Now some folks say that no one wants a Vis Mask like Photoshop's layer mask because painter is not an image editing program.

I'd like to point out that Painter has a curve dialog box. This is without doubt the most powerful image editing tool that there is! Who is the potential user of this tool. Many Photoshopists go their whole digital live not using the curves (except in the most rudimentary way) because it is so frightening.

The fact that Painter has curves is a testament to its serious image editing credentials. It also has a clone tool designed for image editing. It is a nonsense to suggest that the Vis Mask was not meant to be a layer mask.

Thelonious