CryptomatteExtractor Batches Masks into PSDs

For those who don’t know the tool: CryptomatteExtractor is Radu Șerban’s standalone Windows utility for converting rendered Cryptomatte data into masks and layered image-editing documents. It prepares existing render data for postproduction; it does not generate missing object IDs from a flattened beauty pass.

Cryptomatte data is already sitting in the render, carrying object and material identities. The remaining task is to give those identities somewhere useful to live. CryptomatteExtractor 2.4 packages them into layered documents for Photoshop and Affinity, adding batch processing and 16-bit output. Less tracing around the chair; more asking why it needs a seventh colour revision.

IDs need a forwarding address

Cryptomatte derives ID mattes from information available at render time, with support for motion blur, transparency and depth of field. The manifest maps readable mask names to hash values. It supplies the address book, not the matte itself: name lookup and pixel decoding are separate jobs. CryptomatteExtractor uses that manifest to name its output. Your chair can arrive as a recognisable scene object rather than an anonymous hexadecimal houseguest.

Layers with a filing system

The developer’s walkthrough describes a MASKS group containing a folder per Cryptomatte pass and named object or material layers. Beauty and render elements occupy a separate Elements group. In Photoshop, activate the Move tool and Ctrl-click the image to locate a mask layer, then Ctrl-click its thumbnail to load the selection. The result is an adjustment target, without an introductory seminar on EXR channel names.

Delivery can use editable layer masks or pixel layers. The MASKS group uses 0% opacity in Photoshop; Affinity uses 1% to keep its layers selectable. Invisible housekeeping, with a small administrative surcharge for Affinity. PNG mode instead writes an 8-bit RGBA file per mask.

Radu Șerban’s demonstration covers EXR preparation, document building and Photoshop selections; it is not a benchmark of the new batch workflow.

Batch work, individual decisions

The batch queue accepts EXR and CXR files from different folders, with pass selection per file. Each render produces a document beside its source; a failed item does not stop the remaining queue. One awkward render therefore need not hold the others hostage.

Corona brings its own seasoning

CXR takes a split path: masks come from embedded Cryptomatte data, while render elements pass through Corona Image Editor with tone mapping, LightMix and denoising applied. Those elements have already been processed. Feeding them into a scene-linear reconstruction as if nothing happened would be seasoning the soup twice, then blaming the spoon.

More bits, same questions

The extractor switches to PSB above 30,000 pixels in width or height, or 2 GB. Adobe’s documentation identifies those large-document boundaries and warns that some plug-ins retain dimension limits. PSB expands the container; it does not issue a bigger brain to every application opening it.

The new 16-bit option also needs to be read literally. Photoshop distinguishes 16-bit and 32-bit formats; a 16-bit document is not evidence of a lossless 32-bit floating-point round trip. The seller does not specify HDR preservation or colour-transform guarantees. Keep the original EXR for scene-linear work and archive it alongside the delivery. The PSD can attend the client meeting; it need not inherit the family estate.

https://raduserban.gumroad.com/l/CryptomatteExtractor-FullVersion

https://raduserban.gumroad.com/l/CryptomatteExtractor-FreeTrial

Availability

The full version costs US$20 minimum as a one-time purchase, with unlimited extractions on the licensed machine; activation is tied to its hardware ID. The free trial allows ten extractions without a time limit. Version 1 owners receive version 2 as a free update. No subscription is listed.