masking and/or selection tools been improved in 2023?

[mangurian]

I used to update annually, but I am waiting for smarter masking and selection tools. PSP is way falling behind in this important area.
Does PSP 2023 have anything new in this area. I did not find them listed among "new" things. Maybe they are already there and I just don't know how to use them
e.g. automatic subject selection, people selection, chrominance/Luminance tuning of masks. etc

Thanks

[LeviFiction]

AI people selection is available and was introduced in 2022 in either the background replacer or portrait/background blur....can't remember what it's called.

The auto selection tool attempts to find a clear subject inside of a rectangle that you draw, it works sometimes and doesn't work other times. They have the smart selection brush similar to the magic select brush in other applications. It has refinement brushes.

I'm not sure what you mean by Chrominance/Luminance tuning of masks.

[mangurian]

Some programs, (Adobe etc) allow you to create a mask and then vary selection Chrominance and Luminance settings to refine the mask.

[LeviFiction]

I don't mean to be pedantic here but you answered my question by using the exact same words that I was already confused on. Still not entirely sure what features specifically you're hoping to compare against. Are there a lot of automatic tools to do this? No. That's definitely true, does it mean we can't? Again that depends on exactly what you're hoping to do.

Masks are separate layers in PSP so they don't even have chroma (color) they are purely greyscale so they do have luminance. If you wish to change the mask at any time based on something else, you first clear the mask, make a selection based on what you want, and then fill in the mask to reflect that selection.

As for luminance, you can make a mask based on the luminance of an entire image or layer (methods differ), and then you can perform adjustments on the mask like you would any greyscale image. You can blur, sharpen, adjust brightness, contrast, threshold, curves, etc. If you want more precise control you can create a selection from the mask, then select the layer you want the mask based on, and use the refine brush. Once you have the selection the way you want it you can either make a new mask or go back to the old one and replace it with your new refined selection.

It's true it's not dedicated anything, and it's a work around. But there are options, we aren't stuck or lacking. They just aren't mask specific tools. If the adjustments you're talking about do more than what we have or can simulate, then yes we're lacking. Of course, if you aren't already I constantly recommend people join the beta team so you can direct your issues directly at the developers every year there's a new beta. Naturally by the time the beta comes around they've already got the features for that release worked out but you might help them in deciding on what's for the ones in the future.