Photoshop: Is there an optimal setting for Select and Mask? I can never get it to work efficiently :-(

Adobe Photoshop Version: 19.1.0 20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018  x64
Number of Launches: 382
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
Version: 10 or greater 10.0.16299.15
System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:14, Stepping:3 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, HyperThreading
Physical processor count: 4
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: 3408 MHz
Built-in memory: 32710 MB
Free memory: 2 MB
Memory available to Photoshop: 29423 MB
Memory used by Photoshop: 80 %
Alias Layers: Disabled.
Modifier Palette: Enabled.
Highbeam: Enabled.
Image tile size: 1024K
Image cache levels: 6
Font Preview: Medium
TextComposer: Latin
Display: 1
Display Bounds: top=0, left=0, bottom=1200, right=1920
OpenGL Drawing: Enabled.
OpenGL Allow Old GPUs: Not Detected.
OpenGL Drawing Mode: Normal
OpenGL Allow Normal Mode: True.
OpenGL Allow Advanced Mode: True.
AIFCoreInitialized=1
AIFOGLInitialized=1
OGLContextCreated=1
NumGLGPUs=1
NumCLGPUs=1
NumNativeGPUs=0
glgpu[0].GLVersion="4.1"
glgpu[0].IsIntegratedGLGPU=0
glgpu[0].GLMemoryMB=6144
glgpu[0].GLName="NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB"
glgpu[0].GLVendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
glgpu[0].GLVendorID=4318
glgpu[0].GLDriverVersion="23.21.13.9065"
glgpu[0].GLRectTextureSize=32768
glgpu[0].GLRenderer="GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2"
glgpu[0].GLRendererID=7171
glgpu[0].HasGLNPOTSupport=1
glgpu[0].GLDriver="C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_5601d21ccd639df9\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_5601d21ccd639df9\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_5601d21ccd639df9\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_5601d21ccd639df9\nvldumdx.dll"
glgpu[0].GLDriverDate="20180103000000.000000-000"
glgpu[0].CanCompileProgramGLSL=1
glgpu[0].GLFrameBufferOK=1
glgpu[0].glGetString[GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION]="4.60 NVIDIA"
glgpu[0].glGetProgramivARB[GL_FRAGMENT_PROGRAM_ARB][GL_MAX_PROGRAM_INSTRUCTIONS_ARB]=[65536]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS]=[4]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[192]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[32]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[32]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS]=[8]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS]=[4096]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_FRAGMENT_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS]=[4096]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VARYING_FLOATS]=[124]
glgpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_ATTRIBS]=[16]
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_VERTEX_PROGRAM]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_FRAGMENT_PROGRAM]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_VERTEX_SHADER]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_FRAGMENT_SHADER]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_EXT_FRAMEBUFFER_OBJECT]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_TEXTURE_FLOAT]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_OCCLUSION_QUERY]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_VERTEX_BUFFER_OBJECT]=1
glgpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_SHADER_TEXTURE_LOD]=1
clgpu[0].CLPlatformVersion="1.2"
clgpu[0].CLDeviceVersion="1.2 CUDA"
clgpu[0].IsIntegratedCLGPU=0
clgpu[0].CLMemoryMB=6144
clgpu[0].CLName="GeForce GTX 1060 6GB"
clgpu[0].CLVendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
clgpu[0].CLVendorID=4318
clgpu[0].CLDriverVersion="390.65"
clgpu[0].CLBandwidth=1.42971e+11
clgpu[0].CLCompute=1692.2
License Type: Subscription
Serial number: 96040551486488759224
GUIDBucket:
Application folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\
Temporary file path: C:\Users\cabin\AppData\Local\Temp\
Photoshop scratch has async I/O enabled
Scratch volume(s):
  G:\, 119.2G, 75.3G free
Required Plug-ins folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Required\Plug-Ins\
Primary Plug-ins folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Plug-Ins\
Installed components:
   A3DLIBS.dll   A3DLIB Dynamic Link Library   9.2.0.112  
   ACE.dll   ACE 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   AdbePM.dll   PatchMatch 2016/11/03:19:48:57   1.578146   1.578146
   AdobeLinguistic.dll   Adobe Linguisitc Library   10.0.0  
   AdobeOwl.dll   Adobe Owl   5.2.11  
   AdobePDFL.dll   PDFL 2017/10/31-06:12:59   79.250229   79.250229
   AdobePIP.dll   Adobe Product Improvement Program   7.4.1.109.46827  
   AdobeSVGAGM.dll   AdobeSVGAGM   79.588619   79.588619
