GML Matting - new free image background removal plugin

[Mikhail]

Hello,

We are Graphics & Media Lab.

We've developed a free image matting plugin for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other Photoshop-compatible applications. Its main purpose is to create a cut-out i.e. remove background from photo image. It is similar to Photoshop Extract utility, but usually produces better result.

Please, take a look:
http://research.graphicon.ru/compute...l-matting.html

We are planning further development of this plugin and we want to know your opinion. Please download it and test it. We would like to hear feedback from you.

Thanks

[Panpan]

Thank you Mikhail (also Vadim and Vladimir) ,

I have been using GML GrowCut 1.1 since last year as a first step for my extractions. It has saved me a lot of time and effort. I take it this is a new algorithm. I can't wait to try it out.

Pierre

[aussie]

is there a mac version?

[Mikhail]

Originally Posted by aussie

is there a mac version?

Unfortunately, no

[berwin]

The new "GMLMatting.8bf" was correctly installed in the Plug-Ins folder in PS4, PS6, PS7 and CS, but it did not show up in the Filters Menu of either versions.
It also did not show up after restarting PS.

Because the "gmlmatting_setup.exe" is 1.253 MB large and therefore a challenge for download on 24600 Bits per Second dial-up, would it not be better to post a newer repaired version of "GMLMatting.8bf" (220 Kilo Bytes) for separate download?

I hope that I am not wrongly assuming that this version is faulty, and that it is my ignorance preventing me from opening it.

[Panpan]

I have tried it with this difficult extraction (I don't know this woman; I just use her hair to test extraction modules). I am impressed!

The single edge outline method is much simpler and faster than the old method of one inside line and one outside line.

I did have to copy the extracted layer twice, for a total of three, to build up enough hair at the edges, but the result is very good. Curiously, the source image plus the extraction(s) seems to give "bigger" hair than the original alone .

That said, it did crash Photoshop CS2 twice with the message "Could not complete your request because of a program error." I had to use the task manager to stop PS. Another time, getting out of GML Matting got me directly to the desktop, losing my work in progress.

I did not have berwin's installation problems. The three GML plug-ins (Matting and the two GrowCuts) showed up under filters. The old GrowCuts still show up under selection.

I would have prefered a layer with a mask instead of a transparency. It would have made it easier to refine the extraction afterwards. Also the mask shown in GML Matting had nice shading for those semi-transparent areas.

Pierre

P.S.: The original is on the left. The middle image should show a blue fill area inside the green outline. I took the printscreen "snapshot" too soon.

[Mikhail]

Thank everyone for your feedback!

We currently do not know why there are installation problems, but we'll try to figure out.

About crashes - they occur sometimes but we cannot determine under which conditions this happens. Has anyone found an image and a sequence of user actions for which it ALWAYS crashes?

[Mikhail]

Originally Posted by Panpan

I did have to copy the extracted layer twice, for a total of three, to build up enough hair at the edges, but the result is very good. Curiously, the source image plus the extraction(s) seems to give "bigger" hair than the original alone .

This happens because the output has opacity values between opaque and trasnparent. Overlaying several copies of a semi-transparent layer always results in increasing its "density".

Originally Posted by Panpan

I would have prefered a layer with a mask instead of a transparency. It would have made it easier to refine the extraction afterwards. Also the mask shown in GML Matting had nice shading for those semi-transparent areas.

There is workaround to do this. It's undocumented yet. Here it is:
1. It works only with background layer, so create new image if you already have additional layers.
2. Go to channels palette and create a new channel. It is named "Alpha 1" by default.
3. Shift+click RGB channel, so all four channels are selected (Red, Blue, Green and Alpha 1). RGB is also selected, but it's only an alias for three color channels.
4. Start the plugin. It will accept selected Alpha 1 channel instead of layer opacity channel and save result there when you press OK. RGB channels will have modified color (background spill suppressed).
5. Now you can select either RGB or Alpha 1 channel and work with it.

