Topaz Remask 3 -Not Just Another Masking Program

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Topaz ReMask 3 

(Not Just Another Masking Program)

     I thought I had already worked with Topaz ReMask 3, but I was wrong. So I downloaded it this morning, and decided to "give it a go". I went to YouTube to see what there were in tutorials, and came across a few that were directly from Topaz.  A few were too lengthy, but some were just long enough to hold my attention. Personally, I try to avoid tutorials that go beyond 3 minutes since I like to absorb new information a bit at a time. By the time a 10 minute tutorial has finished, I've forgotten the first 8 minutes! After carefully paying attention to a few tutorials, I was ready to proceed.

Topaz' Window Icon

Topaz' Packaging

Topaz resides as a plug-in in Photoshop CS5

What you do is open up Photoshop, then your image, 

then open Topaz ReMask 3 from the Filters Sub-Menu.

Here's the image that I wanted to work with.

I'd  already tried it in Fluid Mask 3, but was having problems with some shades of grey.

I haven't added this image and work in Fluid Mask 3.

 ReMask 3 helped me to understand what masking is all about, 

and helped me further understand the process.

Like  Fluid Mask 3, it functions in a similar manner:

1. Green (as a brush and bucket) represents the parts of the image that you will save.

2. Red (as a brush and bucket) represents the parts of the image that you will delete.

2. Blue (as a brush and bucket) represents a "buffer zone" that gently will assist in the deletion of unwanted parts, and the saving of desired parts.

For accurate control, I was having trouble with my mouse. Perhaps in my IMac "System Preferences", I need to readjust it, so that it doesn't seem to slip and wonder for no apparent reason (it's too slippery!)

You can see a "slip" at the right fender of the Tootsietoy station wagon in the above portion of the photo.

So in an "Eureka Moment", I had an idea.

Why not:

1. Paint the buffer zone (Blue) large

 2. Then brush inside the large "buffer zone" to remove excess blue

3. Then add green to the inside areas that I just erased and were defined by thin blue circles. 

When you erase, you need to check that you haven't cut the complete circle.

If you do, then the removal (later on) will remove parts that you never wanted to be removed.

Use the zoom tool to check that all parts are completely enclosed.

The above photo shows that I have "dumped" a bucket of paint around all of the toys.

red  simply means that that portion will be removed.

I'll correct this image later in order to show you all of the toys having blue circles around them.

In this way, the above image won't confuse you.

Here is my first try using  ReMask 3.

It's not the best effort, but as I said before, I now understand the process of masking much better.

That to me is important!

I was having some trouble figuring out how to return to  ReMask 3 once I processed the image.

What seems to happen (as part of the procedure) is that once the image is processed in reMask 3, the image then returns to Photoshop.

The above improved image, was cleaned up (removed excess grey) in Photoshop. 

Here's the final result after having finished "cleaning up" in Photoshop.

There's still some work to be done,but overall it's not bad.

I'll be continuing this post, as I want to play around with ReMask 3 some more, and figure out how to continue in ReMask3 after I have asked the program to process the image.

Also, I couldn't find the "Edit>>Undo" command.

So that's it for now. 

What I also discovered is that different programs that are for same purpose 

(in this case masking) have different features. 

Like me, you might find that during your trial tests of software, no one particular software does 100% of what you would like it to do. Or put another way, some programs are great for 1 purpose, and not another. So when you finally choose, you'll have to decide which one has most of the features, and how will you best work with your final choice.

To Be Continued.........