   AdobeXMP.dll   Adobe XMP Core 2017/07/13-01:06:39   79.160924   79.160924
   AdobeXMPFiles.dll   Adobe XMP Files 2017/07/13-01:06:39   79.160924   79.160924
   AdobeXMPScript.dll   Adobe XMP Script 2017/07/13-01:06:39   79.160924   79.160924
   adobe_caps.dll   Adobe CAPS   10,0,0,6  
   AGM.dll   AGM 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   ahclient.dll    AdobeHelp Dynamic Link Library   3.0.0.6  
   AIDE.dll   AIDE 2016/05/27-01:08:49   79.574279   79.574279
   amtlib.dll   AMTLib (64 Bit)   10.0.0.221 BuildVersion: 10.0; BuildDate: Tue Aug 1 2017 8:28:8)   1.000000
   ARE.dll   ARE 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   AXE8SharedExpat.dll   AXE8SharedExpat 2015/03/13-23:40:54   79.562390   79.562390
   AXEDOMCore.dll   AXEDOMCore 2015/03/13-23:40:54   79.562390   79.562390
   Bib.dll   BIB 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   BIBUtils.dll   BIBUtils 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   boost_date_time.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   boost_filesystem.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   boost_signals.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   boost_system.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   boost_threads.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   cg.dll   NVIDIA Cg Runtime   3.0.00007  
   cgGL.dll   NVIDIA Cg Runtime   3.0.00007  
   CITThreading.dll   Adobe CITThreading   2.1.0.1   2.1.0.1
   CoolType.dll   CoolType 2017/11/22-18:28:12   79.589342   79.589342
   CRClient.dll   Adobe Crash Reporter Client DLL   1.6.3.0  
   dnssd.dll   Bonjour   3,0,0,2  
   dvaaudiodevice.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvacore.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvacrashhandler.dll   Adobe Audition CC 2017   10.0.0  
   dvamarshal.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvamediatypes.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvametadata.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvametadataapi.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvametadataui.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvaplayer.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvatransport.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvaui.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dvaunittesting.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   dynamiclink.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   ExtendScript.dll   ExtendScript 2017/08/31-12:13:14   81.1150526   81.1150526
   icucnv40.dll   International Components for Unicode 2014/10/31-16:52:45    Build gtlib_6.0.21339  
   icudt40.dll   International Components for Unicode 2014/10/31-16:52:45    Build gtlib_6.0.21339  
   icuuc40.dll   International Components for Unicode 2014/10/31-16:52:45    Build gtlib_6.0.21339  
   igestep30.dll   IGES Reader   9.3.0.113  
   imslib.dll   IMSLib DLL   10.0.0.22  
   JP2KLib.dll   JP2KLib 2017/10/31-01:22:04   79.268591   79.268591
   libifcoremd.dll   Intel(r) Visual Fortran Compiler   10.0 (Update A)  
   libiomp5md.dll   Intel(R) OpenMP* Runtime Library   5.0  
   libmmd.dll   Intel(R) C/C++/Fortran Compiler   17.0.0  
   LogSession.dll   LogSession   7.4.1.109.46827  
   mediacoreif.dll   photoshopdva   11.1.0  
   MPS.dll   MPS 2017/10/31-01:22:04   79.588396   79.588396
   pdfsettings.dll   Adobe PDFSettings   1.04  
   Photoshop.dll   Adobe Photoshop CC 2018   19.1.0  
   Plugin.dll   Adobe Photoshop CC 2018   19.1.0  
   PlugPlugExternalObject.dll   Adobe(R) CEP PlugPlugExternalObject Standard Dll (64 bit)   8.5.0  
   PlugPlugOwl.dll   Adobe(R) CSXS PlugPlugOwl Standard Dll (64 bit)   8.5.0.87  
   PSArt.dll   Adobe Photoshop CC 2018   19.1.0  
   PSCloud.dll                                                   1.0.0.1  
   PSViews.dll   Adobe Photoshop CC 2018   19.1.0  
   SCCore.dll   ScCore 2017/08/31-12:13:14   81.1150526   81.1150526
   SVGRE.dll   SVGRE   79.586793   79.586793
   svml_dispmd.dll   Intel(R) C/C++/Fortran Compiler   17.0.0  
   tbb.dll   Intel(R) Threading Building Blocks for Windows   2017, 0, 2017, 0118  
   tbbmalloc.dll   Intel(R) Threading Building Blocks for Windows   2017, 0, 2017, 0118  
   TfFontMgr.dll   FontMgr   9.3.0.113  
   TfKernel.dll   Kernel   9.3.0.113  
   TFKGEOM.dll   Kernel Geom   9.3.0.113  
   TFUGEOM.dll   Adobe, UGeom©   9.3.0.113  
   updaternotifications.dll   Adobe Updater Notifications Library   10.0.0.1 (BuildVersion: 1.0; BuildDate: BUILDDATETIME)   10.0.0.1
   VulcanControl.dll   Vulcan Application Control Library   5.3.0.16  
   VulcanMessage5.dll   Vulcan Message Library   5.3.0.16  
   WinRTSupport.dll   Adobe Photoshop Windows RT Support   19.0.0.0  
   WRServices.dll   WRServices Thu June 21 2017 12:26:24   Build 0.22473   0.22473
   wu3d.dll   U3D Writer   9.3.0.113  

