Ques about selections in CS3

In CS, when I want to use the rectangular of oval selection tool, the amount of "Feather" that I can use is limited to 250 pixels. (If I put it more than that, it will reset to 250.)

Is CS3 likewise limited?

Rad

Radtech1 wrote in post #3313599
In CS, when I want to use the rectangular of oval selection tool, the amount of "Feather" that I can use is limited to 250 pixels. (If I put it more than that, it will reset to 250.)

Is CS3 likewise limited?

Rad

Yep!

eenorton wrote in post #3313609
Yep!

Dang it. I wish they would have fixed that. Now I have to wait for CS4.

Even though you may be in 16 bit mode, I can't think of any of the tools expose more than 8 bits per channel to the user. Look at the Color palette for an example of what I mean. I realise that you're talking about the size of the feature, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two are linked.

Photoshop was an 8 bit program that, as versions have gone on, has gradually got more 16 bit (and higher) support. There are still some features in Photoshop CS3 that are 8 bit only - such as the Render -> Lighting Effects filter. That said, if you can work in 8 bit, you may be able to rig up what you want using that feature.

Another possible explanation is that it's to limit the amount of computation required and/or to avoid problems with limited internal precision showing through.


I thought there may be a way around this with layer effects, but they're all limited to 250 pixels, so this is clearly a deeply embedded limit.


If you can generate the shape you need in a layer or alpha channel, all you need to do then is apply it. I can think of some ways to do this with paths, scaling, a layer full of black, a layer full of white and a bit of messing around that will finish up with something you can put into an alpha channel - but nothing that neat and tidy.


Why do you need such a large feather?

David

DavidW wrote in post #3318760
Why do you need such a large feather?

David

I use that to apply a vignette.

Duplicate the layer, draw an oval selection from corner to corner at maximum feather, cut out the center pixels, and set the blend mode to "Multiply".

When I used the 10D (6.3 megapixels), the 250 maximum feather was adequate. Now that I do most of my shooting with a 5D, that has changed. The files from the 5D are quite large, 4368 x 2912, so that means that even along the shortest edge, a 250 pixel feather is less that 10% the images width. This often results in a perceptible "edge" where the vignette starts. For my purposes, I need a smoother transition.

I have come up with a workaround: I duplicate the shot, reduce the image size by 50%, THEN do my corner to corner select at 250 a pixel feather and cut out the center. I then restore the image size to 100%, effectively doubling the span of the transition. Copy an paste this into the original image and then set the blend mode to "Multiply" just like above.

A bit of a hassle. Given the increase in image sizes over the last several years, I am surprised that Adobe hasn't kept pace.

Rad