Refine edge/Masking

Please help, I have read many threads and tutorials regarding this and am still having issues. In outline, I have takena number of photos to use on a website/flyer, I used the magic wand and refine edge tool to extract the image but when I go to drag it from photoshop into indesign the cut out is good but it has a white background? I have tried saving it as a gif and png then drag it from mini bridge into indesign but still has white background......any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks
Richard

Dragging from photoshop probably won't work so well for transparency, but
you should be able to drag from mini bridge and maintain the transparency
and use you can also use File>Place in Indesign. To maintain image quality
you can use png or psd, but not gif.
Before you saved your png did you turn off the visibilty of the background layer?
Maybe if you posted a screenshot of your photoshop layers panel someone
could spot the problem.
MTSTUNER

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Anyone have a refine edge/mask 'program error' failure?

Refine mask or edge constantly fails and reports a 'program error' dialog box after the OK button is pressed.
The file is small and my computer has the horsepower to handle it - Win7 64bit, I720, 12GB ram, and 100GB scratch disk space. Saphire ATI 4850 video 1GB ram. Tried disabling GUI acceleration no luck.
This has started after I did a reinstall of CS5 last week.
Searched Google and narry a mention of it.
And this was my most desired new feature in CS5. Everything else seems to be running fine with the exception of certain modified f keys (such a shift - f?) not working properly but this has been reported by others.
Larry

Chris,
My memory is a little fuzzy right now as to exactly what was causing the
problem. Anyway I don't encounter it much anymore.
If I remember correctly I had the mask attached to curves adjustment
layer and ran refine edges from there. Example I wanted to darken the
sky so I made a selection of the sky. The horizon had lots of trees
which needed the refine edge command to clean up. I ended up applying
the mask to the pixel based image and clipped the curves layer to it.
Same result as far as the adjustment goes but the refine edge command
worked with the mask attached to the pixel based image. So, if I
remember correctly, it was a non-pixel layer with the mask attached that
caused the problem. Maybe I was using Decontaminate colors which could
cause the problem on a non-pixel layer. Could be that it worked
sometimes because I did not use Decontaminate and failed when used.
Anyway, I avoid attaching mask to non-pixel layers if I am going to use
refine edge. Have not run into errors since, but then it could have been
fixed in 12.0.1 update. Or maybe the stars are aligned properly now. Who
knows?
Win 7 64 bit, 12GB ram, I720
Larry

Refine edge tool undoing my selections.

I used the quick select tool and then went into refine edge mask screen. When I use the brush to add or remove selection, it undoes my selection as soon as I release the mouse. Why!?

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!

Need help with Refine Edge

Hi,
I have tried it all and cannot say that I can use Refine Edge/Mask successfully. I have seen tutorials in youtube, in lynda.com, etc and they make it look so simple! I keep getting horrible grayish tones in the edge of hair. Please I am desperate. 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. Tell me what I am doing wrong!!
Thanks
Juan Dent

That should be a reasonably easy selection, but I absolutely agree that Refine Edge is not half as intuitive as the tutorials make out. I'll try and give a few hints that will hopefully put you on the right track.
With an image like the above, think in terms of only using the Refine radius brush on the whispy hair, or little items that protrude from the bulk of the selection. Try to get the rest by using just the sliders and Smart Radius.
When using Quick Select, toggle on and off Quick mask to see if you are missing anything. I much prefer to have Quick mask set up with 'Color indicates selected ares' (double click the quick mask icon at the bottom of the tool bar to change this).
If you suspect you will need to fix the result of Refine Edge, chose to output to 'New layer with layer mask'. Add a new layer below that layer, and fill with a bright colour to increas contrast and help with touching up the Layer mask. You can Shift click the layer mask to temporailly turn it off to reveal anomallies.
If you are going to use the selection in another image, then duplicate the new layer with layer mask to that image. That way you can use the Mask Properties panel to refine the mask and fine tune to the new location.
Good luck.

