03.09.2007
Vertus Fluid Mask 3.0.2 Review



Normally, what you do in Photoshop begin with a selection, using the Selection tools is a fundamental Photoshop skill.  In programs like Photoshop many tools and methods for selecting or extracting parts of an image is available. Layer masks, vector masks, Magic Wand, Quick Mask, Extract command, Background eraser tool etc help in making clean selections and extracts.  Efficient selections are essential skills for any Photoshop user, whether a graphic designer or professional photographer. Extract objects, Remove a background each of these phrases describes the same objective:  take a photo and remove the background cleanly.

Masking is very easy to do in Photoshop with all these tools but sometimes it gets difficult and tedious due to lot of contrast and texture in the background, foreground, hairs and trees in the scene. We have looked various plug-ins from Extensis, Corel etc. but many of them are not provided with the updates from several years. In today’s market where user is very demanding and computers are very fast and if your product isn’t able to use that power then that’s useless. But this is not the case with company called Vertus and their latest product called Fluid Mask 3.


Fluid Mask 3 is designed for photographers, image editors, graphic designers and all those who take digital image editing seriously. Fluid Mask 3 works as a plug-in to Photoshop and Standalone program. Fluid Mask is launched from the Filters menu in Photoshop. When you open an image, Fluid mask will automatically break the image in few sections according to the color and contrast for faster masking. Masking in every image takes few minutes if you know the tools well but simple images only takes 2-3 minutes for professional cut-out. Photoshop like feeling in the interface and docking toolbars allow easy customization.

Features like Color Workspace for selection, Analyze Patch Separately for better edge finding, Edge Blending according to low-res or high-res image, Feather and Smart Blending for out of focus shots, Test Rendering are amazing and strengths of this plug-in. As you can see in the below image the white background which is see-through from the cloth was also remove easily in a few seconds, which is very difficult to remove manually or using any other program.



We are currently reviewing the version 3.0.2 in which they made some additional improvements like Vastly improved loading speed of CMYK images or 16-bit images, Zoom shortcuts, including "+", "=" and "-", Improved performance of Patches’ preview feature.

Now let’s talk about the things which are not good like Help installed with the plug-in can be much better, you can’t learn much from the current help installed with the plug-in. But you can overcome with this problem by downloading some small quicktime and flv movies from the website (www.vertustech.com). You can also attend the Free Live Training online on a fixed time and ask the questions if any, this works like you are sitting in a classroom. Advanced and Beginners level online training running 2 and 5 times respectively. Secondly, if you don’t have a Dual Core processor then in the complex images “Finding Edges” takes a lot of time, because this is a processor intensive task. Hope in future version vertus will add a Reconstruction tool which allow reconstruct any part of the image from the source image and Freeform Force Edge drawing tool which gives more flexibility.

Price ($239) of Fluid Mask is little on a higher side for a masking tool. But if you are an image editor, photographer which doing a lot of masking and till now magic wand or Magnetic Lasso Tool was your only friends then this is the time to try out your new friend which also helps you in complex situations. This is not just a masking but also an Image Therapy by Vertus. We have given 5 stars to this product because of wonderful performance, ease of use and creative features. Don’t believe our words download the trial version from the Vertus website and check out yourself. 100% RECOMMENDED.

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