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Author Topic: Best Way to make Masks?  (Read 5307 times)

Brit

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Best Way to make Masks?
« on: January 13, 2015, 07:01:44 AM »
What is the best way yo make masks? I have Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere. I have been selecting backgrounds in Photoshop, inverting the selection and then saving each file, but its incredibly tedious with 100+ files. There must be a better way.

Brit

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2015, 06:14:29 AM »
Here is what I ended up with using Quick Selection and Magic wand and then using an action I created > similar>Inverse, unsharpen>set quick mask>save>close
« Last Edit: January 18, 2015, 06:17:44 AM by Brit »

Brit

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2015, 06:16:24 AM »
And here is  screen save of Photoshop

bigben

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2015, 07:05:14 AM »
I'd use a photoshop action with Select > Color Range to do the initial selection.  You could script the whole process and then run it as a batch.  The colour may change between image sets so you may need to re-record the colour range selection but that's a minor inconvenience.

For my own work I use a "black" background so that you don't get colour casts, and a slightly different approach to the mask.  The pixel values for the background are usually in the range of 20-40.  Photoshop action goes something like this:
  • Increase canvas size by 10 pixels, using a background colour of 20,20,20 (This allows the selection in the next step to get past objects that extend out of the frame)
  • Magic wand selection at the top left corner of the image, with a range of about 20-40
  • Smooth the selection by 8 pixels (accounts for possible image noise and/or dust on the background)
  • Make an alpha channel from the slection
  • Reduce the canvas size by 10 pixels
  • Export the alpha as a mask image

Brit

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2015, 07:53:47 AM »
Thanks! "Select color range" works brilliantly, and it can inverse the selection ...saving a step. This process as part of an action allows for easy batch processing and will save a lot of time. 

nc3d

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2017, 07:22:41 PM »
I'm surprised that automated color range masking isn't  built into Photoscan... 
It would be a great feature.
-Donald

SAV

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Re: Best Way to make Masks?
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2017, 02:31:55 PM »
Hi Donald,

Add it to the FEATURE REQUEST section of this forum.
Would be a great feature indeed.

Regards,
SAV


I'm surprised that automated color range masking isn't  built into Photoscan... 
It would be a great feature.
-Donald