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Extract tool is bad ?


The Extractor works better in Photoshop Elements than PS2, but it's been my experience that manually defining a path for the basis of selection work is unparalleled in quality. I've tried Knockout and Extensis' "extractor", and neither really impressed me for the price point.

Here's a few tricks for tricky selections:

+sky replacement: the Magic Eraser can separate treetops, but leaves fringing even after using Defringe. So you lock the layer, choose a tree edge color, and paint in Darken mode.
+Hair: Chop off loose strands and then paint them back in after your selection work using a 2 pixel hard brush tip. For other areas, erase using partial opacity, then use the tree trick to paint away fringing.

My Best,

Gare
 
Welles said:
I've never seen a plugin which the developers considered to be worth the cost of the parent program.
Click to expand...

I agree. How they have arrived at their price puzzles us here too, although there are those companies that might consider the price a good deal.

If you handle lots of extractions on a regular basis (for example producing mail-order catalogs) and it reduces the time to do them from an hour down to 5 minutes you might consider the price of the software to be a good investment. It doesn't take too many briefs at a professional level to recoup the $400 cost.

AaronS.
 
Aaron Sorkin said:
I agree. How they have arrived at their price puzzles us here too, although there are those companies that might consider the price a good deal.

If you handle lots of extractions on a regular basis (for example producing mail-order catalogs) and it reduces the time to do them from an hour down to 5 minutes you might consider the price of the software to be a good investment. It doesn't take too many briefs at a professional level to recoup the $400 cost.

AaronS.
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Absolutely right, Aaron. That scenario makes sense in a niche market for sure but is that market enough to sustain the product? BTW at ?299 the current conversion is $533 US.
 
Welles said:
Absolutely right, Aaron. That scenario makes sense in a niche market for sure but is that market enough to sustain the product? BTW at ?299 the current conversion is $533 US.
Click to expand...

That's the million dollar question I suppose.

Incidently I was taking the prices from the VertusTech website. The disparity between products prices and the exchange rate is another thread entirely. ;)

AaronS.
 
AHA! A fabulous 'introductory price' of $400! (With free upgrades for 6 months! Regular price $500 US) Such a deal.

Damn! I don't know why this has caught my interest so much except the pricing is so far out of line with any other equivalent software on the market. ;)

Thanks for adding the VersusTech link. I'd been looking at the pricing on a UK supplier's site who only had the ?299 price listed.

Cheers!
 
I'll tell you one thing, i sure like the way that software looks in those tuts. If it was truly that accurate I would consider it. [slick]



EDIT: Update - a few hours later. I just downloaded the trial version of Fluid Mask. Holy you know what! This thing is amazing. I am still VERY clumsy using the control options or, more accurately, I didn't use them at all because I didn't know how and I STILL got great results. I first messed with the Global and Regional brushes. I then reverted to my original image and used the Create Region box that allowed me to delete a specific color of pixel(s). My image was of a group of palm trees with those fine palm frans (sp?). This program cut right into the area between the thin leaves and eliminated the background - period. I've been using KnockOut 2 for years and I am now seriously considering spending the money for this program. I just wish Welles would buy it for me because you know how I hate these major financial decisions. :D
 
Lee said:
...I've been using KnockOut 2 for years and I am now seriously considering spending the money for this program...
Click to expand...

Lee,

So you reckon it knocks the socks off Knockout 2. :)

I can't say I've ever used it. We've largely stuck to the Pen Tool/Quick Mask method until recently.

AaronS.
 
Aaron,
Yeah, I really do think it's better than KO2. What is does do is separate very difficult subjects from the backgrounds easily. Any tool will knockout easy items against a plane color background. The Magic Wand Tool can do that.

So far I'm sold on this plug-in. I loved Knockout 2 until I tried Fluid Mask. Knockout works well but I don't think it can touch FM for the level of detail it can knockout in complicated subjects like trees etc. As I mentioned, I do not know how to use the controls offered by FM yet. I'm sure they will even make it easier.

As with any tool there is a learning curve so I am really anxious to get proficient enough to judge it completely. Right now I'm just hunting and pecking with the demo. :)
 
FWIW the price of the Fluid Mask plugin has since been reduced to a less eye-watering $249 and the free upgrade period increased to a full year from the 6 months it was before.

Still a bloody good tool though.

AaronS.? 8}
 
Thanks, Aaron, for the update. I'm not surprised the price dropped. The original price point was prohibitive for any but professional studios (as you mentioned). In a year it will be down to a price worthy of purchase!? ;)
 
Fluid Mask windows version trail is available for download at vertustech.com and it is aweeeeeeeeeeeesome and kills knockout and extract tool from p.s. ;)
 
I downloaded the demo and have read the help.I can not for the life of me delete a simple of background..maybe I can't read and PS at the same time...anybody have any hints?
Evil, throw me a bone a reason to keep trying.
Lasa
 
Evil seems to be the only one on three forums I participate in that likes this plug-in, lasa.
 
lasa said:
Lee your not helping me here...lol.. I want to like this program..but don't!
Click to expand...
I'm in the same situation; I would like the program, but I don't.

Take for example this image: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=188292 (you can download a larger version if you're registered).

I tried everything, but I can't get rid of the rough edges (see attachment) in a simple way and I really tried everything in the manual or what's shown in the video tutorials. However, in Photoshop it's just a matter of a few seconds using the magnetic lasso tool or even better; vectors.

There seems to be a problem with Fluid Mask when you use images that have a bright background. I downloaded the parrot from their site that was used in one of their tutorials and that one can be extracted without major problems; http://www.vertustech.com/images/Parrot.png

I'm a little bit lost with this plug-in and I played for 2 or 3 hours with it.

Reg.
 
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