Editor Interface

In the picture below, each part of the CloudKO Editor interface is labeled with a letter which corresponds to a subsection which gives a detailed description.

A - Tools

B - Tool Settings

  • Each tool has its own settings which are displayed here when the tool is selected in the Tools Panel (see the Editor Tools section for a detailed description of each tool).

C - Layers

  • The top left image is the source image. This is the original image sent to the cloud. By default, selections made with the Wand will come from this layer, hence the red box around the layer.
  • To the right of the source image is the source mask created by ChromaStar®. This is where edits are applied to recover pixels on the source image.
    • The backslash key (\) can be pressed to view the source mask in a white overlay view mode.
    • The forward slash key (/) can be pressed to see a red outline around the contour of the source mask.
  • The bottom left image is the tint image. This layer is created by ChromaStar® and serves to correct spill (color reflected off the backdrop onto the subject) and is also for blending (translucent parts of the subject’s clothes which have background showing through it).
  • To the right of the tint image is the tint mask, which can be edited to retouch any debris (ex. dirt, wrinkles, etc.) on the background or to remove background color remaining on the result.
  • A layer can be hidden by clicking it (a red X will appear) and made visible by clicking it again.
  • Shift-clicking a layer will change which layer a wand selection comes from (a red box will appear around the layer).
  • To view the image in white overlay mode AND have the wand selection come from the source mask, the shortcut shift+\ can be pressed. Shift+\ can be pressed again to return to your previous layer settings.
  • The buttons to the right of the layers indicate whether the source mask (foreground) or the tint mask (background ) is being edited. Both layers can be edited at the same time by pressing the shortcut ctrl+shift+b.

D - Menu Bar


Save - Saves current image and remains on current image.
Save & exit - Saves current image and returns to the jobs page.

Reload image- Resets both the source mask and the tint mask to the last saved version of the masks. To avoid resetting the masks by mistake, a pop-up will appear to warn that this cannot be undone (see image below).

Exit- Used to exit an image. A pop-up will ask what to do with the current open image before exiting the editor (see image below).

Undo - When a mistake is made, press this to undo the last edit (ex. action, selection, expand, etc.) which was made. A maximum of nine edits can be undone.
Redo - Click this when an edit is undone which you wish to redo. A maximum of nine edits can be redone.
Shortcuts - View editor shortcuts. Once in the shortcut menu, the shortcuts can be customized by each user by clicking edit and then typing in your desired shortcut and clicking accept shortcut.

Invert - Inverts active selection(s).
Select all - Selects the entire image or mask.
Deselect all - Deselects all active selections.

View with background color - The letter C can be pressed to toggle through six different colored backgrounds to view what the image will look like once a background is placed behind the subject.
Fit to screen - After panning and/or zooming, this can be pressed to reset the size and position of the image to its original state.


See the Editor Actions section for detailed descriptions.

Support Center - Opens the help desk where you can read CloudKO Lite manuals & FAQ's, watch tutorial videos, and submit a ticket if you have a problem or question about CloudKO Lite.
About - Shows current version of the software.

E - Status Bar

  • When an image is loaded or saved or when an action is applied, the status bar will tell you whether the task is in process, complete, or if there is an error.


Editor Icon Glossary

Below is a list of icons used in the CloudKO editor along with a description of each icon.

Lasso Tool


Wand Tool (in the Tool Settings palette)


Brush Tool


Brush in hide green mode (in the Tool Settings palette)


Brush in show green mode (in the Tool Settings palette)


Add to selection (used with the Lasso Tool and Wand Tool)


Minus from selection (used with the Lasso Tool and Wand Tool)


Hide green (used with or without an active selection)


Show green (used with or without an active selection)


Expand and feather selection


Invert selection

Brush in show green mode (on the image)


Brush in hide green mode (on the image)


Editor Tools

The brush, the lasso, and the wand are the three tools used in CloudKO's editor (together with the actions) to edit the images. Each tool has its own settings which can be adjusted by the imaging technician to fix each image as efficiently as possible while maintaining a high level of quality.



