Quick, precise selection using Asiva Select (eg, Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa)

[Tom Mann]

Yesterday, in the Freelance section, a fellow offered to pay a nominal sum to have someone make some precise masks for him on a large image (8200 x 5600 px) in a very limited amount of time. He specifically was interested in finding efficient alternate approaches to masking. No one took him up on his request, so he was forced to do it for himself.

It's inappropriate to offer technique help in that forum, so, since no one responded to his request, and his offer has now expired, I started this technique thread to show how a wonderful old plugin, Asiva Select is perfect for tasks like this. The Asiva plugin allows one to make very precise selections based simultaneously on hue, saturation and brightness, and does so very, very quickly.


Attached below are:

1. A tiny crop (~650 pixels square) at 1:1 magnification from the original;

2. A screen shot of the adjustments within Asiva Select that I used to select out the cyan areas.

3. An example of the application of the mask produced by Asiva Select -- I changed the hue of the cyan areas.

The total time to set up Asiva to make this selection was probably under 30 seconds! If I spent a bit more time refining the adjustments and feathering the mask, I'm sure that even the occasional very small (1 or 2 pixel wide) edges that aren't perfect could be improved even further.


I own and regularly use many different selection plugins, but I have never found one as capable as Asiva for tasks like this.

The only problem with my recommendation is that I believe the software company, Asiva, is out of business. Copies of the demo version of the program are easy to find on the web, but I'm not sure how one would unlock one of these without accessing the company's license server. So, if you ever find a copy with a valid serial number, snatch it up and guard it.

BTW, the program works on CS6, 16 bit per channel images, and very, very large images.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[Dreamers]

Thanks for sharing this Tom

I had a quick dive surf on it, and it seems for Mac only, they where working on a PC beta and that is where my search has ended.

 

[Tom Mann]

For what it's worth, I have been using it on a PC for probably at least eight or 10 years. Cheers, Tom.

 

[MGphotogeez]

I am searching for this plugin. It is referenced in a book I rely on for some of my work. Even the author was unaware of this;

"The only problem with my recommendation is that I believe the software company, Asiva, is out of business. Copies of the demo version of the program are easy to find on the web, but I'm not sure how one would unlock one of these without accessing the company's license server. So, if you ever find a copy with a valid serial number, snatch it up and guard it. "

Good advice from Tom. Maybe this program can be resurrected by ? (Topaz, NIK ?) But the code was probably destroyed. Too bad, I am told there is a work-around with PS but it is cumbersome.

Any recommendations as to alternatives? I am interested in all possibilities. Thanks MG

 

[Tom Mann]

A long shot: Have you tried:

1. Downloading one of the free evaluation copies of the program and check for yourself to see if it still is a limited function demo version (until unlocked); and,

2. Emailing Asiva just on the off chance that they kept an email address active for inquiries like this, and one of their old employees still monitors it (maybe as a labor of love sort of thing - LOL). For all you know, they may have one key that they now freely give out that unlocks any of their old products -- I've actually seen this done when another company went out of business.

With respect to alternatives to Asiva Select, yes, I can think of a way that one could simulate the net effect of Asiva Select using only PS native tools, but (a) the work-around method is so cumbersome as to be painful, and (b) the nice, interactive user interface of Asiva would be essentially non-existent when using the work-around.



I would offer you my key, except I'm worried that somehow doing so would limit the number of future installs I have left, and I absolutely don't want to risk this.

Pls. let me know what you find.

Best regards,

Tom