Required plug-ins:
   3D Studio 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Accented Edges 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Adaptive Wide Angle 19.1.0 - from the file “Adaptive Wide Angle.8bf”
   Angled Strokes 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Average 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Average.8bf”
   Bas Relief 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   BMP 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Camera Raw 10.1 - from the file “Camera Raw.8bi”
   Camera Raw Filter 10.1 - from the file “Camera Raw.8bi”
   Chalk && Charcoal 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Charcoal 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Chrome 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Cineon 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Cineon.8bi”
   Clarity 10.0 - from the file “tlclarity2ps_x64.8bf”
   Clouds 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Clouds.8bf”
   Collada 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Color Halftone 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Colored Pencil 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   CompuServe GIF 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Conté Crayon 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Craquelure 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Crop and Straighten Photos 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “CropPhotosAuto.8li”
   Crop and Straighten Photos Filter 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Crosshatch 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Crystallize 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Cutout 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Dark Strokes 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   De-Interlace 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Detail 10.0 - from the file “tltopazdetailps_x64.8bf”
   Dicom 19.1.0 - from the file “Dicom.8bi”
   Difference Clouds 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Clouds.8bf”
   Diffuse Glow 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Displace 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Dry Brush 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   DxO ViewPoint 3 3.1.250.0 - from the file “PhotoshopPlugin-filterdvpv364.8bf”
   DxO ViewPoint 3 automation 3.1.250.0 - from the file “PhotoshopPlugin-automationdvpv364.8li”
   Eazel Acquire 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “EazelAcquire.8ba”
   Entropy 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Export Color Lookup Tables 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Export3DLUT.8be”
   Extrude 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   FastCore Routines 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “FastCore.8bx”
   Fibers 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Film Grain 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Filter Gallery 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Flash 3D 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Fresco 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Glass 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Glow 10.0 - from the file “tltopazglowps_x64.8bf”
   Glowing Edges 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Google Earth 4 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Grain 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Graphic Pen 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Halftone Pattern 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Halide Bottlenecks 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “HalideBottlenecks.8bx”
   HDRMergeUI 19.1.0 - from the file “HDRMergeUI.8bf”
   Hidden NO VERSION - from the file “TopazRemaskAutomation.8li”
   HSB/HSL 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   IFF Format 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   IGES 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Impression 10.0 - from the file “tsimpressionps_x64.8bf”
   Ink Outlines 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   JPEG 2000 19.1.0 - from the file “JPEG2000.8bi”
   Kurtosis 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Lens Blur 19.1.0 - from the file “Lens Blur.8bf”
   Lens Correction 19.1.0 - from the file “Lens Correction.8bf”
   Lens Flare 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Liquify 19.1.0 - from the file “Liquify.8bf”
   Matlab Operation 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “ChannelPort.8bf”
   Maximum 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Mean 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Measurement Core 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “MeasurementCore.8me”
   Median 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Mezzotint 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Minimum 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   MMXCore Routines 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “MMXCore.8bx”
   Mosaic Tiles 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Multiprocessor Support 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “MultiProcessor Support.8bx”
   Neon Glow 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Note Paper 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   NTSC Colors 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “NTSC Colors.8bf”
   Ocean Ripple 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   OpenEXR 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Paint Daubs 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Palette Knife 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Patchwork 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Paths to Illustrator 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   PCX 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “PCX.8bi”
   Photocopy 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Photoshop 3D Engine 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Photoshop3DEngine.8bi”
   Photoshop Touch 19.0 - from the file “PSDX.8bi”
   Picture Package Filter 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “ChannelPort.8bf”
   Pinch 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Pixar 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Pixar.8bi”
   Plaster 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Plastic Wrap 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   PLY 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Pointillize 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Polar Coordinates 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Portable Bit Map 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “PBM.8bi”
   Poster Edges 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   PRC 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Radial Blur 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Radiance 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Radiance.8bi”
   Range 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Render Color Lookup Grid 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Export3DLUT.8be”
   Reticulation 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Ripple 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Rough Pastels 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Save for Web 19.1.0 - from the file “Save for Web.8be”
   ScriptingSupport 19.1.0 - from the file “ScriptingSupport.8li”
   Shake Reduction 19.1.0 - from the file “Shake Reduction.8bf”
   Shear 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Simplify 10.0 - from the file “tltopazsimplifyps_x64.8bf”
   Skewness 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Smart Blur 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Smudge Stick 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Solarize 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “Solarize.8bf”
   Spaces 19.1.0 - from the file “Spaces.8li”
   Spatter 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Spherize 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Sponge 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Sprayed Strokes 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Stained Glass 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Stamp 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Standard Deviation 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   STL 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Sumi-e 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Summation 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Targa 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Texturizer 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Tiles 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Topaz ReMask 5 10.0 - from the file “tlremask5ps_x64.8bf”
   Topaz Studio 10.0 - from the file “tltopazstudiops_x64.8bf”
   Torn Edges 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Twirl 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   U3D 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Underpainting 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Vanishing Point 19.1.0 - from the file “VanishingPoint.8bf”
   Variance 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “statistics.8ba”
   Virtual Reality Modeling Language | VRML 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   Water Paper 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Watercolor 19.1.0 - from the file “Filter Gallery.8bf”
   Wave 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Wavefront|OBJ 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “U3D.8bi”
   WIA Support 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “WIASupport.8li”
   Wind 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
   Wireless Bitmap 19.1.0 (20180116.r.238 2018/01/16: 1153018) - from the file “WBMP.8bi”
   ZigZag 19.1.0 - from the file “Standard MultiPlugin.8bf”
Optional and third party plug-ins: NONE

