hairs. I do not have my refine edge brush set to "-", it is set to "+". I dont have anything else in the refine edge menus selected, it is at default. I even tried to enable Smart Edge and other features in the refine edge menu, but it still doesnt pick up my hairs instead it removes my "line"...
I hear a lot of people talking blithely about how superior Refine Edge is to the previous Extract Filter.
If you look at the two sample files called "Auto Align 1" and "Auto Align 2" in the tutorials folder a couple of versions back you'll find 2 children with sharp outlines against the background and frothy hair around the girl. How refine edge can - in 1 fell swoop - eliminate the clearly defined background around the shoulders AND leave the frothiness of the girls' hair? Until then I stand resolute that REFINE EDGE is NOT a substitute for the EXTRACT FILTER at all!
I recently purchased a new iMac and eventually found this error: refine mask could not complete the refine mask because of a program error.
I was in 32 bit mode and use CS5. I switched out of 32 bit mode but receive the same error. A program error would indicated an issue with Adobe (to me) but can't find any solutions. Refine mask is a prominent feature that I can't live without unlike some of the other quarky progamming issue.
I'm not sure what's going on over at the Adobe Photoshop forum, but I've tried three different browsers and I can't get the Create/reply buttons after I log in. So, since life's too short to put up with whatever they're doing, I'll try here...I do a quick selection, then hit the "Refine Edge" button and make a change to the selection, but my change doesn't "take"...
Take an image, one layer (background), absolutely normal, boring image (for example, a white swan sitting in the blue water). Go in with Quick Select and select PART OF the swan. Leave some areas not selected, and select some water (areas that are selected and shouldn't be). I need to refine my selection. I subtract and add bits of selection with the Quick Select tool, but EVENTUALLY I'm going to have to do a more accurate refinement than the quick selection tool can do.
Hit "Refine Edge" from the tool bar and select "Overlay" for the view mode. I can see what's selected, and know what I'd like to change. I have a red overlay so I have a visual guide to changing things.Go to the "Refine Radius Tool" and paint over an area I want ADDED to my selection (a piece of swan immediately adjacent to my original selection).It runs red, like I'd expect. I release the mouse and a second later, the red goes away, and the selection has NOT been changed. I've tried this several different ways, and I'm unable to refine my selection from the Refine Edge tool...
I looked at Martin Evening's CS5 book, and as near as I can tell, I did exactly what he described..He got a selection, added to the selection, and it worked fine..I figure I've got something configured wrong, or something else goofed up. If I need a complex selection, and do the initial select with the Quick Select tool, HOW do I refine the edges and content of that selection? How SHOULD the "Refine Radius Tool" in "Refine Edge" work?
I'm running MAC OS X (10.6.8), PS CS5 extended (12.0.4 x64) and LR3 (3.6). I've opened a DNG file in LR and then opted to edit it as smart object in PS. I've then used the quick selection tool to select an area in the photo. When I then attempt to 'Refine Edge', I get a circle with a diagonal line indicating that the action is locked out.
I can make changes using an adjustment layer (but not to selection).
I'm having the darndest time trying to figure out why i keep getting an error message that the selection is empty when i try to create a new layer-via copy after using the rectangle marque selection tool then refining the edge/feathering my photo.
I make my selection, press "Refine Edge", make the changes I require and the preview shows everything is fine.
I click "OK", the Refine Edge box disappears and my changes do as well! The only difference is that my original selection area has decreased (I'm no pro, but it looks as though the edges have been feathered.)
I have no other layers except for the duplicated background.
I have tried older Photoshop files and this tool does not work for them either - even though I have used Refine Edge at work successfully before, but this was on another computer.
i keep getting an error message that the selection is empty when i try to create a new layer-via copy after using the rectangle marque selection tool then refining the edge/feathering my photo...
