Despite the war still raging in Ukraine, folks at Skylum have been working hard to deliver updates to its latest image editing software, Luminar NEO. In the update 1.0.6, we get some bug fixes, an improved histogram, and to top it off: smart masking. The latest Luminar NEO update comes with the long-anticipated Mask AI feature. As you can probably guess, it’s an AI-based feature designed to make masking easier and much faster than before.
Mask AI
If you’re a Photoshop user, you’ll find the concept of Mask AI similar to Adobe’s Select Subject. Basically, Mask AI also only recognizes the main subject in your photo, but there’s more. Skylum claims that it also automatically detects separate elements in a photo including people, skies, architecture, transportation, flora, water, mountains, natural ground, and artificial ground. What’s more, Skylum promises that more elements will be added in the future as AI gets smarter.
So, all you need to do is press the Mask AI button and Luminar Neo will do the rest. It’s made to automatically detect all the elements in your photo. From there, you can apply the mask by pressing the button with the name of the element that you want to mask. Then, in the Mask Actions tab, you can show, fill, clear, copy, paste or invert the detected mask. Like other features in Luminar NEO, Mask AI isn’t fully automatic. In other words, you can still tweak it if you’re not happy with the selection. “Luminar Neo in its initial conception is a product designed to solve the problems of photographers,” Skylum CEO Ivan Kutanin. “I believe that with Mask AI we’ve hit that goal.”
Availability
Luminar Neo Update 1.0.6 is now released and available in both the Microsoft Store and macOS App Store. You can also get Luminar Share to share your projects, and it’s available on the Google Play Store and the macOS App Store. Right now, Luminar NEO is at a discount and you can get it for €44 or €54, depending on whether you need it for one or two computers. You can see more offers here, and keep in mind the 30-day money-back guarantee from the time of shipping. To learn more about Luminar Neo and sign up for updates, visit Skylum’s website.
