Select and Mask problem, PS CC 2018

[DcD]

I’m having a problem with Select and Mask. Actually, the problem is that it does nothing.

I’ve tried it with different view modes, different sizes for the Quick Mask brush, different edge detection radii, a two-layer TIFF file (with and without Sample All Areas selected), a one-layer TIFF file (with and without Sample All Areas selected), etc.

Without Select and Mask, Quick Mask works fine. I can select the model in about 2 seconds (except for hair, one edge of her jeans and one edge of her white belt).

I’ve even tried selecting the model using Quick Mask and switching to Select and Mask. I get an error message that says “Could not apply the workspace because of a program error.” (This is after trying Quick Mask, not before, unlike some previous posts.)

I’ve watched two Adobe tutorials and tutorials on S&M by Deke McClelland, Aaron Nace, f64 Academy, Scott Kelby and even tutvid. Nothing…

(Photoshop CC 2018, Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, Asus X99 Deluxe II motherboard, Intel Core i7-6900K CPU, two MSI Geforce GTX 970 graphics cards, 32MB RAM, 1TB SSD, 6TB HHD.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[DcD]

Btw, I'm working in 16-bit mode.

[antoniopinto1962]

I have the same problem

Eu tenho o mesmo problema

Where is the Photosphop helpers?

[11dpi]

Same problem...

[BrenDiabloGrx]

I'm having the same issue. (I attached the error message.)  I have reinstalled the application. After the reinstall, I somehow I did manage to get the "Select and Mask" window to open (only once) but wasn't running properly. Once I hit okay, my selection was not the masked out and the marching ants where now selecting the whole document with a plain white background color. I wanted to add that the process made my computer run with hiccups.  Here is the kicker, when there is not a selection made, the "Select and Mask" window opens up fine. I have attached a screenshot of that as well.

(I'm running Photoshop cc 2018 19.0 release. My computer is a Mac Pro late 2013 OX macOS High Sierra 10.13.1. With a 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeno E5 and an AMD FirePro D300 2 GB graphics Card. I also have 16GB of Memory and a 1 TB harddrive.)

[frankm1966]

Ich habe das gleiche Problem. Und das ist nicht das einzige Problem was ich seit dem Update auf die Classic Varianten habe. Ich bin geneigt alles zu löschen und das Abo zu kündigen. Das gesamte System hakt und viele Arbeitsschritte sind extrem langsam.

Wenn ich mit der Schnellauswahl selektiere und dann auf "Auswählen und Maskieren" klicke, dauert es 2-3 Sekunden und dann kommt lediglich eine Fehlermeldung: Arbeitsbereich konnte nicht angewandt werden, weil ein Programmfehler aufgetreten ist.

Telefonisch und per Chat hilft einem kein Mensch. Man ist gezwungen als deutscher User die englische Hilfeseite aufzurufen, das Thema nieder zu schreiben und zu hoffen, dass es baldmöglichst eine Lösung dafür gibt.

Nein, ADOBE. So werde ich kein Kunde bleiben. Auch nicht wenn es leider nur bedingte Alternativen gibt.

[davescm]

Hi

To the original poster DcD. You say you have two GPU cards. That is known to cause problems for Photoshop. See paragraph 7 in this link :

Troubleshoot Photoshop graphics processor (GPU) and graphics driver issues

For the others who have posted :

A couple of things to try, which have resolved issues for others with similar select & mask Program Error problems :

1. Go to Preferences > Performance >Graphics Processor >Advanced and uncheck Use Open CL. You will need to start a new document , or open a document for this to take effect

If that does not work for you:

2. Go to Preferences > General  click Reset Preferences on Quit. After clicking OK close and restart Photoshop

Dave

[BrenDiabloGrx]

Thanks, Dave! You're a lifesaver.  Step 1 did not work but when I went to step 2, it fixed my problem on the Mac Pro.

[davescm]

You're welcome

Dave

[DcD]

Thanks for the response, davescm!

Btw, I said I was working in 16-bit mode. I should have said
that I’m working with 16-bit files, in this case 16-bit TIFF files that were
generated from ACR.

