New Topaz Remask

[Dave Phillips]

wow, this was my first try with new Topaz ReMask just released.
Just extracted the green heron in about 30 seconds work.
It is a 30 day trial and has a $LOW price through October. Watch
the video as and it is so easy to use....but for photoshop users only,
as it integrates without a user interface and "can" be run from
it's own action....the video tutorials show it all. Be sure to get the free
product key as it will ask for it on first run.
http://www.topazlabs.com/remask/

[Dave Phillips]

and here's another quick one that I just threw a gradient behind...this is sweet and easy!!
http://i36.tinypic.com/2zqhkk2.jpg

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Dave: I downloaded Remask today as well. Topaz must have had a mass emailing. I've been trying it out as well, and so far it seems promising. Your results are good too, and I do see that it performs the function quickly. However, I need to see if it can work with something quite a bit more complicated. If it can Topaz will get more of my money(happily). regards~Bill

[Ian McHenry]

Unfortunately I confirmed with the Topaz people that not available for Photoshop Elements.
Ian Mc

[denise ippolito]

Dave, They sent me an e-mail. I willl give it a try-thanks! The selection and overlay look great!!

[Harshad Barve]

Lovely creation dave in both images ,
TFS

[Dave Mills]

I got the info today about the remask filter. Sure does look easy enough. Good examples of it's use posted by Dave....

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Dave, how large were these images originally? I've tried Remask and unless the image is quite small I get memory errors, even if I create the new layer, tri-mask, etc, save, shut down PS, restart, open, then apply remask. With their other products(with large images) I basically do something similar when encountering memory errors, but no work around with remask. Memory problems with remask have already been mentioned an number of times on the web, and until that is resolved I have a real problem with it. Even with the rather small images that I get it to work with, I am not overly impressed either. I care much less about how long it takes, but how accurate the mask is. Combining traditional techniques, including the magic wand, polygonal lasso, color range, etc. can definitely be time consuming, but practice brings down time necessary considerably. I might add that there have been memory problems with most other Topaz products at initial release that were resolved with later updates. However, the accuracy of the resulting mask in complicated images is still up in the air. regards~Bill

[Dave Phillips]

Bill, mostly the memory error comes when one has photoshop memory
usage(RAM, not cache) is set too high. Generally 60% is about max, but it depends. If you
have dedicated a higher %, try lower....it will actually speed up PS in some cases.

I have only tried on 200ppi 2400 px wide image for large scale, but mostly smaller.
For details, the refine remask works well.....but I have to experiment more with
gray brush width

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Dave, I already tried lowering Photoshop memory usage(first thing I tried) and the result was the same. regards~Bill

[Cindy Cone]

Great image, Dave, and thanks for sharing your work with Topaz Remask. I received the e-mail, too, but haven't given it a try yet.

Bill, thanks for your input as well.

[Dave Phillips]

thanks for comments...it is quite good for a "simple" tool.
Learning to work the tri-color mask for small tweaksis the key to success it seems