Brush (watch tutorial)


Brush Settings

  • Size
    • Default size is 150px.
    • Brush size can be changed by typing a number between 1 and 1500 in the box or by pressing [ to decrease the size and ] to increase the size.
  • Opacity
    • Brush opacity is lowered when blending. For example, green hair shot on a green screen may need to be blended around the edges.
    • Default opacity is 100%.
    • Brush opacity can be changed in the following ways:
      • Type a number between 0-100 in the box.
      • Press 1 for 10%, 2 for 20%...and 0 for 100%.
      • Press ; to decrease opacity and ‘ to increase opacity by increments of 10%.
  • Hardness
    • A low hardness (low number) will make the edges softer and more blurred, whereas a high hardness (high number) will make the edges appear harder.
    • Default hardness is 90%.
    • Brush hardness can be changed either by typing in a number or pressing { to decrease the hardness and } to increase the hardness by increments of 5%.
    • 90% hardness is good in most cases, but it may occasionally need to be lowered when blending (usually when using a low opacity) or when using a really small brush.
  • Remember Settings Between Images
    • The shortcut ctrl+b can be pressed at any time to return to the default Brush settings.
    • Unchecked by default, meaning the brush settings (size, opacity, and hardness) will reset between images.
    • When checked off, the brush settings (size, opacity, and hardness) will remain the same between images and will only reset once the user exits from the Editor.

Brush Use

  • The Brush Tool is used to hide background pixels which should be knocked-out and to recover pixels on the subject which have gone missing on the result.
    • The two Brush modes (show pixels and hide pixels) can be toggled by pressing B or by clicking the icons in the Tool Settings panel.
  • The Brush is the most efficient tool in the following cases:
    • To recover pixels which have been extracted on the subject (ex. part of a shirt has gone transparent or changed color because the algorithm recognized it as background instead of part the subject).
    • When using Smart Correction Mode to fix the color of hair or sheer material.
    • Removing background wrinkles.



Lasso (watch tutorial)



Lasso Settings

  • Add to selection
    • When there is already an active selection and another area needs to be added to the selection, make sure this icon is pressed then make another selection around the area which needs to be added to the selection.
  • Remove from selection
    • When there is already an active selection, but part of the selection needs to be deselected, click on the remove from selection icon (or press and hold alt) and select the area which needs to be removed from the selection.
  • Feather
    • A small feather (low number) will keep the edges hard, while a larger feather (high number) will soften the edges of the selection.
    • Default feather is 0px
    • The number of pixels a selection is feathered by can be changed by typing in a number between 0-20.
  • Expand
    • A negative number will contract an active selection while a positive number will expand an active selection.
    • Default expand is 0px.
    • The number of pixels a selection is contracted or expanded by can be changed by typing in a number between -100 and 100.
  • Hide pixels
    • If pressed with an active selection, the selection will feather and expand by the amounts in the above boxes, and then pixels will be hidden.
    • If pressed with no active selection, all pixels on the image will be hidden.
  • Recover pixels
    • If pressed when there is an active selection, the selection will feather and expand by the amounts in the above boxes and then the pixels will be recovered.
    • If pressed with no active selection, all pixels on the image will be recovered.
  • Expand or contract
    • When there is an active selection, this can be pressed to expand/contract and feather by the amounts in the above boxes without hiding or recovering pixels.
  • Invert
    • Used to invert an active selection (expand and feather are not applied).

Lasso Use

  • The lasso tool is used to select areas of an image that need to be hidden (ex. shadows around feet) or to deselect hair after selecting background shadows with the wand tool.



Wand (watch tutorial)



Wand Settings

  • Add to selection
    • When there is already an active selection and another area needs to be added to the selection, make sure this icon is pressed and click the areas which need to be added to the selection.
  • Remove from selection
    • When there is already an active selection, but part of the selection needs to be deselected, click on the remove from selection icon (or press and hold the alt key) and click the areas which need to be deselected.
  • Contiguous
    • When contiguous is checked and the wand is clicked, only adjacent pixels will be selected.
      • Checked by default
    • When contiguous is unchecked and the wand is clicked, any pixel on the image within a specified range of tones (tolerance) will be selected.
    • Can toggle between having contiguous checked and unchecked by pressing . (period) or by clicking it.
  • Tolerance
    • Tolerance determines the range of colors which will be selected when the wand is clicked.
      • A smaller number will select a smaller range of colors and a larger number will select a larger range of colors.
    • Can be adjusted by either typing in a number or pressing [ to lower the tolerance and ] to increase the tolerance.
  • Hide pixels
    • If pressed when there is an active selection, the selection will feather and expand by the amounts in the above boxes and then pixels will be hidden.
    • If pressed with no active selection, all pixels on the image will be hidden.
  • Recover pixels
    • If pressed with an active selection, the selection will feather and expand by the amounts in the above boxes and then pixels will be recovered.
    • If pressed with no active selection, all pixels on the image will be recovered.
  • Expand or contract
    • When there is an active selection, this icon can be pressed to expand/contract and feather by the amounts in the above boxes without hiding or recovering pixels.
  • Invert
    • Inverts an active selection (expand and feather are not applied).

