Photoshop Refine Edge Tool questions

I made a Quick Selection of a person and am using the Refine Edge tool with the goal of extracting the person from the image so I can place her somewhere else.
I set the Smart Radius box, and Radius to about 2, smoothness to about 9, and then I take the Refine Radius tool. I start brushing around the edges of the hair to add missing strands to the selection.
1.) When brushing around the head, should the + that is in the middle of the brush be brushing on the very edge of the hair? Should it be touching both the edge of the hair and the background? How does it work best?
2.) Do you only want to use the Refine Radius tool over areas of hair? What else does it work well with?
Thanks.

Quick Select and Refine Edge are one the biggest game changers in recent Photoshop history IMHO. They make it so quick and easy to make complex selections, anyone can start making amazing composites, but Refine Edge just isn't as intuitive a tool to use as some of the tutorials make it out to be. Not even close, and I am not surprised that people have problems with it. Next time you Google up a tutorial ob Refine Edge, take into account the clean white background they are starting with, and then go find a tutorial that uses a busy background.
Hair is fine. You can't do fine with lots of smoothing and feathering. Smoothing is going to tame jagged edges, and feathering is going to make the edges soft. Hair won't survive that. If you have a busy background, then there's a good chance you are not going to get a good selection. That's why the Martin Evening tutorial I recommended is so good, because it is a lot truer to real life than most, and it lets you fine tune the selection to wherever you are going to composite it onto.

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Photoshop refine edge radius tool will not turn on

I've used the poligimal, magnetic, and good old lasso tools as well as both the magic wand and the quick selection tool and for some reason when I select the Refine Edge tool everything is selectable and workable EXCEPT the eraser and refine radius tool. (photo proof)
I'm assuming I changed a setting somewhere because it was working fine before, but I have no idea what to check.
1) I restarted the compuer
2) I selected reset tools then
3) reset all tools
4) I've tried every combination of tools to see if I was limited to one means of lassoing the pic
5) I've opened various types of pics
All in all, I get that darned little icon which will not let me refine the edge any further.
Any suggestions?

I've tried it with every combination I can think of. On, off; maximum settings on various sliders to nothing. I just tried it again and I still get the same round pointer with the circle and slash through it, meaning I can't use the tool.

Refine edge tool (CS5) producing bad quality selections?

I am having troubles where whenever I use the refine edge tool, the selection it produces is horrible quality. What's weird is on my old computer, running the same software and using the same images, I could get much better results. I was runnign Vista on a laptop and now I'm running Windows 7 on a desktop, so It's confusing that I am getting bad quality selections with a much better computer adn the saem images in the same program Suite.
anyone know what's up?

Looking at the screenshot I assume you mean the artifiacts/blockiness? Have you checked disabling OpenGL to see if that's the culprit? From the help file:
1. Turn off OpenGL.
Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences (Mac OS).
In the Performance panel, deselect Enable OpenGL Drawing. Click OK.
Restart Photoshop, and perform the same function.

Refine Edge tool problem

I'm following a tutorial from the CS6 Photoshop essential skills CD using the supplied images. When I am using the refine edge tool and going over the areas around the hair of my subject, my selections appear as they do in the tutorial but as soon as I let go of my mouse the selection disappears and no hair strands appear. If I zoom right in, I can sometimes see some of the strands but its as if the opacity on the selection has been decreased and the image is faded. Then, if I zoom in and out my selections appear then disappear. It definitely seems as if its a bug or something not right.

Are you viewing at 100%? If not the change may not show. Otherwise reset the Refine Edge dialog to default and try again.
If this doesn't fix it try resetting your preferences as described in the FAQ.
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.ef4a07f/1
You either have to physically delete (or rename) the preference files or, if using the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift method, be sure that you get a confirmation dialog.
This resets all settings in Photoshop to factory defaults.
A complete uninstall/re-install will not affect the preferences and a corrupt file there may be causing the problem.

Refine edge tool issues

Hello, my refine edge tool isn't working for me properly. When I select the radius brush, smart checked or unchecked, it turns my selection gray instead of pulling detail and removing background. It does this no matter the size of the radius brush and I really need to get these images done asap. I'm new to photoshop and major in LR. Any quick advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm struggling to think of a set of circumstances that would cause that. Maybe if you had an underlying layer filled with grey, and a very high feather value in Refine Edge...
It would be helpful if you were to upload a screen grab of your image an workspace showing the Layers panel. Best to open your History panel as well.
But probably a good idea to try resetting Preferences before getting too involved with other stuff
Reset Preferences
Windows — Hold down Shift Ctrl Alt immediately after starting Photoshop
Mac — Hold down Shift Cmd Opt immediately after starting Photoshop

Refine Edge CS5 question

Hi,
I'm wondering if there is any way that I can get a work path and/or clipping path after using the refine edge tool.
I've tried to find a way to save the changes / result after using it so that I can save the image with a transparent background, but no luck.
//S

As long as you don't use the decontaminate colors option in the
refine edge dialog, you could output to a selection and make a work path
from the selection or output to a layer mask or new layer with layer mask
and load the layer mask selection and make a workpath from that.
You can save images with transparency in several formats including psd,
tif, pdf and png.
When using the decontaminate colors option, photoshop thinks you want to blend the
selection with a background so the resulting output is not good for just transparent images
without a background.
MTSTUNER

Getting poor results with Refine Edge tool

Not sure if anyone else has run into this issue. But after following numerous tutorials on lynda.com as well as tv.adobe.com and youtube, I just can't get good selection results using the Refine Edge tool in Photoshop CC and I'm convinced it's something I'm doing wrong, but I have no idea what.
After downloading this Wikipedia image of Bismarck for a history documentary, I tried isolating the figure from the background using Refine Edge and keep getting poor results. Maybe it's my settings, I'm just not sure. But after painting over my edges, I end up with terrible results. Unfortunately, I'm getting poor results with other images as well. Can anyone venture to guess what I might be doing wrong? Thanks very much in advance.