Duplicate and Disabled plug-ins: NONE

Plug-ins that failed to load: NONE
Extensions:
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I must admit, I have the same problem as you. It's so painful that I always cancel and go back to the old method. 

And that's what I just did after trying for minutes - cancelled and went back to the old :-( 

Try changing PS Preferences> Performance> Advanced Settings as shown below and Restart PS.  Also try using the Quick Selection Tool on the even toned background then click on 'Invert' and use the Refine Edge brush at the hair line.

Jerry,
that ́s terrible :(
On my system it ́s nearly realtime. You could try a bigger radius for the QS tool. Is it as slow as this, if you use other preview modes (on black, on white etc.)?

It's much more responsive for me (though I have a powerful machine - but it has always been fast), even on high res images. But I often experience that you need to plan how you mask nonetheless. For an image like you show in the video, the best would be to first select the outside area which is a flat color (much easier for photoshop to calculate) then invert the selection and start to finetune after. Also using magic wand or even lasso in the beginning and then move on to quick selection tool for the minor details and then enter "select and mask" mode screen for fine tuning. Usually this way I have masked an image perfectly within a few seconds. there's really no point to use the quick selection to mask out every inside detail. 

Ouch, that looks painfully slow. Do you have any setting active in S&M though? It's always better with that tool to have everything zero'd out when making the initial selections...