Wand Use

  • The wand tool is used together with the F11 action to hide background pixels when it is next to the subject .
    • Background which needs to be hidden is selected with the wand and then, after switching to the background layer,  the F11 action is applied to quickly hide the pixels in all selected areas (see more details on the F11 action in the Editor Actions section).
  • The wand is used together with the g action to hide green pixels on the foreground mask next to green grass.
    • Background green which needs to be hidden is selected with the wand and then the g action is applied to quickly hide the green along the grass (see more details on the g action in the Editor Actions section).
  • It is best to keep contiguous checked and to only uncheck it in the following types of cases (note that when contiguous is unchecked, it is best to use a very low tolerance of about 5-10 to avoid selecting part of the subject. If some of the subject does get selected, it should be removed from the selection with the lasso tool before applying the F11 action).
    • Lacrosse sticks or tennis rackets that have background stuck in the holes and the Smart Tool was unsuccessful at removing it.



Spill Cleanup Mode 


To fix spill, Smart Correction Mode (details below), will work great, but in some cases, like skin on the subject's face, Spill Cleanup Mode may work better.


To activate Spill Cleanup Mode, use the shortcut ctrl+alt+r.


Used on objects which become too transparent when spill is removed.


How to Use

  • Select the problematic area using the appropriate selection method.
  • Press ctrl+alt+r to activate the Spill Cleanup Mode.
  • Press delete until the object reaches the desired color.
    • The first time delete is pressed, the selection will contract by 1px, feather by 2px, then fill the selection.
    • The second time delete is pressed, the selection will expand by 1px.
    • All subsequent times delete is pressed, the selection will slowly change color.
  • Deselect.
  • Press ctrl+alt+r to exit the Spill Cleanup Mode.

Note that if multiple areas in an image contain spill, it is best to do each area separately. You must exit and then reactivate the Spill Cleanup mode between each section.


Editor Actions

There are four actions which work together with the tools to help edit the images more efficiently. 


F11 Action (hide pixels within selection)

Source Mask (Foreground Layer)

  • Used together with the wand to hide pixels on the Foreground layer.
  • Once a selection has been made with the wand, F11 is pressed to expand by 3px, feather by 3px, hide pixelsthen go on the brush tool.
    • If pressing F11 once is not enough, it can be pressed again to get even closer to the edge of the subject.

Tint Mask (Background Retouch Layer)

  • Used together with the wand to hide background debris such as shadows and wrinkles as well as background color that did not knock out automatically.
    • Once a selection has been made with the wand, F11 is pressed to expand by 1px, feather by 1px, hide background debris, then go on the brush tool.
    • If pressing F11 once is not enough, it can be pressed again to get even closer to the edge of the subject.

Both Masks (Background Retouch Mode)

  • Used together with the wand or lasso tool to hide background pixels on both layers and background wrinkles and shadows at the same time.
  • Once a selection has been made, the F11 action will hide pixels on the foreground layer using expand and feather values of 3px and at the same time it will hide pixels on the background layer using expand and feather values of 1px, and then go on the brush tool.
    • If pressing F11 once is not enough, it can be pressed again to get even closer to the edge of the subject.


G Action (hide pixels within selection)

  • Used together with the wand tool to hide green pixels on the foreground layer next to green grass.
  • This action is the same as the F11 action, except it expands and feathers by 6px each instead of 3px.
  • To use this action, the background must first be selected with the wand, then press g to expand by 6px, feather by 6px, hide green, and go back on the brush tool.
    • If there are any areas next to the grass where the green foreground mask is still showing too much, use the brush tool with an opacity of 10-20% to touch it up.
  • If there are background pixels on the background layer stuck between the grass blades, try using Smart Correction Mode to remove them (see below).


F12 Action (hide pixels outside selection)

  • Used together with the lasso to hide the background pixels outside of a selection.
  • Pixels within the selection(s) will remain untouched and all pixels outside the selection(s) will be hidden
  • Pixels which need to be retained are selected with the lasso tool then F12 is pressed to invert the selection, expand by 3px, feather by 3px, hide pixels, deselect, then select the brush tool.
    • When needed, multiple areas can be selected with the lasso before applying the F12 action.


