Extract tool is gone - what's the best tool to use now ?

Hello everyone,

for those who extract subjects from backgrounds on a regular basis, what tool do you now using, seeing the Extract tool is gone in CS4 ?

Thanks you for tips,

Dave.

wrote in message

Hello everyone,

for those who extract subjects from backgrounds on a regular basis, what tool do you now using, seeing the Extract tool is gone in CS4 ?
Thanks you for tips,

Dave.

Copy it from CS3 and transfer it to CS4

Magic eraser?

Mask?

Quick Select tool works well for many cases. Secret is to use small brush size and mark both the selected areas (with the + tool) and the non-selected areas (with the - tool).

If you can't find something that satisfies you, you can install Extract from the CS4 Extras. This will be on your PS install disk or in the Extras you downloaded if you purchased and downloaded online.

If you still can't find it, Russell Brown has the extra files on his site. There are also good tutorials for just about any extract/masking/knockout method you can think of.

<http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html#CS4Tips>

Never used the Extract thing because it either sucked or I didn't understand it well.

Considering how much time I experimented with it, and compared to how well I'm able to isolate selections with more conventional tools B.E. (read: Before Extract), I have to conclude that it sucks.

:)

Considering how much time I experimented with it, and compared to how well I'm able to isolate selections with more conventional tools B.E. (read: Before Extract), I have to conclude that it sucks.

True. Channel-Ops, Pen Tool, Polygonal Lasso, Layer Masks, and other techniques/combinations rendered Extract inferior prior to its existence. In fact, on the rare occasions when I used Extract, I only used it as a step in initiating a layer mask. I think it was supposed to be Photoshop's answer to Knockout...a Knockout knockoff, as it were. I didn't even know it was gone.

I never used an extraction tool in production because they required more work than doing it other ways. The extract tool sucked as do the 'Knock-out' apps.

Oh, and there's always this:
<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.3bb80e5d>

You can still use Extract in CS4. Copy the ExtractPlus.8BF file from a previous version of Photoshop and put it in the Plug-ins/filters folder.
Geoff

seeing the Extract tool is gone in CS4 ?

It's not permanently retired yet.

You can download it as an optional plug-in here:
Win http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4048 Mac http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4047

See also John Nack's discussion:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/where_did_extra.html

--
Regards

John Waller

Phos±four dots - said: "Never used the Extract thing because it either sucked or I didn't understand it well."

Seems to me that the problem was that you did not understand WHEN to use it.

I've once extracted a Dandelion seed head with the extraction tool and everybody thought I had used some incredible third party tool, but actually the whole reason why I posted the image was to show people that I could do the same extraction better in Photoshop than the one done with Fluidmask.

@John Waller Am I correct in assuming that 'extractPlus' is only available for 32bit mode ?

@M.Barnes Agree that the filter 'extract' in versions < PSCS4 was an excellent tool. Like anything good, it took a little time and effort to use well.

Cheers

ExtractPlus can also use on 64bit, please notice that there are both 32bit and 64bit in the plug-in folder

Thanks Ping.