Vertus Fluid Mask 3
Vertus Fluid Mask 3 is compatible with Photoshop CS2 and CS3 as a plug–in and works as a Standalone program; as most of today’s 3rd party plugs do. Vertus Fluid Mask 3 is launched from the Filters menu in Photoshop. Filter > Vertus > Fluid Mask 3.
RATING SYSTEM
1 cup - bad
2 cups - not bad
3 cups - good
4 cups - excellent
5 cups - a must have
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Opening the program is easy enough and once open, it is well laid out and easy to understand. Should you get confused by anything, (as I did on more than one occasion) you can overcome this problem by downloading some small quicktime and flv movies from the website (www.vertustech.com). The movies are full of information, including tutorials. You can also attend the Free Online Live Training; the lessons are on a fixed time, and you can ask questions. It is just like sitting in a classroom.
Advanced level online training runs twice a week, Beginners level online training running five times a week, for times see (www.vertustech.com).
If you don’t have a Dual Core processor, complex images “Finding Edges” takes a lot of time, because this is a processor intensive task.
When you open an image, Vertus Fluid Mask 3 will analyze the image to find and select edges automatically, breaking the image into sections according to the color and contrast for faster masking; kind of looks like paint by number image.
Masking in every image takes a few minutes if you know the tools well enough.
It was my first time using Vertus Fluid Mask 3 so it took a little longer.
There are three tabs to the Image (under the Tool Options), which allows viewing of the:
Figure 1. Green area to keep, red area to delete and blue area to blend.
Source: - This is the original image.
Workspace: - Where you will work masking the image out.
Cut-out: - Shows the final image Masked out or Cut-out.
Paint the areas of your image for keeping, deleting, or blending.
The Keep tools (brushes / paints in green) on the left in the tools panel are used to select the areas to keep.
The Delete tools (brushes / paints in red) on the right in the tools panel are used to select the areas to delete.
The Blend tools (brushes / paints in blue) on the right in the tools panel are used to select the areas to blend.
There are three types of each brush named: - Exact, Local and Global.
With each brush type, you have the option to control the size and strength of the brush. The local and global brushes can also have the strength modified to control how far selections grow beyond the immediate segment. The protect option controls whether a brush stroke can affect an already masked area, so you can protect a mask you've already made.
The Keep Exact Brush (green) and the Delete Exact Brush (red) makes an exact selection; any pixel you touch will be masked out in either green or red (green for the pixels you choose to keep and red for the pixels you choose to delete).
The Keep Local Brush (green) and the Delete Local Brush (red), masks entire segments, those areas enclosed by the edge detection.
The Keep Global Brush (green) and the Delete Global Brush (red) will scan the image for pixels of the same color within an image. The global brush will mask similar segments found anywhere in the image.
The Blend Brush (blue) is useful for fine detail areas like hair and fur.
The Tool Panel (on the left side of the window)
The Clean tool will eliminate holes in a mask.
The Eraser tool removes masks from the image.
The Patch tool creates an area over a particular part of the image for you to work in and gives option for Edge finding and Edge Blending.
The Select tool selects patches and the lines drawn using the forced edge tool.
The Forced Edge Tool, use this tool to add edges to an image.
The Hand tool to pan around the image when zoomed in and Zoom.
The Preview Cut-out tool is really cool and useful; this previews a smaller area of the image to see how your mask is going.
Figure 2. The cut-out tool preview.
On the right side of the window
Navigator shows the portion of image you are zoomed in on.
Edge finding options panel allows you to adjust the value of what the mask finder will search for.
Edge blending options panel allows you to determine the size of the line blend between the Keep and Delete parts of the image.
Tip box for help whilst you work which I think is a nice touch if this is your first time using the program. You will use this quite often at first.
Figure 3. The image is now ready to be cut – out.
In Vertus Fluid Mask 3, the green area is for keeps, the red area doesn't transfer regardless of the color the background is set to, it will be transparent when merging with another image. Once you have done your handy work on the image, go to File > Save and Apply.
This will close Vertus Fluid Mask 3 and return you to Photoshop with your background deleted.
Figure 4. Transparent Background.
Now all you have to do is make a new layer in Photoshop place it underneath the image you have just been working on and add a new background.
Figure 5. Replace Background.
System Requirements
PowerPC® G4 or G5 or Intel® processor
Mac OS X v.10.3.9, or 10.4.9 or later
512MB of RAM
Product activation available via an Internet connection or e-mail
Photoshop CS2, CS3 if Fluid Mask is installed as a plug-in.
Installation as stand-alone software possible
Intel® Pentium® 4 class CPU or later or AMD Athlon XP or later
Dual-core processor recommended
Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista™
320MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
Product activation available via an Internet connection or e-mail
Photoshop CS2, CS3 if Fluid Mask is installed as a plug-in.
Installation as stand-alone software possible
Pros – Does a better job then just using Photoshop’s editing tools.
Save the image as a project, thereby keeping your edited image intact, ready to be worked on again at a time of your choosing.
A website for helping you.
Cons – its very processor dependent, (Dual-core processor recommended). If you haven’t got a Dual-core processor it will be a little slow.