[byRo]

Mikhail, welcome to RetouchPRO.

That's a very useful plug-in, installed and worked perfectly.
A couple of suggestions:

1) I noticed that the normal PS hotkeys work for Pan (<Space> + Click) and Zoom In/Out (<Ctrl><+/->). However my preferred PS zoom option (<Space><Ctrl>[<Alt>] + Click) has not been implemented - would that be possible?

2) The plug-in can take some time to return with the masked result. A progress bar (or similar) would be a nice "user-friendly" touch.

I'll be using it some more. If I see anything else interesting I'll let you know.
Thanks for the useful (and free ) plug-in!

Rô

[Mikhail]

Originally Posted by berwin

The new "GMLMatting.8bf" was correctly installed in the Plug-Ins folder in PS4, PS6, PS7 and CS, but it did not show up in the Filters Menu of either versions.
It also did not show up after restarting PS.

We figured out that this happens if some dll's are missing. We assumed them to come with Windows, but we were probably wrong.

Please check the presence of the following dll's in your system directory, e.g. C:\WINDOWS\System32:

• mfc71.dll
• msvcr71.dll
• msvcp71.dll

If some of them are missing, try downloading them from www.dll-files.com or www.dll-download.net. Searching for dll file name in Google usually usually gives you some download page too.

After downloading needed files place them to your system directory. Then start Photoshop and the plugin should appear in Filter menu.

[berwin]

Originally Posted by Mikhail

Please check the presence of the following dll's in your system directory, e.g. C:\WINDOWS\System32:

• mfc71.dll
• msvcr71.dll
• msvcp71.dll

Thank you for the reply, I report the following:

Error in PS4, Error in PS6, Error in PS7, see image attached.

I did a search for:
mfc71.dll msvcp71.dll msvcr71.dll
and found them in different folders and with different dates, but not all together in the \windows\system folder. There were none in the \windows\system32 folder, nor did they apparently belong there on a WinME system.

Now "GMLMATTING.8bf" was visible in the "Filters Menu Item" under "GML" and it worked in PS4, PS6 and PS7 with the same symptom: It went through the "grow"-cutting proceedure until the end, and after pressing the OK-button, all versions of PS came on with the same error dialog, see image attached.

The good thing this time was that it was not a fatal error for all PS versions, but by clicking on the "Close"-button, PS stayed open, and the close-cut versions were exclusively [on the double-layered, or on the single-layered] image, but never on the Alpha Mask.

P.S.:
I made sure the files

mfc71.dll
msvcp71.dll
msvcr71.dll

are now all in the \windows\system folder. I had a copy of them also in the \windows\system32 folder, but there was no difference in performance, so I deleted them from there again.

[Mikhail]

We have updated the installer (the plugin itself is unchanged). Download it if you experienced troubles installing the plugin. It now includes missing MFC DLLs. Some minor installer bugs are also fixed.
http://research.graphicon.ru/compute...l-matting.html

[Lasa]

Wow...
I tried it on an image that I knew had taken me a while to clean up and bam! The hair extracted clean...I placed it against a black then yellow background no fringe junk what so ever! What it seems to do better then both extract and knockout is it does not leave white halos..I'm jazzed!
I was ready to not be impressed..Wong! you have a very good product here.
Thank you for sharing,

Lasa

[geru]

I installed the plug-in to PSP XI and had no problems with the install.

I used the image Panpan posted as my first test image, it performed flawlessly. I've performed 10 extractions on different photos and haven't experienced crashes or any other weird problems.

I've tried a few other extract plug-ins claiming to be compatible with PSP and found they either didn't work as claimed or they continually crashed in PSP.

You people have done a wonderful job with this plug-in.

[Syd]

Originally Posted by geru

I installed the plug-in to PSP XI and had no problems with the install.

Likewise! In fact I have never installed a plug so painlessly before. It even wrote directly to my Photoshop/Plugins directory. Usually I have to do that manually.

