Help with Masks

Ive just started using Painter 7 and i have gooten stuck on what the whole concept of Masks are and how they work,
If anyone could help i would appreciate it
Thanks

I'm using painter six but I presume the masks are the same.

A mask is used for storing selections.

after saving a mask you will notice that it appears in the objects palette. The mask can then be manipulated with any of the brushes and then it can be reloaded as a selection.

So you can use a mask to make very complex selections.

Do not confuse these masks which are known as user masks with the visibility mask. A visibility mask appears in italic and is associated with a particular layer. Think of a User mask as a storage area for selections, which can be loaded to any layer.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tony Q:
Ive just started using Painter 7 and i have gooten stuck on what the whole concept of Masks are and how they work,
If anyone could help i would appreciate it
Thanks<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi,

Masks in Painter 7 are similar to those in Painter 6. Basically there are two Mask types, as mentioned earlier:

1. The User Mask, created by you when you make a selection and save it using Select > Save Selection, as New Mask 1 (or the next available number).

2. The Visibility Mask, automatically created by Painter with each new Default Layer or Water Color Layer.

Liquid Ink Layers, Dynamic Layers, and Text Layers don't have Visibility Masks.

Only when a Default Layer or Water Color Layer is highlighted in the Objects palette's Layers section list, is its associated Visibility Mask displayed in the Objects palette's Masks section list. If the Default Layer is named Layer 1, its associated Visibility Mask is named Layer 1 Mask. If you change the name of the Layer, the next time that Layer is highlighted in the Objects palette's Layers section list, the associated Visibility Mask's new name is displayed in the Objects palette's Masks section list.

All existing User Masks are listed in the Objects palette's Masks section list whether or not there is a Default Layer or Water Color Layer highlighted and its associated Visibility Mask listed in the Masks section list. In other words, existing User Masks are displayed in the Masks section list at all times.

To edit a Visibility Mask to hide color on the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer paint using white with any brush except Water Color variants, Liquid Ink variants, or other brush variants for which the Method is Plug-in. Use the same range of brush variants using black to restore hidden color to visibility.

If areas of the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer have transparent areas within them, it may be best to edit the Default Layer or Water Color Layer instead of the Visibility Mask. This is because when you paint with black onto areas of the Visibility Mask that are transparent on the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer, those areas will become black not only on the Visibility Mask, but also on the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer.

This is a known problem and it is unlikely to be fixed. Corel/Procreate and the Painter developers are well aware of it and have been for a few Painter versions. It's frustrating until you learn to work around it and most of the time it's not a problem.

Some success may be had by first making a selection of the painted/colored areas of the Default Layer or Water Color Layer (Select > Auto Select, Using: Image Luminance), then painting with black on the Visibility Mask to restore hidden color, but success depends on the color's saturation/opacity/contrast with the background and complexity of the transparent areas. If the transparent areas are small and there are a lot of them, it may be very difficult to make an effective selection.

To test all of this and become familiar with how it works, either do testing on a new image created just for this purpose, or save your file with a new file name, then work on that new file to avoid damaging your original file and/or losing your work.

There are a couple of fairly basic tutorials on my site that may help. Though they include instructions for Painter 5 and 6, you should be able to also use them for Painter 7:

"Erasing" on a Transparent Layer - (Transparent Layer Masks)
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...ranslayer.html

Basics of Using Layers (Floaters/Transparent Layers)
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...yrs-masks.html

Also take a look at the other sections of PixelAlley, especially the Painter 7 links on the right side of the PixelAlley Section Links Page and the top left link that takes you to a list of tutorials many of which can be used with Painter 7. They're color coded to indicate the versions. The URL is below my signature.

Write to me at jinbrown@mindspring.com if you have any questions. I'll do my best to help.

Good luck, and Happy Masking! :

Jinny Brown

PixelAlley's Section Links: http://www.pixelalley.com/pixelalley...ons-pages.html
(Painter 5 and 6 tutorials, Painter 7 info, tutorials, PDF downloads, brushes)
Contact: jinbrown@pixelalley.com or,
Painter Forum at In Depth Discussions: http://www.critical-depth.com/cgi-bin/idd/
_____________________________________

[This message was edited by Jinny Brown on April 29, 2002 at 02:05.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> This is because when you paint with black onto areas of the Visibility Mask that are transparent on the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer, those areas will become black not only on the Visibility Mask, but also on the associated Default Layer or Water Color Layer.
This is a known problem and it is unlikely to be fixed. Corel/Procreate and the Painter developers are well aware of it and have been for a few Painter versions. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jaw drops. Um is this by any chance the same Jinny Brown who tirelessly argued on numerous painter boards with me that there was in fact nothing wrong with the visibility mask? Wasn't it you and the moderators on the painter board who insisted that it was I who was at fault and that I didn't understand the software? Nice to see that you've come around. It seems all that arguing wasn't in vain. It felt like me against the world at one stage. I sort of feel vindicated that I was chucked off the painter board because I would not accept that Corel meant the vis mask to work in that way. How about that.

In fact ironically enough it was two former contributors to this forum who decided to flame me regarding a discussion I was having about the Vis Mask with others, which subsequently led to the sudden demise of this forum. All quite funny when you think about it.

I have never said there was nothing wrong with the Visibility Mask.

I have accepted that there is a problem with it and avoid it by working in other ways.

It's a known problem.. known by many Painter users for a long time. It's also known by the Painter developers.

I have never said that the Painter developers didn't intend the Visibility Mask to work that way. I've asked, and have not had an answer. I don't know what they intended.

I say that it's unlikely it will be fixed because there seems to have been no effort to fix it over a few Painter versions.

I have repeatedly said, in so many words, that considering all this it's best to learn to work around the problem and not beat one's head against a brick wall.

It is usually not a problem and doesn't need to be a problem at all if the Painter user is forewarned and edits his Layer another way.

What you can feel good about, if you choose to, is that I've stopped referring to the Visibility Mask as a Layer Mask. Thank you for that.

Jinny Brown

PixelAlley's Section Links: http://www.pixelalley.com/pixelalley...ons-pages.html
(Painter 5 and 6 tutorials, Painter 7 info, tutorials, PDF downloads, brushes)
Contact: jinbrown@pixelalley.com or,
Painter Forum at In Depth Discussions: http://www.critical-depth.com/cgi-bin/idd/
______________________________________

No offence intended Jinny. But I don't mind if you want to rewrite history. BTW, for your info the vis mask cannot be fixed. It isn't really broken, it's just that it shouldn't be available. It's part of the code that makes “preserve transparency� work. Photoshop has the same vis mask as painter except it is not revealed to the user.

What happened is that Meta Creations were so eager to sell Painter that they didn't have time to code a proper layer mask, so they just made the internal vis mask available instead, took the money and left Corel with the mess to clean up. Unfortunately corel have not fully understood this.

kind regards.

So,
did you get an answer to your question or is this still clear as mud for you ?

Have you used any other bitmap editor programs like JASC Paintshop Pro? Corel Photo Paint? Adobe PhotoShop?

Or did you make a BIG leap when you bought Painter 7? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Athena
Our thoughts are bounded by words. The quality of those thoughts is largely determined by the words that compose them.