Try using the refine tool in single strokes just on on the actual edges that you want to refine. From the video, it looks as though you are dragging it over a large area of her hair and then making lots of drags on an area you want to capture fly-aways in. Each stroke of the tool appears to make photoshop try to reevaluate the edges in the area you have stroked over, so one can end up queuing lots of edge detection if you shake the mouse around a lot.

For hair fly-aways, I tend to find using a 0 contrast with a brush that is a little wider than the flyaway is most efficient. Once they are all selected I may narrow the brush and bump the contrast up to refine individual fly-aways.

It seems pretty sensitive to brush size and the number of strokes you use, performance-wise and I have had to change my technique from the old Refine Selection, where I did more as you seem to do in the video.

There does seem to be a bit of a performance issue overall though, particularly with complex edges or large images. I also get the spinning wheel then from time to time,even on a single stroke over a complex or low-contrasting area. (I get it on two different Macs, both of which are well-spec'd).

I've tried using Affinity on the same image for comparison, but although it is faster, it doesn't seem to be as good as Photoshop in terms of precision for edge refinement.

All in all though, I think the tool needs a coat of looking at from Adobe - it is slower, sometimes to the point of being not really fit for purpose.

Hi Jerry- sorry to hear about this! This sounds like something that might be machine specific, since it appears that your lower powered machines are handling the same image with better performance. 

One more thing to check- it could be that your GPU or driver is having some sort of issue. Can you verify that your drivers are all up to date?

Hi Jerry,

Looking again at what you are doing - have you tried Select Subject ? - I am not sure when it came in to CC, but it is in CC19.1.

You just open your image and then click Select Subject under the Select menu - it will automatically find all the edges and select the image subject and then you just need to use Select and Mask to refine things. It works pretty well and a lot of the edge refinement seems to be done by it. On my slower Mac, a MacBook Pro, using a similar image of a girl on a relatively simple background, it takes about 3 seconds to find the subject and do the selection. You might want to give it a try.

Jerry,

I tried this on my iMac and on my Windows rig, which is way inferior to yours:

• Adobe Photoshop Version: 19.0 20171103.r.190 2017/11/03: 1143799  x64Number of Launches: 4
• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
• Version: 10 or greater 10.0.16299.15
• System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:10, Stepping:9 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, HyperThreading
• Physical processor count: 4
• Logical processor count: 8
• Processor speed: 2295 MHz
• Built-in memory: 16354 MB
• Free memory: 9425 MB
• Memory available to Photoshop: 14420 MB
• Memory used by Photoshop: 70 %

I didn't get any delay at all on the iMac and sometimes a 1 second spinning wheel on the Windows machine, but eminently useable.

What is different about both of these to my MacBook Pro, where I get the same problem as you, is that I have two scratch disks configured on the Windows machine and three on the iMac.

Looking at the spec above, I think you only have 1 configured, as I do on the MacBook.

By rights, your Windows system should be a lot faster than mine - you have twice the memory I do and your CPU is somewhat faster as well

The other difference on the first test I did with the Windows machine is that I was accessing it remotely via RDP at the from the MacBook, so OpenGL was disabled, because it causes graphics conflicts on RDP connections. I thought that might be making a difference. So I just tried again, using Jump to access the Windows machine, which doesn't disable the OpenGL. It did make a slight difference, but in the wrong direction for the theory about OpenGL, as there are no spinning wheels at all when I use  it via Jump and the OpenGL is active.

That really only seems to me to leave the scratch disks as the main difference, between my config and yours, so you could try configuring a second scratch disk and see if that helps at all. It may not, but it might be worth a try.

Two years later and we're still dealing with the same issue here. Using Select and Mask with any sliders set to anything other than zero is barely usable with images larger than 10mpx.
Just tested again and nothing has changed.

My machine is massive: i7 9700, Nvidia 2070, NVMe scratch at 3GB/s.

intel 9900K, 64Gb RAM, 1070GTX Windows 10 Pro, SSD work drive, SSD scratch disk, SSD system drive. Clean install of Windows and PS out of despair. Latest NVidia creative drivers.

Performance of Select and Mask workspace is unusably slow.  I'm still using Topaz Remask 5  (Not  the AI version) because the photoshop tools are too slow to use.