Content Aware editing

[Kraellin]

we've discussed this before in RetouchPro, but as CS5 nears its release date, folks might want to take a look at this as regards restorations. editing which is content aware is going to make a number of things quite a bit easier. here's one link talking about all this: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361800,00.asp

and here's something related from back in 2007: http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66481/detail/

if adobe has bought or licensed this stuff, or developed it themselves, then we're going to see some very slick stuff in CS5 and specifically some very handy tools for restoration.

think about it and make your comments

[aartist]

Watched the video and I love it!
It will cut down on lots of tedious work.
Thanks for the information Craig.

[dkcoats]

I have it on good authority that content-aware fill is implemented in CS5.

You didn't hear it from me.

[Kraellin]

due to come out on the 12th of april! http://cs5launch.adobe.com/

[bpurvis]

Holy Cow!!! I didn't figure there was any reason to upgrade, since I still have so much to learn in CS3, and since it's my first full PS I'm still finding things in it that amaze me. This is incredible though and the thought of how much time it would save, along with the quality of the fill is probably going to be enough to make me fork over the $$$. Can't wait to hear more about it. Thanks for posting Craig.

[Kraellin]

you're welcome. do a google on 'content aware' and you'll find lots more info.

[Nezbitten]

I have noticed that people are saying that GIMP has had this feature for a while and seen videos of GIMP doing the same things as in the photoshop CS5 videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2gonFtc1yc

Get the GIMP and do it free! I have tried installing the GIMP and attempting this but am finding the processing very slow. Anyone else got the GIMP and tried it using the plugin http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/resynthesizer

Post your experiences

Hope this helps

Photo Restoration Man

[JayKittle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI

^^^^ I just watched this video... Loss of words...^^^^

[Kraellin]

here's another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFEBa...eature=related

i know we have other threads about this in other parts of the forums, but i want folks doing restorations to start thinking about how we can use these new tools. this link shows some scratch removal, very simple and very effective and very fast! so, the healing brush is becoming content aware, which shld help a lot of us out!

post your thoughts, particulary regarding the new stuff and restoration!

[bpurvis]

I do restorations and was immediately aware that it could fill bad patches with good. On the other hand, there would have to be some good patches, and sometimes they are few and far between. The scratch removal would be an incredible improvement on many images, but I wonder how it does on faces and clothes. I think that for the kind of work I do, the content aware scratch/hair removal/healing alone would be worth the price of the upgrade. It would save countless hours of tedious cloning.
Becky

[JayKittle]

I'm a retoucher at a studio working on commercial fashion. This is an answer to my team's prayers! No longer will denim and patterns be such a pain!

I don't work too much on restoration, though I have. Incredible is the only word I have...

Our output time will simply cut in half or more

[Larbear]

Hello everyone I'm one of the Pre-Release Adobe Beta testers for CS5 and I really don't think anyone is going to be disappointed because this version has some really nice tools for Restoration & Retouching. Although I've been a member of Retouch Pro since 2005 I haven't been to active but hope to change that right away. Here are a few tools I really like in CS5 and I'm sure there are many more that have yet to be discovered;

1. Content Aware Fill & Content Aware Healing - This is a major one here.
2. Refined Edges Tool when selecting all or part of an image is another major one.
3. Puppet Warp will let you do amazing things.
4. Noise Reduction in the new Camera Raw is also great.

[Aurora Graphix]

I also had a good long chance toplay with CS5 in pre-release but of course was unable to say anything until now. I fully agree that those four features are the cream of the new features. The choice to upgrade to CS5 will be an easy one.

It really is that good.

Brad

[Mike]

I will agree with the comments from my fellow beta testers. I do a certain amount of scenic type photography, ever work on taking a set of power lines out of the tree tops?

Content aware healing makes me want to go out and shoot some just so I am able to use the tool!!!!

[bpurvis]

I'm thinking that it will work just as well on removing cracks and other damage on old photographs.

[csuebele]

Also being a beta tester, I would concur that the new features will help a lot of the folks here. Content aware fill while very impressive, does take some time to get it to work the way you want it to. I can see if very useful for face retouching in keeping skin textures. Also puppet warp will, I think change the way folks reshape faces. It may not be a smooth to use as liquify, but with SO you can go back and edit. Refine edge is great, but for refining a mask, it is destructive so make a dupe layer for using it.

[bpurvis]

I was wondering how well the refine edges worked -- wondered if it would get rid of the need for masking plug-ins. Sounds like maybe not.

[Aurora Graphix]

The Refine edges is pretty dang good ... Have you seen Terry White's Blog Video?

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-...-cs5-features/

And having used it ... its easier to use than the Masking plugins. May not quite be there, but 90% of the users will likely be able to do just as much without the plugins now.

Brad

[bpurvis]

Originally Posted by csuebele

Also being a beta tester.... Refine edge is great, but for refining a mask, it is destructive so make a dupe layer for using it.

I always work on dupe layers, but what do you mean about it being destructive?

[csuebele]

There is a setting called decontaminate colors that gets rid of fringing; however, it does so my bleeding the unmasked area into the masked area. In the example, the first image is the original, the second is the final with the mask, using CS5's content aware fill, but you still need to mask to use CAF close to subjects. The last image is the layer with the masked turned off. You can see where the image bleed. Of course, I'm new to this too, so I may have been doing something not quite right, as there doesn't seem to be much bleed near the mane.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...mask-bleed.jpg

[Panpan]

I am so disappointed:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/ado...nt-good-enough

[cricket1961]

Content aware might be good for some issues, but its not at all good for skin. Even the content healing brush has dubious merit with skin texture.

For those looking to fix backgrounds by getting rid of large portions at a time its an ok step in the right direction.

But regardless of what use you are putting the tool through you need to watch out for similar artifacts and softening that the healing brush has historically caused. At times it can actually create more work by cleaning up these issues than by doing the work with pre-cs5 tools.

For those who deal with large images, hundreds, not tens, of megabytes refine edges will be a very slow and frustrating process although in the end there can be reasonably good results. Be aware that the algorithms used have a hard time dealing with sharp smooth edges AND softer edges within the same mask. So there very well can be the need to combine two masks to make one.

On large images, Puppet warp can also be a very slow process. Depending on what you are attempting to accomplish and with what subject you can get great results once the learning curve is conquered.

Don't let any of that stop you from trying the tools out and using them for what you decide is good enough. These tools are in their fledgling stage and only promise to get better in the future.

Chris

[csuebele]

Chris, not being a hi end retoucher myself, I was curious what a hi end retoucher would think of these tools. I could see the potential, but didn't know how well they would actually work for that type of work. Thanks for the insight.

[Markzebra]

Back!

Nope Content Aware doesn't really hold up if you examine it too closely. Its alright I suppose as a shortcut, for hair (removal of strays) you can use it in this way as a starting point, but you will still need to go in and touch up where it has created drop offs and edges. The math it uses is very different from the healing tools, which attempt to create smooth transitions in tone. Content Aware on the other hand is cruder and leaves sharp color drop offs. Look at your solars to see this.

Yes I agree with Chris. Many of the new tools are too slow to use efficiently on high res imagery - this certainly applies to Puppet Warp, the new paint mixer technology.

[lurch]

Good to see you again, MZ. You've been missed.

Where content aware shines is in restoration. There things are often already so messed up that almost any shortcut (that actually works, that is) is worth it. The images are rarely high res, so the new tools work ok there.

[RooB]

I've found very little use for content aware healing.

Sadly, the amount of work cleaning up the mess it often leaves behind it's just as well to do it by hand, instead of doing it one and a half times longer.

[skydog]

yep MZ..thought you disappeared....