Create a path from a mask

B
Posted By
burt
Nov 16, 2009
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1198
Replies
3
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Closed
I use Fluid Mask 3 to create a mask of an object. When I Save from Fluid Mask, it results in my object masked with an empty background.

So far, so good. However, I want to create a path that will match that masked object exactly. How do I do it?

I tried ‘magic wand’ and then setting the path that way, but the result is too loose and sloppy.

—
– Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
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create mask path

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PU
Photoshop User
Nov 16, 2009
"Burt Johnson" wrote in message
I use Fluid Mask 3 to create a mask of an object. When I Save from Fluid Mask, it results in my object masked with an empty background.
So far, so good. However, I want to create a path that will match that masked object exactly. How do I do it?

I tried ‘magic wand’ and then setting the path that way, but the result is too loose and sloppy.

—
– Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html

I don’t use Fluid but if it makes masks with a thumbnail for it in layer palette

make a selection from a mask in the layer palette

Control Click the thumbnail for the mask (next to the thumb for the image)

you can change any selection to a path in the path palette use the little icon in the bottom to change selection to path (and vice versa)
B
burt
Nov 16, 2009
Kabuki wrote:

"Burt Johnson" wrote in message
I use Fluid Mask 3 to create a mask of an object. When I Save from Fluid Mask, it results in my object masked with an empty background.
So far, so good. However, I want to create a path that will match that masked object exactly. How do I do it?

I tried ‘magic wand’ and then setting the path that way, but the result is too loose and sloppy.

—
– Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html

I don’t use Fluid but if it makes masks with a thumbnail for it in layer palette

make a selection from a mask in the layer palette

Control Click the thumbnail for the mask (next to the thumb for the image)
you can change any selection to a path in the path palette use the little icon in the bottom to change selection to path (and vice versa)

It doesn’t result with a thumnail and mask, as I would normally expect. Instead it just has the thumbail, fully cut out from any background.

—
– Burt Johnson
MindStorm, Inc.
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/software.html
N
nomail
Nov 16, 2009
Burt Johnson wrote:

I use Fluid Mask 3 to create a mask of an object. When I Save from Fluid Mask, it results in my object masked with an empty background.
So far, so good. However, I want to create a path that will match that masked object exactly. How do I do it?

I tried ‘magic wand’ and then setting the path that way, but the result is too loose and sloppy.

Plugins like Fluid Mask make very comprehensive masks, with smooth (feathered) edges. To turn this into a good path is an impossible task, because a path is ‘all or nothing’. You can’t have a feathered path, it’s there or it’s not there. That’s why any path made from a pixel-based and feathered mask will fail to be exact. It’s just the nature of the beast and the reason why Photoshop knows pixel-based masks and vector-based masks.

—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.com

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