The two graphics processors could possibly explain the
crashes. (There was a third crash about 8pm tonight.) However, one reason I’m
inclined to doubt that that’s the cause is that I’ve been running Photoshop (CC
2015.5) on this computer for two years with no issues.

Are you talking about Photoshop freezes and crashes, or
blue-screen-of-death crashes? (Mine have been the latter type.) Is the issue
specific to Photoshop CC 2018?

I was still running PS CC 2015.5 at the time of the first
crash. However, there had been no Photoshop issues before then. After I got my
computer back after the first crash, I downloaded and installed the Adobe CC
2018 applications.

When I got the computer back, I started replacing
applications. The day I downloaded PS, LR, and Bridge was the day after PS CC
2018 was issued.

I also checked to see that all of my drivers were current.
The drivers for the GeForce processors were current. I updated the drivers for
the motherboard and CPU. The Realtek audio driver was missing, and I downloaded
it from the Asus sit and installed it. However, I don’t believe that should
have any impact on Photoshop or the GeForce processors (or the crashes, for
that matter).

The article you linked me to refers specifically to Adobe
Camera Raw. I have had no ACR issues either. Everything in ACR seems to have
been working fine, from the day I first installed in this computer in October
2015, up to tonight.

Also, the article refers to using newer graphics processors
in older computers. My computer was built by MicroCenter in late October 2015.
The GeForce processors were current, when the computer was built, as were the
motherboard and CPU, both of which were introduced after the MSI GeForce 970
cards were. In other words, the motherboard and CPU are “newer” products than
the graphics processors.

It appears that the graphics processor(s) exceed the
requirements for Photoshop CC 2018.

The Preferences>Performance page says the “ideal range”
for available RAM is 16,227-21,243 MB. Available RAM on my machine is 29,505 MB
(atm, I presume, since I have 32 GB of RAM). RAM Photoshop is allowed to use is
21,378 MB. (Should I reduce that to 21,243 MB or lower?)

The performance page detected only one GeForce GTX
970/PCIe/55E2 processor.

Cache tile size is set at 1,024 KB which, I believe, is the
recommended setting for my machine for “Advanced” Default/Photos and Huge Pixel
Dimensions, based on 50 history states and 6 cache levels, which appear to be
the most demanding uses, in terms of cache tile size. (My main camera, for the
past 6-7 years has been a Nikon D3X, which generates 24.5-MP files.)

Use Open CL was checked. I just unchecked it.

If I’m missing something, please let me know.

Here’s what happens, when I try to use Select and Mask and
select a View mode:

– If I select a tool from the “standard” (NOT Select and
Mask) tool bar, Select and Mask appears in the Options Bar.

When I click on Select and Mask, the S&M tool bar, with
five tools, appears. When I select the Quick Select tool (or any of the top
three tools, for that matter) and begin drawing a mask on the photo, no
selection appears. The hand tool and the zoom tool on that tool bar work fine.

For the photo I’m working on (or trying to), I’m using the
Marching Ants view, although I also tried to use the Onionskin and the Rubylith
red overlay views.

The image is several shades darker than normal, unless I
click on Show Original (P), which I believe, is the way it’s supposed to be,
when nothing has been selected.

– If I do NOT select any of the tools at the left side of
the normal window, and I select Select>Select and Mask, the same thing
happens.

Earlier today, however, I was able to use the Quick
Selection tool (for the first time with PS CC 2018), after selecting
Select>Select and Mask from the main PS menu. However, it did not work as
the Quick Selection tool always has.

Someone requested a screen shot. One is attached.

Although I could make a selection, the selection did not
“expand” to include everything between the edges. It included EXACTLY the area
that I had traced with the tool. If I traced just inside the edges of the hair
(the brush was about ½-inch in diameter, in a “fit in screen” view of a
waist-up photo, the selected area was an upside-down horseshoe shape. It did
not expand to fill in the area between the paths that I had traced, either.

Also there was a “halo,” outside the edges, with a width that was about half the diameter of the
Quick Selection brush.

