If you regularly need to cut out complex images from their backgrounds - think heads with unruly coifs - this Photoshop plug-in set may be the answer to your prayers.

Okay, so this isn't a new product - Virtus' Fluid Mask 2.0 for the Mac shipped in May of last year - but it was new to me. Possibly if my work involved removing tons of images from their backgrounds in Photoshop, I would have heard of it earlier - because it would have saved me tons of time and eye-watering agony.

Simply put, Fluid Mask makes it a piece of cake to cut complex images out from their backgrounds. If you've ever used masking and channel optimization in Photoshop to cut complex images, you know what a time-consuming pain in the glutes that effort can be. Well, if Fluid Mask works half as well in reality as it did in its demo, you owe it to yourself to check it out. But don't just take my word for it - check out the gallery of projects sent in by happy Fluid Mask users on Virtus Technology's website.

By the way, Fluid Mask's system requirements are rather modest: Mac OS 10.2.8 or later, a 833MHz G4 or higher, and Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or later.