Refine Edges

The Refine Edges feature (available for Home Deluxe and Business licenses) is extremely helpful for quick editing edges of selections or cutout objects.

Refine Edges

Using tools and parameters in the Settings Panel, adjust the edges of the selection area.

Specify the type of an area to change. Choose Selection to change the selection outline, or Cutout to tweak the edges of the extracted object.

In the Preview pop-up menu, select how the selection/cutout will be displayed in the Image Window when editing.

The Refine Radius tool allows you to more accurately define the area of ​​edge refinement for the selection or mask (blue zone).

The Restore Edge tool restores the original selection/mask (red zone).

The Eraser tool allows you to remove strokes, both blue and red.

The tool's options:

Size (10-3000). The maximum line width that can be achieved with a brush (in pixels).

Hardness (0-100). The degree of blurriness of the outer edge of the brush.

Show Strokes check-box. When the check-box is enabled, the area drawn with the tool is always displayed; when it is inactive, it is hidden.

Using the buttons / you can undo/redo the operations with the tools.

Initial Cutout

Processing

Result

Adjust the edges using the following parameters:

• Radius (0-250). The parameter specifies the width of the area around the selection/cutout, where the edge refinement is applied.
  
  Radius = 50

  
  Radius = 200
• Threshold (-10..80). The parameter specifies the brightness/color range of pixels that will be deleted when increasing the parameter.
  
  Threshold = 0

  
  Threshold = 50
• Transition (0-100). The parameter increases the smoothness of the transition within the specified area.
  
  Transition = 20

  
  Transition = 90

  Note. The Threshold and Transition parameters affect the image only if the value of the Radius parameter is not zero or the Refine Radius tool was used.

  The Radius parameter and the Refine Radius tool work in a similar way, with the main difference being that the parameter sets the same width for the area along the entire edge, and the tool allows you to change the size of the area in different parts of the border.

  Smoothness (0-100). The parameter smoothes the corners of the area, makes the selection/mask contour smoother.

  
  Smoothness = 5

  
  Smoothness = 50

• Feather (0-100). The parameter softens the transition between the selection/object and the surrounding background creating a semi-transparent area.
  
  Feather = 2

  
  Feather = 20
• Contrast (0-100). The parameter sharpens the edges of the selection or the cutout object.
  
  Contrast = 5

  
  Contrast = 50
• Shift (-100..100). The parameter reduces or enlarges the selection/object within the transition area changing the transparency of the semi-transparent pixels.
  
  Shift = -50

  
  Shift = 50
• Desaturation (0-100) (only for Cutout). The parameter decreases the color saturation of the semi-transparent pixels on the edges of the extracted object.
  
  Desaturation = 0

  
  Desaturation = 50

   

  After adjusting the parameters, the image will look like this:

  
  Result

Press OK to apply changes, or Cancel to close the options.

Click the Reset button to discard all changes made in this mode and set the parameters to the default values.

SmartMask AI v. 14.0 - Free 10-day Trial