I have only tried it on two images so far, but I have to say I am impressed with what I have seen so far. The interface is simple and extremely easy to use.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Panpan
I would have prefered a layer with a mask instead of a transparency. It would have made it easier to refine the extraction afterwards. Also the mask shown in GML Matting had nice shading for those semi-transparent areas.



There is workaround to do this. It's undocumented yet. Here it is:
1. It works only with background layer, so create new image if you already have additional layers.
2. Go to channels palette and create a new channel. It is named "Alpha 1" by default.
3. Shift+click RGB channel, so all four channels are selected (Red, Blue, Green and Alpha 1). RGB is also selected, but it's only an alias for three color channels.
4. Start the plugin. It will accept selected Alpha 1 channel instead of layer opacity channel and save result there when you press OK. RGB channels will have modified color (background spill suppressed).
5. Now you can select either RGB or Alpha 1 channel and work with it.

I like the fact that, with a bit of extra effort, you can create a mask from the extraction. Perhaps if this could be done in a more direct manner it would be the 'cherry on top of the cake'. My single biggest problem with the Extract tool is that this is not possible. Everyone wants to be able to refine a mask. It just offers so much more control. I honestly think that if this could be achieved you would have a winning product.

Sincerely Syd

[Lasa]

I'm very happy with this..
It crashed Photoshop twice, then I closed it down to quickly after an extraction..it closed and took Photoshop with it. Tried to duplicate it again and it worked without crashing no matter how fast I closed it.

The highlighter pointer bounces around when drawing around the subject..feels rough not smooth at all..but felt smooth when I did the alpha work around to create a mask.
Pointer is smooth on the PS extract tool.

Great extractor!

Lasa

[Mikhail]

Originally Posted by byRo

A couple of suggestions:

1) I noticed that the normal PS hotkeys work for Pan (<Space> + Click) and Zoom In/Out (<Ctrl><+/->). However my preferred PS zoom option (<Space><Ctrl>[<Alt>] + Click) has not been implemented - would that be possible?

We currently do not want to overload the interface with configurable hotkeys etc. Does it cause much inconvenience for those who get used to non-standard hotkeys?

Originally Posted by byRo

2) The plug-in can take some time to return with the masked result. A progress bar (or similar) would be a nice "user-friendly" touch.

By "return with the masked result" do you mean the final step when you are done and press the OK button or when you press Matte button? If former, it seems to take almost no time even for large images, is it slow on your machine? If latter, there's a progress bar appearing in the status bar when you press Matte.

[Britsdad]

Mikhail....Will take a look at this thread please and see what you think....
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...-troubles.html
Regards............John

[tarkine]

Hope you can iron out some of the bugs in it, as its prone to crashing PS on a regular basis. Apart from that it does an excellent job on extracting some difficult images.

Here is my result which took a few minutes using GML.

[Mikhail]

We've recently updated our plug-in to version 0.2 and I started a new topic on this. Probably not many folks noticed it, so I post the link here:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sof...-released.html

[Syd]

Is it just my connection? That link doesn't work for me!

Syd

[Mikhail]

Originally Posted by Syd

Is it just my connection? That link doesn't work for me!

Syd

That link works for me even when I log out. Try this one (copy&paste):
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16896

[Syd]

Ok, got it Mikhail. Must have been something wrong with my connection. I will be downloading the new version immediately. Really liked the first version: works well, is fast, and user friendly.

Thanks
SYd

[lkroll]

Well I finally tried it out and have to say kudos to you Mikhail and thanks a heap. I really like the variable opacity brushes too. Much better then PS's extract tool. Again thanks a heap.

[aus]

I'd be very thankful if someone could pass a link to a video tutorial about this plugin (if there are some).

[artist1961]

great tool just test it on photo shop cs very easy and effective nice work

will we be getting updates for this in future

[lkroll]

I know it didn't work before but I just found out that GML Matting works in GIMP too. Very happy I am (maybe the recent update allowed it to work; who knows). Again, thanks for your very cool gem Mikhail.