Copying a mask

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MikeFromMesa
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Copying a mask

Beitrag von MikeFromMesa »

I have been slowly working my way through the PL manual and tutorial and have been making decent progress, but am stuck on trying to do something with masks. Not creating them, as that is working OK. Not using them, as that also seems OK, but copying them.

What I think I understand is that I can create a mask and then, as long as the Use Mask setting is on, all of the subsequent layers will use the mask. But what I am curious about is whether or not it is possible to copy the mask from one layer to another so that if I decided wanted to use a mask from a previous layer on a later layer that was added when the Use Mask setting was not on, could I do so by copying the mask? All of my attempts to do so have failed.

I am pretty sure that I could use the Save Mask and Load Mask to retrieve a mask, but if I added a layer without a mask can I then add one after the layer has been added to the layer stack?

Thank you for any help.
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russellcottrell
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von russellcottrell »

Use the Change Channels tool. I described it at
http://www.russellcottrell.com/photo/Ph ... ctions.htm
but it works on masks too. Select the layer that has the mask that you want to copy; use Tool – Change Channels, source is Black, destination Clipboard. Then select another layer and do the same thing, with source Clipboard and destination Black.
MikeFromMesa
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von MikeFromMesa »

Thank you. That worked.

I spent much of the morning right-clicking, Ctrl-Clicking, Alt-Clicking, Ctrl-dragging and other methods trying to find a way to copy a mask from one thumbnail to another without any success, but with some interesting results, so your post was very helpful and I appreciate it.
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shijan
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von shijan »

Assume you talk about Clipping Layer Mask but not about Lasso.
If you put Mask above Layer - it will affect all other bottom layers in Layer List.
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If you put Mask inside Layer - it will not affect other bottom layers in Layer List.
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If you put Mask inside Group with Layer - it will not affect other bottom layers in Layer List.
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You can mouse Right-click on eye icon in Layer list to quick switch layer to Mask (Clip) mode and for many other useful options. This is probably this simplest way to understand how masks work.
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You can drag and duplicate any items in Layer List or in Document by holding Command+Shift keys.

Note that different layer areas (Thumbnail, Eye Icon, Layer Name) in Layer List are react in different ways. For example to duplicate layer with Command+Shift keys you need to grab and drag layer name area.

There is also very useful "Duplicate" toggle in Layer List bottom bar.
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PhotoLine UI Icons Customization Project: https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6302
MikeFromMesa
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von MikeFromMesa »

Thank you. I need to read through this carefully and make sure I understand everything you are saying.

PhotoLine is a very complete editor with tons of functionality and I am beginning to think that I need to take small bites until I know enough to take larger bites. I think learning it is going to be a long, but rewarding, experience and I appreciate your help.
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shijan
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von shijan »

PhotoLine is flexible and powerful image editor. It is possible to do the same tasks in it in very different ways and with different tools and from different places. A lot of very special tools are just scripts or actions based on other basic tools. This goes to some hard to understand meaning like "Apply Layer Mask to Mask" :) Masks system and tools are rather complex, but in most cases for me personally right click menu for masks covers all needs.

You may also check my icons project https://www.deviantart.com/shijan/art/P ... -825902404 icons are redesigned in more logical and modern way and help to understand meaning of tools. It looks especially pretty on macOS.

There is some complex relation between these definitions:
Selection
Mask
Lasso
Clipping

Things probably could be simplified and restructured somehow, but i have no idea how to simplify this system, so i just use it as is :)

From the FAQ:
Selection: The part of an image layer, which is not protected by the lasso/mask (see chapter 2.4.1), is called selection.

Mask is a gray image with the same size as the corresponding image layer. Each image pixel corresponds with one mask pixel. Like the transparency controls, how transparent a pixel is, the mask controls, how strong a pixel will be affected by an image operation. A value of 0 in the mask protects a pixel from being changed, a value of 255 offers no protection. As the mask is a gray image, it can be edited with nearly all image tools.

Lasso is a vector object, that - similar to the mask - controls which parts of an image layer can be edited. There are special lasso tools for the creation of a lasso: the rectangular lasso tool, the circle lasso tool and the free lasso tool (see chapter 6.2.21 and chapter 6.2.22).

You may ask now, why there are two ways to protect parts of an image from editing. The answer is quite simple: there are not two ways. Every time a lasso is created or changed, the mask is changed automatically, too. And every time the mask is changed, the lasso is changed accordingly. Therefore the terms "mask" and "lasso" only describe different points of view of the same thing.

Clipping layers are clipping other layers. Those layers are clipped that are in the same group and are drawn before the clipping layer. The clipped layers are not modified, they are only drawn differently.

So Clipping layer is a Mask applied to layer...
Zuletzt geändert von shijan am Mo 06 Dez 2021 08:02, insgesamt 3-mal geändert.
PhotoLine UI Icons Customization Project: https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6302
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shijan
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von shijan »

And one more thing. These toggles in Toolbox are for preview (marks with green overlay unclipped mask area) and for quick editing of Lasso. You can use them of ignore them same as other complex mask tools.
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PhotoLine UI Icons Customization Project: https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6302
MikeFromMesa
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von MikeFromMesa »

You may also check my icons project

I tried to send this post as a PM but could not find a way to do that, so please pardon me for hijacking this thread.

I downloaded the files for the icon project but before I installed them I wanted to ask if reversing the file copies will restore PL to the way it was before I copied them to the Library. If not, then I will want to make a backup so it can be restored if something goes wrong on my side.
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shijan
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Re: Copying a mask

Beitrag von shijan »

Replacing icons back and forth will not change layout or any other settings.

But you can backup ~/Library/Preferences/PhotoLine folder if you like. It may help to keep and restore all your customized settings, layouts and shortcuts later if you reinstall system.
PhotoLine UI Icons Customization Project: https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6302
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