Deep etch / intelligent mask

[EricB Profile]

I have checked out the software and if deep etching /masking for say;- hair or clothing, is there it doesn't jump out as obvious. A tool capable of deep etching a transparent or lacy item would be great. I've tried lasso and selection brush in selection tools and both are way too clumsy for portrait work and do not seem cabable of producing a deep etch. Similarly a search by keyword here on the forum with "deep" "etch" or "mask" -no results.

Am I missing something in the software?

[admin]

The brushes and the lasso are the two ways of selecting areas in the picture. It's possible you are not using them to the best of their ability, but it's also possible the image you are trying on is too difficult, as selection especially of fine details on complex backgrounds is challenging for most software. I've certainly managed to get better results from the smart brush than is easy with Photoshop, especially with selecting skies behind complex trees, and hair against non camouflaging background which it is particularly good at. Perhaps you could post an example of a picture you would like to select and I can see if it should be easy to select.

That covers selecting an area, but then you have to do something with the selection! I've not heard the phrase deep etch before and Google isn't very informative. Currently we don't have any effects in the library called that, but adding effects is quick. Eventually we hope to have lots of people submitting effects for all kind of things (like deep etch), but currently we don't cover everything.

The software does allow you to create your own effects, but in order to do more complicated things once you have a selection, you need to understand the expert mode, which is a lot more tricky. Could you paste a link to an example of the final result you are looking for, if it looks simple, I could add it to the library.

Tony

[EricB Profile]

The image I am working on is a model in studio on a white background , The white is not blown out and the model has brown hair and strands / spikes/ hair feathers are obvious. She is also wearing a dress that is peach in colour and has a peach netting wide hem with background visible. I wish to replace this background. there is some white spill off the background onto the model. Background may become a solid vibrant colour with black pattern.

I entered "deep etching" into google as I was amazed you weren't familiar, I got pages of relevant hits.

I found the "replace background with beach" filter but that isn't "as set" capable of making the fine selection required without at least as much work as I'd have to put in on photoshop or Mask pro 4.1. T.B.H. as I need this work done it isn't worth my further endeavours without some g'tee of result.

[admin]

I think deep etching is perhaps an Australian phrase (or at least that's what answers.com seems to think). I wasn't sure if you meant simply cutting something out from the background or doing something like getting something that looks like the physical process of deep etching (http://www.answers.com/topic/deep-etch), sounds like the former.

To get the best and quickest results from the brush, the key is to use a smallish brush where the distance between the inner and outer circles is just above the size of fuzziness around your subject. You can then use the fill buttons to fill in the surround. The other key point is to go back in and re-edit your selection once you've chosen your effect, as looking at the result is the best way of assessing it.

I've attached an example of the kind of result I can get in a minute or so of work, certainly not perfect, but a lot better than I can get with quick mask, for example. Of course improving the brush is one thing we are never going to stop trying to do!

Original picture

original.jpg (719.88 KiB) Viewed 5639 times

masked.jpg (502.69 KiB) Viewed 5639 times

[EricB Profile]

Yes this is the direction of thing I'm after, however the control /precision isn't there as yet. I certainly couldn't use the example you have given as a final output. I don't feel to have sufficient control over what the tool is doing initially and secondary editing of "selection" is scarily poor. I think probably I'd get bettter results from pen tool in photoshop (make path and convert to selection). Maybe I am after something that this software was never intended for in the first place.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Photoshop-Tutorials

[Christopher Hartsough Profile]

I think that "deep etch" refers to a printing plate. If you have something you want to get rid of, you etch the zinc plate (with acid) and remove any area that could get inked in the printing process. Few, if anyone, prints from zinc plates today.