MaskPro is a OnOne Software PhotoShop plugin working within this (or some other) photo editor as a kind of filter. Mask Pro allows not only selection of images but creating of selection paths as well. The program can be downloaded at www.ononesoftware.com as a free 30 day trial or bought for $159 (upgrade $69).

Interface

The interface itself is rather usual: the image window with the menu bar is in the center, the Tools panel - on the left. The Tools Options and Keep and Drop pallets - on the right.

The image can be seen in 5 different modes (you can see your selection on a transparent background, the cleanup view or the masked image can be seen on the background layer). All these modes can be chosen through the menu or by pressing little icons in the bottom.

On the right of the window, there’s a channel view option as well but you can’t select an image in a separate channel – the program uses the information of all channels all the same.

All the tools are in the Tools panel. The Tools Options for the currently active tool appear in the right top window.

MaskPro has a variety of tools not easy to apprehend at a first glance. Therefore, a good way to start working with the program is to read about the tools first. Even the short manual would be enough for the purpose. Don’t miss the tools description. I did it first and every time had to follow the manual step by step exactly. Miss a step and you cannot find where you are and what to do next. The steps are hard to remember sometimes (especially what you do in what view).

The first group off four tools – those that define keep and drop colors: the Eyedropper chooses the colors going to the Color Palette, the Highlighters define the areas to be kept or dropped. The outlined area can be filled in right away without changing the toll (the fill bucket will appear on pressing Alt key). That’s very convenient but you should read the manual or see the tutorial to know it.

By the way every tool has different modes built into it (not seen in the menu) which appear at the appropriate moment on pressing some key (Magic brush – the Hammer appears when the selection is made, highlighters – Bucket and Eraser show on the pressing of Ctrl and Alt keys).

The next big group of tools deals with extracting the edges. The magic tools (Magic Brush, Magic Pen, Magic Wand) will define it automatically (taking into account the colors you have defined earlier) their analogs will allow selection by hand.
There are of course touch up tools: the Chisel Tool cleans the edges, “shaving off” extras of background, Blur – blurs them.

The Brushes and the Buckets can work in different modes: Eraze, Restore, and Eraze/Restore (for the Magic Brush only).

And you can of course zoom the image and move within it.