Adobe simply removed any obvious way to access it. As it turns out, Refine Edge was never actually removed from Photoshop.
#Adobe photoshop 2018 where to put the key update
An enhanced version of Select and Mask was released with Photoshop CC 2017, and the latest update is included with CC 2018.īut many Photoshop users remain upset that Refine Edge was taken from them, still convinced that Refine Edge worked better. To their credit, Adobe listened, and continued work on the Select and Mask engine. Many Photoshop users argued that Select and Mask was in fact worse, as they were unable to achieve the same results as before. Adobe claimed that Select and Mask was better than Refine Edge, but not everyone agreed. Refine Edge worked great, and everyone was happy.īut in Photoshop CC 2015.5, Adobe replaced Refine Edge with Select and Mask, a new all-in-one workspace for both making and refining selections. Suddenly, complex selections like hair and fur were now as easy as dragging a brush, and Refine Edge became the standard tool for removing a subject from its background. In Photoshop CS5, Adobe updated Refine Edge with new tools and features. There's a good amount of contrast between the subject and the background, and the edges along the subject are nice and sharp.Back in Photoshop CS3, Adobe introduced a promising new feature known as Refine Edge, designed to improve upon our initial selections.
The subject himself is in sharp focus while the background behind him is blurred out. Along with Adobe Sensei's ability to recognize people in a photo, this particular image has a few important advantages that can help Select Subject along. Here we have a close-up, outdoor portrait shot. Example 1: Selecting a single person in a photo Let's look at some examples of Select Subject in action, starting with an image that should be an easy win for this great feature. But in most cases, you will still need to refine your selection afterwards using Photoshop's Select and Mask workspace. And the fact that it does so with a single click (as we're about to see) is pretty amazing. Like the Object Selection Tool or the Quick Selection Tool, Select Subject can get you 90-95% of the way there. Rather than thinking of Select Subject as a tool that will do the entire job for you, think of it instead as a time-saving first step. Sounds great, right?īut while the technology behind Select Subject is impressive, especially in CC 2020 and later, it's important to keep your expectations in check. You simply choose the Select Subject command and Photoshop does all the work. Select Subject automatically detects the most prominent object in the image and draws a selection outline around it. The Select Subject option in the Select and Mask workspace. The main way to open Select Subject is by going up to the Select menu in the Menu Bar and choosing Subject: They all produce the same result, so choose whichever way is easiest. Photoshop gives us several ways to access the Select Subject command, including a way that's new as of CC 2020. To follow along, you'll want to be using Photoshop CC 2020 or later.ĭownload this tutorial as a print-ready PDF! Where to find the Select Subject command And we'll compare the results from CC 2020 with the previous version of Photoshop to see how much better the latest version of Select Subject really is.
#Adobe photoshop 2018 where to put the key how to
So along with learning how to use the command, we'll also look at a few examples of Select Subject in action. And as we'll see, it works with just a single click! Of course, as with any automatic selection tool, the results will vary depending on your image. Select Subject automatically finds the main subject in your image and selects it. And in CC 2020, Select Subject has been greatly improved. In CC 2018, Adobe brought that same technology over to Photoshop as a brand new selection command known as Select Subject. Adobe Sensei powers the search engine in Adobe Stock that lets us quickly find images of people, animals or other subjects. Everything was just pixels.īut that changed back in Photoshop CC 2018 thanks to some impressive artificial intelligence known as Adobe Sensei, Adobe's machine learning technology. It had no idea that there was a person, an animal, a tree, or any other type of object in the photo.
Yet for all its power, Photoshop couldn't see the bigger picture. It knew that different pixels were different colors, and that some were brighter or darker than others.
Not long ago, Photoshop looked at images as nothing more than a bunch of pixels.