Participant

Answered

PS 2015.5 - Refine Edge tool? Missing?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
June 21, 2016
39 replies
191783 views

Hi,

With the new update of Photoshop it appears that the Refine Edge tool has been removed or changed into something else?
Anyone shed some light on this? Its a tool that I would always use to quickly adjust my selections when editing photography.

Closest tool I can see that looks the same and is in the same location as the Refine Edge tool is Select and Mask. This is under the right click of the selection.

Cheers,

Adam.

EG Design

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Terri Stevens

Yes it has been retired , just when I learned how to use it Seriously I'm not up to speed with the new release yet, but Jesus Ramirez has posted a set of videos on the new features

How To Use The Select And Mask Workspace In Photoshop - YouTube

or to see many of the important ones

Photoshop CC 2015.5 Tutorials - YouTube

I think there are also links in Jeff Tranberry's post above to a number of videos by Jule Anne Kost who is always worth watching.

Show previous replies

D

DV23

Participating Frequently

Could anyone please tell me how to use this in an action when the mask is connected to an adjustment layer or group?

I know that by double clicking on the mask you will get the Select and Mask workspace but this does not work in an action. I even recreated my actions and still I get the dialog that Select and Mask is unavailable.

Thanks in advance!

C

cloughabunga

Participant

My question: why the f*ck don't they put a "enter select and mask workspace" button where the "refine edge" button used to be? I get that they want to evolve the tool set, and I'll get used to the new workspace, but we're professionals who use this software every single day, and we rely on our habits. When they arbitrarily change the location of user interface items, it just messes with us for no gain whatsoever. Poor form.

Terri Stevens

Legend

Looks like a button to me, unless you meant something else?

P

Pat481

Known Participant

Could he be referring to the button that used to be in the tool bar on the right?

T

timh9108940

Participant

You idiots at Adobe. That was a very useful tool.

Benjamin Root

Legend

Adobe just released an update with many fixes: Photoshop CC 2015.5.1 Update Now Available

adamo66459872

Participant

The update did not fix anything! Select and Refine keeps deselecting all of my selections with the latest update... quite infuriating. I can't fix it or figure out what the problem is...

C

cyberwasp

Inspiring

Adamo, it's not your problem to fix. Hopefully adobe will resolve the issue or put the old reliable refine edge back.

S

StepRock

Participating Frequently

Great. Updated. Better than ever.

One problem - I'm right in the middle of a project, under a deadline, and call me crazy - I don't have time to acclimate to a new tool just now. Gotta run.

P

Pat481

Known Participant

Maybe thats a sign that Adobe needs to work on how intuitive their interfaces are. If people can't understand how to refine an edge with your interface without watching a tutorial it isn't successful, it's not meeting table stakes for interfaces in 2016. Defiantly not the answer to never change things. I'm sure they do user testing and i'm sure their UX guys could wireframe me under the table any day, but for whatever reason the results just aren't there.

S

StepRock

Participating Frequently

Yeah. I don't expect them to never change things either, but when I reached for a tool I was surprised to find it gone with no ability to grab it from a "legacy" setting or something. I've just barely gotten my project out the door and this was a blow to my business-critical needs. My project and timeline suffered because of this unexpected change.

A

alexnoriegaphotography

Participant

I was pretty upset thinking Refine Mask/Edge was gone, until I realized it turned into Select and Mask, and saw what that can do. Same thing as before, but you can also paint white+black manually and quick-select in the same interface, which is way better than selecting, refining, then manually painting in separate steps, potentially repeating the process.

However, it's pretty unintuitive that it APPEARS to be disabled for masks on adjustment layers, and only seems to work on pixel layers. I was ready to be furious, thinking this functionality was outright removed. But you just have to double click the layer mask on an adjustment layer to enter Select and Mask! Works just fine. Really don't see why it needs to be greyed out if you can just enter S&M (ha) that way anyway.

P

Pat481

Known Participant

However, it's pretty unintuitive that it APPEARS to be disabled for masks on adjustment layers

Yeah, completely agree. Love the feature but honestly guys, you make the UI that professional UI designers use. to. design. UI. I think it's very hard to argue that the way this feature is implemented for masks isn't terrible.

D

djgriley

Participant

In all honesty, I have no time to relearn new approaches when I have a tight deadline. It seriously pisses me off that Adobe tinkers with their programs and kills workflow that professionals have used for some time. The tool may be you-beaut, but for @$#%^&^%$#% sake adobe, don't blanket change when people's productivity will be effected. Why is there not more rage, am I the only one?!?

Who has time to wade through a 24 minute video...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Benjamin Root

Legend

It is not a good idea to upgrade anything while you are in the middle of a project with deadline. I think many understand that. Remember, Adobe gives to access to previous versions, as well, all the way back to CS6. Download CC 2015 and you'll be running as before until you have time to look into the upgrade And kearn any new features.

D

djgriley

Participant

lol, thank you for your patronising response. all the very best mate.

KathrynKolencik

Participating Frequently

I hate it. I'm so sorry for my bad attitude, but I'm trying to edit a difficult B&W image and it's sooooo difficult. I had a lot more control with Refine Edge. Plus, I'm phenomenally annoyed that in the middle of a huge project with a tight deadline I now have to figure out how to use this. I'm not exaggerating...I now have to change my design to not include this image because I can NOT edit this photo in a manner that is comparable to my other images within the time allotted. Again, I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer. Very disappointed. This, by the way, is a big reason why I intentionally chose software other than Adobe for a different function. I wish I could downgrade...like in the next twenty minutes. *white flag waving*

Benjamin Root

Legend

Have you gone back to the previous version?

p_osteen

Participant

I have got to say. This tool is a far superior way of masking. It covers everything that was there before and adds a lot of functionality that I felt Photoshop needed years ago. So, I for one am very stoked about this and the other features they added on this go around.

Terri Stevens

Legend

It is striking how mixed the response to Select and Mask has been. I liked it straight away, then didn't like it after reading here the problems people were having and now am back liking it again , which probably says more about me than the tool. I think it requires an above average computer to work well, but most Photoshop users generally have incredibly well specified machines anyhow. I can remember when 64MB of memory was Shangri-La for a Photoshop user and now some lucky people have 64GB, incredible

I think you have to consider it as a stand alone program in which you make the selection and do the refining in one place. It seems to me that the people who are having the most trouble are making selections then going into the tool to refine. I am making all my complex selections in Select and Mask now. Creating a selection feels very much like painting a selection on and is very intuitive. Then you go to the refine brush to get your accurate selection outline and that is so much more accurate than before. I mask hair a lot and so far have found no need to touch the edge detection tool at all, which shows how good Select and Mask is as far as I'm concerned.

I have posted a few videos here since last weeks launch and today watched another which is the best I have yet seen. It is only suitable for really advanced Photoshop users in my opinion but the results obtained are amazing. There is a tip for decontaminating color around hair that I have never seen before that does not use the Select and Mask 'decontaminate' feature and some nice techniques for color blending with a background-so well down Lee Varis

https://youtu.be/J0ivW8rkPcQ