Quick mask in refine edge- Adobe photoshop elements 8

I installed elements 8 on two machines. When I make a selection on one machine and go to refine edge quick mask the unselected area is mask off. On the other machine the selected area is masked - Which is wrong. I reloaded the program onto the machine and the same thing happened. How do I get the inverse area masked.

Some how my
default file got change and by reinstalling the soft ware it retained its settings.
By holding control shift Alt at start up gave me the option of getting rid of my settings folder. Works fine now.

Refine edge in masks CS6

every time i try to refine the edge of a mask, it begins to erase my picture instead of adding in the hair etc. i tried this on several computers at school and it did the same thing, so it isnt my computer/software. my teacher has sat down with me several times and said im not doing anything wrong. this has NEVER worked for me and im extremely frustrated. PLEASE help

no difference.
i have tried to check and uncheck everything...
if i adjust the sliders, i get NO Preview... but when i click OK, the resulting photo has been completely ruined by the tool...
I tried deleting preferences...no change
the weird thing is that this problem was very sudden. Just a few weeks ago, I was using refine edge with NO PROBLEM. it is my GO TO tool for extracting people out of pictures...
but then one day, it just stopped working...
Do i need to reinstall CS6???

Adjusting settings in Refine Edge after outputting new layer mask?

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.
Thanks.

You need to select the layer mask, and use refine Mask rather that Refine edge. There is an excellent tutorial by Martin Evening here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssJRkbkHAa4

Refine Edge vs Refine Mask

Good day people
What would you guys say is the relationship between the Refine Edge Dialog box and the Refine Mask dialog box? I'm busy with Advanced Photoshop and this is one of the short questions I have to answer. The only answer my textbook gives me is that the Refine Mask dialog box has the same options as the Refine Edge Dialog box.
Could anyone give me an answer for 3 marks, please?
Monya

Wouldn't it be best to go find the two dialogs, experiment with them, and get to know what they do?
-Noel

Refine Edge - Removing mask edge ?

Hi,
I teach Photoshop 5.5 and have started teaching Photoshop Touch to some of my younger students.
I am having trouble with the refine edge tool which works well in CS 5.5
The scribble selection tool works well however I need to use the refine edge tool to improve the selection. This works well until I need to remove part of the mask.
I change to the eraser, however it does not remove the area that is now selected.
Where can I find more info and tutorials on using the refine edge tool to get a perfect edge selection?
I am trying to extract people to create a collage.
Thank You
Sean Udal

This looks like a bug actually; when I make a selection and then try to refine using the refine edge tool, I cannot add OR subtract from the mask (and the mask edge gets really wonky when you first paint or erase).
Can anyone from Adobe confirm? Using PS Touch ver. 1.2 for Android.

Refine Edge in Photoshop CS6 superior to Fluid Mask 3?

I have been using Fluid Mask 3 since Photoshop CS3.
But, recently, looking at a tutorial at a retouch DVD I bought, it seems that the CS6 version of Refine Edge is superior to Fluid Mask.
It seems to have a far more advanced algorithm, and the fact you can work in layer mode with actually seeing what you are masking off in real view, it seems to me it's time to ditch Fluid Mask 3.
What's your take on this?

no difference.
i have tried to check and uncheck everything...
if i adjust the sliders, i get NO Preview... but when i click OK, the resulting photo has been completely ruined by the tool...
I tried deleting preferences...no change
the weird thing is that this problem was very sudden. Just a few weeks ago, I was using refine edge with NO PROBLEM. it is my GO TO tool for extracting people out of pictures...
but then one day, it just stopped working...
Do i need to reinstall CS6???

Ps CC: Quick Mask is unresponsive after using Refine Edge?

Anyone know why Quick Mask is unresponsive after I've used "Refine Edge"
It works fine if I just make a simple selection first.

