Customer Reviews

Corel KnockOut 2 [Old Version]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I maintain an online retail catalog. I often take my own photos of the products. I needed image editing software that could isolate objects from their background, so that I could replace the background with something snazzy and showcase the product more professionally. This software sounded like the answer to my dreams. To listen to their propaganda, this is the simplest, most advanced solution to that "Holy Grail" of image editing tasks--cleanly removing main objects from their original settings.

The trouble is, this is a pretty cumbersome, ineffective, and even "unintelligent" program. You go through the correct motions, after slogging through the woefully inadequate online tutorial and manual, and the darn thing fairly butchers the mask/isolate process; it chops up the foreground object as if it had no clue about how to distingush white pixels from light gray. And I am using a high-end graphics tablet with a pen and skirting the edges of the image objects using Knock Out's magnify tool, with surgical precision. The bottom line: the results are poor, and I have better luck simply using the "magnetic lasso" tool that comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements, and even conventional "paint bucket" and "paint brush" tools, combined with a steady hand and the graphics tablet, yield more accurate and predictable results. Maybe one day I'll get the hang of this software, but from where I stand, this thing fell way short of its advertised function. I feel like I was somewhat duped by this rather sloppy-to-use and rather expensive software add-on program.

I have been struggling with this thing for 4 days.

1. Book is poorly written. It talks about things you can do, without clearly explaining how. (No details, or examples given!)
2. Help is just the book - again.
3. Tutorial is cumbersome, worst one I have ever come across.
4. However, 30 days phone support is included. The problem is that the techs are not up to speed on this program either. After a phone call, I was able to use the program, in its most basic form. As far a using multiple re-dos, Corel techs didn't know anymore then I did. 5. When a knocked out image is sent back to photoshop - you don't see it as knocked out - you have to drag it into another screen. This is one of those "little" things that the instructions don't cover, that drove me crazy.

This product is advertised as a "powerful masking" tool that lets you "isolate and separate a detailed foreground object from an image." It is, however, an expensive tool that does not work as well as the tools built into Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. The selection tools within Paint shop, including the magic wand, are far more discriminating than Knockout and require far less touch ups. I can isolate and separate objects from graphics with Paint Shop Pro in 1/10th of the time as Knockout allows and with 10 times the accuracy.

We all want a simpler way to isolate objects from graphics but this just isn't it. Save your money and spend it on other photo editing software plug-ins.

Knockout 2 does not work with Photoshop CS or CS2. Before purchasing, I called Corel and was assured by pre-sales staff that it would work. When I called tech support after trying to use Knockout on my computer, I was told that they do not even have a current version of Photoshop to test with. Tech support suggested deleting my Photoshop prefs, which did not solve the problem. They were unwilling to provide further support.

Stay away from this product, which has not been updated in years and seems to be in a very long EOL phase.

No current updates or tech support bulletins at Corel's website.

Stay away. Avoid. Do not buy.

I have read the reviews here and find they either don't know how to use the software or installed it incorrectly. I have used Knockout since it first was released in the late-90s. This is the best tool for masking items from an image. And it does work with Adobe Photoshop CS2. It's important the Knockout Plugin is placed in the Photoshop/Plugins folder. It may seem cumbersome but it really isn't. It's just a little different way of thinking. They have a really good tech support that will give you hints on the best way to get started. The trick is start with a sloppily oversized marquee and zoom in to define it, adding and subtracting areas. Do this to both the inside and outside of the area needing masking. It's also good to have a Wacom Tablet Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8 Pen Tablet for a complete set of digital editing tools. The results are worlds better than you can achieve with Photoshop Extraction tool. I hope you enjoy this product as much as I have these 9+ years.

I found this easy to use, and Great at retaining the translucent and fringed edges of images. Love it, and use it on professional projects on a regular basis.

Have just completely wasted my money on this product in search of a more accurate masking solution. I am not a Photoshop user, but I do have Corel PhotoPaintx4 (14.0) and PaintShop Pro 10. Despite what you may find in Corel user groups, Knockout DOES NOT work with any of these. Called Corel Support and was told it only works with certain versions of Photoshop. The box and the instructions say it will work with PhotoPaint, but apparently this is only up to CorelDraw v.11. It will only work with Photoshop 5,6, and 7 as well. They tell me that they no longer make the product and it is all old stock, so that's why the manual and packaging are incorrect. Needless to say they won't take it back for a refund. This is another fine example of the disgusting customer service I have become accustomed to from Corel, and is probably contravening consumer law in the UK. If you have one of the aforementioned versions of Photoshop, it may work very well. Otherwise forget it.

I've used Knockout since before it was available to the public. Yes, it is hard to learn and get the hang of and if you don't have time to get it down you will indeed give up. Is it worth the time? Depends on what you use it for. I used it for mainly extracting people with wild hair out of pictures with their hair not suffering any damage. It worked most of the time but there is often a lot of clean up afterwards as well.
I agree with others in the fact that other programs offer easier ways of doing "nearly" the same thing. Boy, do I ever miss Picture It! Why doesn't Microsoft make it anymore? It was a kickbutt strong little program with tons of features. Never fails, whenever I like something - they stop making it.

Why ANYONE would offer a software product that is outdated by at least 7 YEARS is mind boggling to me.
Whats worse is that the Amazon website says its compatible with Photoshop 5 "and higher" WRONG!!
I tried to install and nothing. Then after calling Corel and getting a person who sounded like I woke him up at his customer service job said "it is ONLY compatible with Photoshop 5 or Lower" .
What a joke.
-Join Y2k

I had been looking for this software, and it hadn't occurred to me to look at Amazon. I mean great books, movies, and electronics, but software, no way! My service was once again, excellent! Speedy delivery. Kuddos for Amazon!!