Hi ninose11,
For this type of project and idea, I would recommend trying some of the magnetic lasso tool. The tool is located as the third tool in the toolbar (you should see a lasso or rope looking icon), hold down the icon and it should expand - then select the magnetic lasso tool. The magnetic lasso tool will allow you to scroll over the edge of his profile and it will automatically detect the outline edges. The slower you roll-over the shape the higher the accuracy will be. If the magnet is not detecting a particular edge or sharp corner (for example, the ear) you can manually drop points by simply right-clicking at any point during the selection. If the edge is too sharp, you can also create a light feather which will blend the edge softly (this should be located at the top).
If this is unsuccessful still, you can try selecting by color, using the Magnetic Wand Tool (forth icon in the toolbar, again hold down for all options). Once you are using the magnetic wand tool, you should be able to select all the black areas of the background to delete. You can increase or decrease the tolerance to change the sensitivity of the selection.
Hope this helps!

CS5 Refine Edge Tool

I'm experiencing a problem with the refine edge tool in CS5. For no obvious reason I am now getting an error message stating "Could not complete the Refine Edge command because of a programme error". this appears after I have adjusted the refine edge settings and clicked ok. The process was working fine until a copule of days ago. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this problem and can offer a solution. I've already downloaded the most recent updates. My OS is Windows XP.
BriRonS

Try resetting the photoshop preferences and see if that helps:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776?tstart=0
MTSTUNER

The Refine Edge tool does not work when I want to make a dramatic effect

hi I am using photoshop for ipad, but i think that i used wrong Refine EDGE Tool. Can you Help me?

Hello there!
In the tutorial for How to Add a Dramatic Blur, the tutorial outlines that you have to make a selection with the Scribble Selection tool. Can you perhaps post a screenshot of the selection you made, then what happens when you try to "refine the selection"?
janelle

The refine edge tool is NOT working!!

Hi everyone. 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"....very aggravating. I've used this tool before and I never had a problem....Please help with any info or advice! I've searched the entire internet and cannot find anything that resolves this issue...thx

Thank you Trevor and Noel For your quick responses.
@Trevor: I made sure that my brush was set to and not minus. Maybe I have another setting incorrectly set?? Here are pics of my problem.
@Noel: Thank you for the video, I havent watched it yet, but 'having it erase things that are already there' is kinda whats happening to my image, even though my brush isnt set to minus. I will look at the video and also will post pics of my issue in case anyone else is having this problem as well:
Here is my quick selection:
Here is what happens when I use the refine edge tool. It turns my "Areas of Transition" white:
Then my new layer looks like this:
Maybe I have a setting set wrong?? I will look at the video Noell and post any findings, thx again guys

My "refine edge" tool is broken. Help!!!

I need a hand. I made a selection, clicked on "refine edge", then clicked on the refine edge tool. But when I bring it over the image, it's the circle with the line through it instead of the tool. It's driving me nuts that it won't work. It's my favorite tool. any ideas?

I tried that among other things.
Finally, we did a complete uninstall of PS -- once with keeping preferences (this didn't work)
and once wilth deleting all preferences (this seem to work)
Note: I do recommend saving all of your Presets before doing this.
Go to Edit > Preset Manager.
Select Preset Type from drop down...
• Brushes
• Swatches
• Gradients
• etc.
Select all by click Cmd + A (Mac) or Ctrl+A (PC)
Then click Save Set...
Save to Desktop or a Folder where you can upload later.
But thanks for your help!

Refine Edge Tool Not Highlighted to Open - CS6

Hi Everyone,
I have been using CS6 on a mac OSX retina without any issues until today, the "Refine Edge Tool Box" isn't highlighted anymore to open? is there some simple answer to this to reactivate it to open as it should? any helpful info would be appreciated - Thanks

OK, I rebooted the mac and whatever caused the glitch seems to have disappeared

Refine edge tool is not working :(

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 seem to have the biggest problem with lighter hair, but darker colors don't look great either.
Does anyone have any idea why this is happening or how to fix it? 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.

I've tried viewing tutorials online, used the exact same settings shown in those tutorials, and my images still look messed up.
Did the images used in those tutorials feature backgrounds that were similarly structured and bright (in relation to the foreground) as yours?

How to get the best results using the refine edge tool?

how to use the sliders in the refine edge tool? how do you get the best results using the fine edge tool?

You should ask in the forum for the (un-named) program you are using
The Cloud forum is not about using individual programs
The Cloud forum is about the Cloud as a delivery & install process
If you will start at the Forums Index https://forums.adobe.com/welcome
You will be able to select a forum for the specific Adobe product(s) you use
Click the "down arrow" symbol on the right (where it says All communities) to open the drop down list and scroll

Feathering and Refine Edge Tool will not work.

I am working correctly and selecting pixels correctly, but when I try to feather or use the refine edge tool, none of the changes are saved. For $40. Adobe thinks that they can solve this problem, but after paying $2500. for the CS4 Master Suites, I think this is excessive. Is there ANYBODY out there who knows how they're going to magically obviate these issues remotely? Any clues?

I think you may still not grasp what a Selection does – but I could be wrong.
You can feather a Selection, but unless you base some operation on that Selection it has no bearing on the pixels in an image.
A Layer Mask on the other hand can be filtered or edited in the Masks Panel or …

Photoshop Refine Edge Tool questions

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