Ugh, feel your pain. Adobe's native AI is honestly hit or miss for print quality. For background removal, skip the built-in stuff and use Topaz Labs Photo AI 3.0. It keeps edges sharp for large formats.

• It handles noise better than Photoshop
• Clean batch processing for those catalog images
• Great for upscaling assets It saves me hours every week, definitely worth the price for reliable results.

Re: "Regarding what #2 said about that frustration, honestly, be careful." I totally get it, print work is unforgiving. For your catalog crunch, check out Remove.bg Subscription Pro. It handles edges surprisingly well and integrates directly into PS via a plugin. It's way faster than masking by hand for fifty items. Honestly, I've been really happy with the consistency for print exports so far, no weird muddy pixels to deal with.

Man, I totally get that frustration! I used to spend entire weekends masking products until I finally switched up my batch processing setup. It changed my life when I started automating the grunt work.

• Try looking into dedicated background removal APIs or batch scripts
• Keep an eye on local server-side processing for better resolution control Honestly, once you stop doing it manually, you will reclaim so much of your sanity!

Building on the earlier suggestion, I definitely agree that plugins are the way to go since you need that print-ready accuracy. Honestly, if you're drowning in catalog work, you need to look at Pixelmator Pro 3.6 because their ML-based masking tools are seriously fast and arguably better than Adobe's native ones for edge detection on hair or tricky product textures. I've been using it to bulk-process assets for a while now and the output is crisp enough that I rarely have to touch up the masks afterwards. Another one I swear by when the creative well is dry is Leonardo.ai Premium Plan, which gives way more control over generative layouts than Midjourney does. It lets you upload your own style references, so you're not getting that weird AI-look, which is crucial for client work. It's saved my bacon on more than one late-night deadline.

Listen, I totally hear you on the burnout. Manual masking for fifty shots a day sounds like my personal nightmare! If you need something that just works without destroying your print files, you have to try Magnific AI Upscaler and Enhancer Pro. It is honestly a game changer for when I need to push assets further than the original resolution allows. It doesnt just guess at the pixels; it actually reconstructs the detail in a way that looks crisp at high DPI. For the layout stuff when the creative well is dry, I have been using Canva Pro Subscription Monthly Plan just to sketch out wireframes and mood boards. I know people think its just for social media, but the magic studio features are fantastic for getting quick composition ideas when you are staring at a blank screen. You can export the elements and bring them back into your CC workflow to finish the high-res heavy lifting. It saves me so much mental energy during those late-night crunches. Also, keep a copy of Affinity Photo 2 Creative Software around. Sometimes when Photoshop starts acting up with the AI filters, I just export the file, use their precise selection tools, and bring it right back. It is super stable and doesnt have all that bloatware running in the background. You got this, hang in there!

Regarding what #2 said about that frustration, honestly, be careful. I tried those automated scripts before and they messed up my color profiles for print more than once. Not worth the risk with a deadline looming.

• Avoid anything that forces lossy compression
• Keep checking your DPI manually
• Don't trust cloud-based generators for CMYK Honestly, keep it simple. If it's for print, maybe just stick to manual refinement for the edges until you find something truly professional.