Vertus Fluid Mask Cut Out Filter May 28, 2007 Photoshop Tutorials, Third Party Plugins If your familiar with Photoshop’s Quick Mask feature, as well as, the native Extract Filter, then you will feel right at home using Fluid Mask.Fluid Mask combines these two features into a compact intuitive user interface that can create cut-outs from. By Vertus Fluid Mask 3 is the professionals masking tool of choice. It works as both a standalone application and a plug-in to Adobes Photoshop or Elements. The fastest masking tool available. Vertus Fluid Mask is a useful tool for separating objects from image fields, from hair to complex foliage and more. Vertus Fluid Mask software gives you great and professional features in working with background images and offers great results. Fluid Mask 3 as a Photoshop plug-in: Adobe Photoshop Elements, CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5. If you agree with that observation, you'll love Fluid Mask, a Photoshop plug-in from Vertus, which gives perfect results in minutes instead of hours. Fluid Mask works from within Photoshop - it analyses the image and creates groups of areas to be masked. Fluid Mask 3 is the professional's masking tool of choice. It works as both a standalone application and a plug-in to Adobe's Photoshop or Elements. Fluid Mask 3 is ideal for photographers, image editors, graphic designers and all those who take digital image editing seriously.
If your familiar with Photoshop’s Quick Mask feature, as well as, the native Extract Filter, then you will feel right at home using Fluid Mask.Fluid Mask combines these two features into a compact intuitive user interface that can create cut-outs from a variety of images.
Follow along with the tutorial to see for yourself the benefits of using Fluid Mask.
Below is the original image I will use in conjunction with Fluid Mask.
Though the background area is a neutral color and is normally a snap to isolate; it’s the transition between the fine hairlines and the background that can prove difficult and time consuming to render in Photoshop.
Though the background area is a neutral color and is normally a snap to isolate; it’s the transition between the fine hairlines and the background that can prove difficult and time consuming to render in Photoshop.
Step 1 – Start Fluid Mask Filter
With the target Layer active (Background), go to the Filter>Vertus>Fluid Mask menu command, as captured below.
With the target Layer active (Background), go to the Filter>Vertus>Fluid Mask menu command, as captured below.
Step 2 – Auto Edge Detection
Fluid Mask instantly renders an Edge Detection scan of the image and displays a Workspace (1) with defined pockets of transitions at the default Edge Detection Options Palette settings (6).
Fluid Mask instantly renders an Edge Detection scan of the image and displays a Workspace (1) with defined pockets of transitions at the default Edge Detection Options Palette settings (6).
In this particular case the default Edge Detection suited just fine.
Other points of interest (User interface related):
- Toggle Show Edges for on screen/off screen of Edge Detection preview.
- (Delete/Keep/Complex) Mask Overlay Opacity Slider control.
- Photoshop like (Masking) Toolbar Panel.
- Active Tool Options Palette (Equivalent to the Photoshop Options Bar parameters for the active Tool)
Step 3 – Apply DELETE Mask
With the Edge Detection in place, we now need to define areas to KEEP and areas to DELETE.
Obviously, the grey background will be the focus of deletion.
With the Edge Detection in place, we now need to define areas to KEEP and areas to DELETE.
Obviously, the grey background will be the focus of deletion.
- Activate the Delete Local Brush on the Toolbar (Shift + D)
- Set Delete Brush Tool Option’s: Brush Size, Strength and choice of Actions.
- Then click in the areas (in my case all the grey) outside the model to flood fill for deletion.
As you can see below, not all areas were flood filled.
Simply continue with the Local Delete Brush onto those other areas (1).
Step 4 – Apply KEEP Mask
Now lets define the remaining of the image as a KEEP Mask.
Now lets define the remaining of the image as a KEEP Mask.
- Click the Image menu command option.
- Then select Auto-Fill Image (Ctrl+F) from the context menu list, as captured below.
Vertus Fluid Mask Photoshop Cs6
So far we applied auto Edge Detection (blue overlay lines), applied a DELETE Mask (red overlay fill) and a KEEP Mask (green overlay fill).
