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Hello everyone. I've been wondering if the edits I make through the Refine Edge panel are destructive... I mean, let's say I use the Smooth parameter. If I confirm the edit and then I go back to the panel through my layer mask, I can see the parameter is now resetted to 0 value and I can't go back anymore! Am I mistake or what? Thanks.
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It is non-destructive if you are working with a layer mask, but you can't step backwards so to speak.
What you can do is use Select & Mask in Mask Properties and contine to refine the mask, but there is still no way to step backwards.
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So I was right, we can say it's a destructive workflow even if we use a layer mask. It just doesn't make sense. All we needed was the parameters keeping their values, that's all. So difficult for a powerful program such as Photoshop? Thanks for your answer anyway, you confirmed it to me.
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So difficult for a powerful program such as Photoshop?
So?
If you don’ t want »Smooth« maybe »Feather« in the Properties Panel meets your needs.
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Have you thought through what a »non destructive« approach for this feature would actually mean?
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How can you define this a non destructiveworkflow?
By @Faby5FAE
It is and it isn't, depending on how you define "non-destructive". :] This has been the case since Layers and Adjustment Layers were added to Photoshop.
It isn't parametric-based, so no, you can't go back to the original settings. In that sense it is destructive.
However, as there are so many options to restore the original image and start again, it is also non-destructive. Being clunky from a workflow perspective does not equate to destructive in that sense.
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Select and Mask includes the Refine Edge Brush Tool but also the Brush Tool.
While the one is intended to process data from the image/layer the other takes plain manual input.
So if the process would be non-destructive all those strokes would need to be stored separately and, if the image/layer is changed, some of them would need to update on the fly.
That does not seem plausible in Photoshop at current.
Smart/layered Layer Masks would certainly be an improvement (
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/smart-object-as-layer-mask/m-p/953691...
) but in the meantime one can use Smart Objects with Smart Filters in work-arounds – as the base of a Clipping Mask or as knockouts in Normal Groups for example.
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Is there something we can actually help you with?
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I encourage you to pursue the SO-work-around – even if only as an academic exercise.
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