Introduction

Maskerade is a software program and a photographic method that are used together to acquire images of foreground objects with the background removed. You can think of Maskerade as a 'magic camera' that can see the foreground object, but can't see the background. In the resulting image, the foreground object(s) has accurate color, opacity and transparency but the background is completely transparent - an effect similar to 'peeling' the foreground object off of the background. Compared to masking plug-ins like MaskPro by Extensis or blue/green-screen processes like UltiMatte, Maskerade is the most analytically correct solution available.

However, Maskerade is not a solution to every masking problem you will encounter. There are times when you will have a single, existing photograph with a complex background that you need to remove or change. In this kind of scenario, you're only solution will be to use conventional editing tools like the lasso tool, magic wand and paths in Photoshop, or use a program such as MaskPro by Extensis to try and erase as much background as possible and treat the edges in as visually-appealing a manner as possible. There are times when you need to photograph moving objects or objects that just won't stand still, such as people in fashion shots. In these cases, you will have to resort to a blue/green-screen process such as UltiMatte to achieve acceptable results. Either way, you should use the most appropriate tool for the job, not force one tool to do everything. If you misuse your tools, you will likely end up wasting time for mediocre results at best.

Maskerade is a great companion program for image-editing programs such as Photoshop. You may feel that there are capabilities lacking from Maskerade, but the most obvious ones (which we cover in this manual) have not been neglected. Rather, we have chosen to focus our efforts on the unique capabilities of Maskerade and make it interoperate smoothly with editors like Photoshop which better perform the functions that Maskerade is lacking. As Maskerade evolves, we will bring the most appropriate functions into it to make your work flow smoother and to provide more extensive control than the companion editors provide.