As you can see there are quite a bit of fly away hairline’s that are not clearly defined, in either in the Keep or Delete Masked areas.
Vertus Fluid Mask Photoshop Png
So now we need to apply an EXACT Complex Brush to the entire edge of the hairline so that Fluid Mask can accurately detect those complex transitions.
- Active the Exact Complex Brush from the Toolbar.
- In the Tool Options Palette adjust the Brush Size and set the Complex actions.
Then brush to fill the boundary of the hairline as I have captured below. (purple overlay)
Then click the Cut-Out (Ctrl+U) Miscarriage prediction astrology. Toolbar (encircled in red below) command icon to render the output.
Finally, go File > Save and Apply (Ctrl+S) menu command option to return the cutout back to Photoshop.
Though the original image Layer was a (locked) Background Layer, Fluid Mask returns it as a free floating Layer with exact transparency from the above process.
To see the benefit of the cut-out, I added a Gradient Adjustment Layer for contrast.
Quite remarkable! No halo’s and the transition of the complex hairlines appear flawless.
Quite remarkable! No halo’s and the transition of the complex hairlines appear flawless.
To further realize the complex mask, let’s capture the cut-out as a permanent Layer Mask into this Photoshop file.
Ctrl+Click the Layer 0 Thumbnail (encircled in red below) to activate the cut-out selection (marquee lines).
Ctrl+Click the Layer 0 Thumbnail (encircled in red below) to activate the cut-out selection (marquee lines).
Then click the Add New Layer Mask icon command located at the bottom of the Layers Palette (encircled in red below).
Then Ctrl+Click onto the Layer Mask Thumbnail (encircled in red below) to preview it as a live Alpha Channel.
Original image courtesy of AbsolutVision Photo Gallery.
Introduction
![Vertus fluid mask photoshop illustrator Vertus fluid mask photoshop illustrator](/uploads/1/3/7/4/137485028/210269471.jpg)
Vertus Fluid Mask 3.2 is a high quality masking program for what is essentially cutting images out and putting on top of others. Its unique segmented masking procedure makes selecting the parts of the photograph you want to keep easy even for ultra fine details such as hair or fur. The base program is now around 4 years old but Vertus have been upgrading and improving it to what it is today. Vertus Fluid Mask 3.2 costs $149 £99.99 and is available at downloadbuyer.com.
We downloaded the program from the Vertus website which is quick and easy to do. The full version is available as a trial for 14 days and when you decide to buy it after, you can input the licence key directly in the program.
Installation only takes a few minutes after download and the program is ready to go. To use it as a plug-in for Photoshop, you must have the picture you want to manipulate open then go to the Filter tab and choose Vertus at the bottom of the list.
Vertus Fluid Mask 3 Tutorial
Figure 1 - Opening Fluid Mask
Interestingly, when Fluid Mask opens, it temporarily closes down Photoshop as it disappears from the task bar. However, Photoshop can't be opened again while Fluid Mask is open. It's as though it takes over the identity of Photoshop.
The layout hasn't changed with this upgraded version but for those of you who are new to Fluid Mask, it's laid out into three sections. The left side houses all the tools you'll need for effectively masking our image, the middle shows the picture uploaded into the program and the right side holds a few other nifty features which we'll cover in a bit.
Figure 2 - Image Opened
Vertus Fluid Mask Download
The main picture has three tabs at the top titled source, workspace and cut-out. Clicking on the source tab shows the picture as it is in its pure form even when you've masked and cut it up. The workspace tab is the main window you'll use and shows the picture segmented up. It's these segments that you use for deciding which part of the picture you'll keep and which you want to delete.
Deleting any part of the image makes it transparent on the cut-out canvas. You use the tools on the left to decide which parts of the picture to keep and they're allocated into a simple colour coding system. Choose green if you want to keep the segment and choose red if you want to remove it. There are three brushes to choose from with varying degrees of precision from the fine detail brush to the global brush which is more brutish at removing large patches of dead image.
Figure 3 - Preview Image
The brush will change the image red or green depending on the one you choose so you can easily see what you're keeping and erasing. For pictures that have small pockets needing erasing, it's handy to flick between the source and workspace tabs to see what needs doing.