Background Retouch (watch tutorial)

  • To cleanup the background the tint layer must be edited, so start by selecting the button on the right of the tint layer or using the shortcut ctrl+L to toggle between layers.
  • Both the tint layer mask and the source layer mask can be edited at the same time by pressing ctrl+shift+b to select both layer masks. To go back to one layer either press ctrl+shift+b again or press ctrl+L.
  • The same tools (brush, lasso, wand) and actions (F11, F12) can be used to retouch the background to hide wrinkles, shadows, dust spots, etc.
  • If using the wand tool it will by default make a selection from the source image, which is usually where the selection will need to come from. If it is necessary to have the selection come from a different layer, hold shift and click on the layer where you want the selection to be made (note that even if the selection is coming from the source layer, it is still the tint layer being edited).


Smart Correction Mode 


Smart Correction Mode for Colour Correction (watch tutorial)




Used on areas that appear to still have some background colour in them.. This occurs on the edges of certain hair colors and on some sheer material.


  1. Enter smart correction mode by pressing Ctrl & Alt & S.
  2. The cursor will be a small blue circle. This is used to sample the colour you want the area to become.
  3. Using the green brush, paint over the areas that need to be fixed. The brush will have  a hardness of 20 while in colour correction mode. The hardness can be changed as usual if needed.
    • The wand or lasso can also be used by first selecting an area that needs to be fixed, then pressing delete to change the colour.
    • If you paint an object and change its colour by mistake, either undo (ctrl & Z) if it’s noticed immediately, or switch the brush to red (press B) and paint over the object to change it back to its original colour (must be in smart correction mode).
    • If there is an area that should be a different colour, the tool can be calibrated again by pressing Shift & C and sampling a new colour.
  4. If after painting, an area does not change to the desired colour, it can be fixed by pressing Shift & + (on the top of a keyboard) to enhance the colour or Shift & - (on the top of a keyboard) to reduce the colour change.
  5. Once an area looks good, Shift & D can be pressed to lock in the results and prevent changes to that area. (It is deleting a recorded action from history). If Shift & + or Shift & - is done afterwards on another section, that first area will not be changed. Alternatively, if smart correction mode is exited and re-entered, the first area will not be affected when pressing Shift & + or Shift &  - on the newly corrected section.
  6. Exit smart correction mode by pressing Ctrl & Alt & S.



Smart Correction Mode for Spill Correction (watch tutorial)



Used on areas that have spill from the background or areas that have become transparent due to automatic spill removal.


  1. Enter smart correction mode by pressing Ctrl & Alt & S.
  2. The cursor will be a small blue circle. This is used to sample the colour you want the area to become.
  3. Fixing the spill can be done using the brush, wand, or lasso.
    • Brush
      • Paint over the area with spill. If there is transparency after the spill is removed, paint while holding Alt to force it opaque. The brush will have a hardness of 90 while forcing opacity. The hardness can be changed if needed by pressing Ctrl & Shift & [ to decrease the hardness and Ctrl & Shift & ] to increase the hardness.
      • If any of the background was painted on, it can be removed by changing the brush to red and holding Alt while painting over it.
    • Lasso or wand
      • Select the area to be fixed. Press Ctrl & Delete to fil the area with the sampled colour.
      • If any of the background was included in the selection, it can be removed by changing the brush to red and holding Alt while painting, or by using the lasso or wand to select the background and pressing f11 while in background cleanup mode, to hide it.
  4. If after painting (or pressing Ctrl & Delete), an area does not change to the desired colour, it can be fixed by pressing Shift & + (on the top of a keyboard)  or  Ctrl & Shift & + with forced opacity to enhance the colour, or Shift & - or Ctrl & Shift & - with forced opacity to reduce the colour change.
  5. Once an area looks good, Shift & D can be pressed to lock in the results and prevent changes to that area. (It is deleting a recorded action from history). If Ctrl & Shift & + or Ctrl & Shift & - is done afterwards on another section, that first area will not be changed. Alternatively, if smart correction mode is exited and re-entered, the first area will not be affected when pressing Ctrl & **Shift & + or Ctrl & Shift &  - on the newly corrected section. 
  6. Exit smart correction mode by pressing Ctrl & Alt & S.
  7. If any background is showing on the tint mask after exiting smart correction mode, do not worry, it can be fixed by going onto the background layer and hiding it, you do not need to be in smart correction mode.