As a software developer myself, I can say this is not how software development works. If it were perfect, there would be no need for updates/releases/further development. Software development is constant development and innovation.
All the great CEOs say that if you wait for perfection you will never get to market. It’s not possible.
That said, MaskAI, as I stated earlier, is a beta-level product at best and was clearly pushed to market a bit too quickly. IMHO
I’m just trying to be fair to Topaz here. I understand their reasoning as a fellow software dev. and designer myself. I fully expect they will continue to improve/develop this software. I’m guessing the backlash they have received now for MaskAI will give them serious pause before releasing a low-beta-level product for sale in the future.
Before I retired I was also a software developer/engineer/architect and @FletcHR is absolutely correct. Software is the single most complex logical structure that humans have ever created and there are always going to be issues. Most complex software has at least hundreds of thousands of possible paths, and complex software has millions of them. It is just not possible to test them all and any attempt to do so results in no release at. There are market windows that must be met and failing to do so dooms software to failure.
Every time a new OS is updated or released or OS drivers are updated or attached devices are updated the conditions for the software change and developers are scrambling to catch up. I once saw a project decide that they were not going to release until the software passed all of the proper tests. The project had an 18 month schedule and, after 3 years it had still not been released. They updated and re-wrote or redesigned the software every time there was a new OS release or update and, after 3 years the company closed the project and fired the developers.
It does no good to release something like US tax software April 16th since taxes are due on the 15th.
FletchHR, I used to be a beta tester for Topaz. Releasing to the public in the old days was tested and perfected and released. I have not been a beta tester for a long time now, but even in the last days, I was such, products were released before they were ready. These days, I do not update, because I know there will be so many updates because of such an early release, that my registry will suffer.
Now that I have instruction on how to use the software, I see it’s benefits.
I wish Topaz would have released better documentation before releasing the software.
However, if Topaz released adequate documentation when they release the product, there would be less confusion and dissatifaction. That was my problem. I couldn’t figure out how to effectively use Mask AI until I watched the webinar. A simple workflow outline would have been enough to give me a general direction as to how to proceed.
I have been using topaz products PhotoPlusx6. I understand about being perfect .PhotoShop is the standard.Subject detection Is different.PhotoShop selects .It looks like compute could be refined.One of the hardest to mask is hair and fur and similar colors.The Test is precision (edges).
Hi Photomaker,
Once again many thanks for you advise.
Can I put one more question please? Attached is an original and a a final image named creative. I have tried to emulate the creative using the same image and using A1 but with no luck. The metal work is not bad but not sharp like the creative image which was done in PS
. I also notice I get the blue sky showing at the bottom of the dish but in general just does not emulate the creative version as attached. Anything you can advise please would be appreciated.
Many thanks
That type of mesh or tight openwork object with color behind it will be challenging for you to remove the color from in the current version of Mask AI (pronounced - “A” “eye” (the capital letter “i” - like in Artificial Intelligence).
I would expect that more work will be done on the software to improve that capability, because a lot of us users would like it. At this point I can’t really give you better tips for how to handle that… Select Color Range (or perhaps a Channel Selection) in Ps CC would likely be your best bet for now - unless you have other tricks for selecting that in Ps!
If you’re going to be putting a creative dish construction of your own against a long exposure starry sky (real or faked) it will be more forgiving of some residual color you might have remaining from your original masked dish photo than if you were to put it, for instance, against an orange-y sunset background.
Here is a sample image provided by someone on the DPreview Retouching forum
First, here is a Mask AI result and against a light background the cutout looks ok
But against a dark background it is unusable
With Foreground recovery cranked all the way up you get a better result but still not really usable
You have to switch to Remask AI with its tools to get a usable result
Unfortunately this is true for a lot of the published examples I have seen from Mask AI. Looks fine against a light background but not so much against a dark background. The developers need to provide better tools to deal with these halos.
Fact: – Remask is a Masking program made by Topaz Labs Using Trimap Technology and Tools
Fact: – Mask AI is a Masking program made by Topaz Labs Using Trimap Technology and Tools