– If I begin with the Quick Mask tool, from the tool bar in the regular view, it works as that tool
has always worked, and I can do most of the selection in 2-4 seconds, except
the hair, of course. Once I have used another selection tool, i.e., the Quick
Mask tool, I can’t go to Select and Mask, and there is no way to refine the
edges.

Someone requested a screen shot. Here’s one (I hope):

[DcD]

There has been some progress. Perhaps the reason that I'm getting "some kind of selection" now is a result of unchecking Use Open CL?

Here’s an example of what I meant, when I said that the selection is exactly the area that I drag over, with no expansion to the edges and no expansion to fill in between the areas where I drag.

This is true, whether I use Smart Radius or select a radius, whether the radius I select is small, medium-sized or large.

This screen shot, and the one in the post above, are older, 8-bit images. As far as I can tell, the only difference between that and having no selection at all, is whether the files are 8-bit or 16-bit.

[DcD]

I downloaded and installed PS CC 2017 to see whether that problem exists in that version. It does.

[davescm]

Hi DcD,

Forgive me if I am misinterpreting your pictures - but the brush you are using in those screenshots is not the Quick Select brush.

The logical workflow is :

1. Open Select and mask

2. Use the top left brush (Quick Select) to make an initial selection ). This will run up to the nearest borders. If it goes too far you can hold down Alt when brushing to subtract.

3. Use the second tool (refine edge brush) to brush over the edges of hair/fur etc). Keep off the "hard edges" and keep the brush small. With refine edge you are painting where you want the refine algorithm to work. I find a small brush - 10-20px, at 100% hardness, 1% spacing and smart radius off works the best for me. You can check where you are asking refine edge to work at the top right ("Show edges")

4. Use the straightforward brush (3rd brush tool down - the one you show in your screenshots)  to touch up any small areas as required. Again you can hold down Alt to subtract.

Finally at the bottom right choose New Layer with Mask - and do not check Decontaminate colors*, before clicking OK.

*Decontaminate colors is destructive and does not work well. A better way is to add a new empty layer above the masked layer. Alt Click between the two so that the new layer clips to the mask layer and set the blending mode of that new layer to color. Take a soft brush and Alt-Click to pick up color near the edge and brush round the edges

I hope that helps - apologies if I've misinterpreted your screenshots

Dave

[DcD]

Thanks, Dave.

After my original post, someone asked for a screen shot to see my setup. (I can't even find that post now.)

The irony is that those two images are 8-bit files, and I had no difficulty using Select and Mask with them.

As I mentioned earlier, the only difference that I can find in the files where S&M works, and where it doesn't, is that it works on 8-bit files but not 16-files.

Dave

[lawrencec61627792]

This didn't fix my problem. The second option of: Go to Preferences > General  click Reset Preferences on Quit. After clicking OK close and restart Photoshop only works one time - AND it resets my preferences. So, I have to do this with every image I wish to edit.

This option didn't do anything to fix the problem: Go to Preferences > Performance >Graphics Processor >Advanced and uncheck Use Open CL. You will need to start a new document , or open a document for this to take effect

This isn't a new setup, no hardware change, no repairs... Just working fine until the update and now it doesn't work at all.

-Coop

[DcD · Accepted solution]

I uninstalled PS CC 2017 and reinstalled PS CC 2018.

Select and Mask seems to be working fine now.

There's another issue. I can add to a mask, but I can't subtract from it. But that's a different issue.

[jeffb98592608]

Ever since PS CC 2015, the quick mask function has been glitchy. I get pixel artifacts on my mask transparency and sometimes can't edit the mask without more issues popping in. My solution has been to export as a layer with mask in the mask menu. Then duplicate the background layer (or the layer you just made a mask from) and alt drag a copy of the mask onto the new layer, then delete the original mask layer. Now the artifact problem is gone, and you can now refine the edge quickly with your brush set to Overlay on the mask.

[melissaf22809671]

Hi Dave,

I restarted Photoshop after making changes in the General Preferences, but the face of my picture turns green........