This is the third of a four part review of the products that are included in the onOne Plug-In Suite 3. Parts One and Two are available here on Blogcritics. This review is on the product Mask Pro 4.1
Mask Pro 4.1 is the latest version of the plug-in from onOne Software that makes it easy to mask and cut objects out of an image. This can be done for placement in another image or to replace the background in the original image.
Mask Pro 4.1 requires you to have Windows running XP SP2 or Vista or Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later. You will need Photoshop CS2 (v9.0.2), CS3, or Photoshop Elements 4 or later. Also you must have at least 512MB of RAM and 60 MB of hard-disk space. Installation is very easy and is all automatic.
So what is masking? Masking is the process of selecting and erasing parts of an image. Normally you select the parts of the image that you want to keep and erase the areas that you want to drop. You can use the selection tool in Photoshop, but to get it right it can take a lot of time and effort especially if you don't want a halo effect or other problems,. Mask Pro 4.1 makes this process much easier and can save you a lot of time.
Mask Pro 4.1 operates as a plug-in, inside Photoshop or Elements. It resides in the Filters menu or the onOne menu. There are a number of views from within Mask Pro and all help you make sure that you are getting the best image possible.
There is Original view which maintains the original image for review, Solid view which displays the erased area as a solid color. Single Layer view displays the erased area as a grid, Quick Mask view displays dropped areas as a rubylith mask overlay, Mask view displays the mask's alpha channel as 100% erased in Black and 100% kept in white, Cleanup view displays 100% kept in white, 100% dropped in black and transition areas in gray; this is good for making sure there are no holes in your mask, and Composite view show you the underlying layer.
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