It's not my intention (intent?) to beat up on the "Refine Edge". I figured when I couldn't get the same pristine results as all the demos that I was doing something wrong, and kept watching more people doing this 'cause I figured I was doing something dumb...
Mostly, I've been trying this on different images over the last couple weeks just to see if I could figure out how to get it to work.
From the responses in here I suspect I'm doing it correctly, but the images I'm trying it on just don't lend themselves to perfect edges without some additional work..... The Quick Select and a bit of edge cleanup is still faster than the "good old days", so its definitely a step forward.
As far as the swans, yes, no matter what I did, I was getting a lot of extraneous selections and wonky edges and stuff. One of these days I'll try pulling an eagle or a great egret out of a clear sky and see how that goes. I suspect it'll work a lot better...
I only fiddled with the rodeo image 'cause I figured it was "like" hair. But my background is pretty busy. With a little additional work I DID get a very, very good selection, and was able to soften the background, and do a gradient so the ground under the horse is sharp, gradually blurring as it moves to the grandstands...
Thanks for all the replies...

Problems with refine edge in CS5-no longer working properly?!

Hi all, just wondered if anyone has experienced this bizarre problem and if so how they went about fixing it or changin the settings! (i may have done something to photoshop for it not to work properly!!!)
Basically, i have got CS5 and was very excited to find the refine edge tool.... made cutting out people real easy and loved it.... however, for some reason the refine edge is not working anymore. Everytime i try to refine the edge using the refine edge tool it isnt selecting any fine details of the cut. It seems to be erasing the image with a low opacity making the selection very blurred?!
Hopefully you can see from the very quickly put together example that the refine edge tool is taking pixels out if her nose, chin, jumper neck and jumper! Any one know how to prevent this from happening?
Thanks! Matt

I am having the same problem with the refine edge tool. It seems to work the exact opposite of what I was expecting.
The above two images are before and after using the tool to refine the edge. As you can see from the picture without the mask view, the selection actually got smaller after I tried to add to it. When I use the other tool to erase an edge, as soon as I release the mouse button, the portion I tried to remove reappears as it was before. This has never worked properly for me. Also, I have tried outputting in several different ways.
As for the questions posed: The app and OS are up to date. I am the only user on my computer, so I'm not sure what using another user would accomplish. I will mention that I'm using Windows 7, not Mac. I'm really hoping there is a setting I have wrong somewhere.

Could not complete the Refine Edge command because of a program error.

This is kind of me being a smart ***… but, I’ve found an Error with the new refine edge. And I’ve solved the problem:
If you check “remember settings” and refine a selection with output set to “New Layer with Layer Mask” and then try and refine another selection when you have an adjustment layer selected, the “New Layer with Layer Mask” is greyed out, but unless you change the output setting to something not greyed out, you get the error "Could not complete the Refine Edge command because of a program error.”.
I’m sure there’s a better place I could have posted this and all that, but there you have it.
Oh, and the solution is to just change the “Output to” to something not greyed out.

Without system information and details on what exactly you are trying to do like what channel/ mask/ slection you are trying to refine in what specific image nobody can really say anything. Such errors are always specific. It would be best if you provided a screenshot of the selection in the image.
Mylenium

Refine edge not working in cs6 64 bit

This might be user error, but I'm having difficulty with the Refine Edge tool. When I use Quick Selection to highlight a subject, and click on Refine Edge, I am unable to add or remove part of the selected region from the mask. I can erase, or draw over, and it shows, until I depress the mouse, and it goes back to the original selection. I reset my preferences and still not working. It has worked in the past. Just stopped working.
Thanks for your help!

Anyone can help me ? Thanks

Refine Edge

Hi all,
I'm trying the Refine Edge command to extract objects from images, Here's what I'm using:
As you can see I've made the selection without any major problems, using the quick selection tool.
The problem starts when I'm using the Refine Edge command, I can't get an acceptable result. Can you guys help me?
Here's the original image;
Thanks
Luís

You've posted the image at far too small a size to do effective high quality hair masking. You should be working with a MUCH larger image.
That said, the image does lend itself to Refine Edge if you use the tools adeptly...
Try Russell Brown's "Less is More" strategy and don't select so much of the hair to begin with... This video is WELL worth watching:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-russell-brown-show/masking-basics-in-photoshop-cs5/
-Noel

Refine edge/Masking

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