Actions & Masks

[Alan9940]

Hello All,

1. Regarding the default actions that ship with the latest version of PL, is there any documentation that describes what each action does? A few are obvious, but others??? Also, any idea why resulting layers are in German when I'm running the English version of the program? Having layers labeled such that I could read them would certainly go a long way to helping me understand what's going on.

2. Is there a simple way to create a "hide all" layer mask such as PS option/alt click on the Create Layer mask icon?

Thank you for any insight provided.

Best regards,
AlanH

[bkh]

2. Is there a simple way to create a "hide all" layer mask such as PS option/alt click on the Create Layer mask icon?

You could create a layer mask (via Layer Mask -> Create), then do Tools -> Colour -> Invert. If that's not quick enough, you could record this as an action and assign a keystroke.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[Hoogo]

1) If I remember correctly, some of the actions were done by me. I usually add a "pause/info" as the first step and post a little description in German an English there. But I'm also lazy and messy...

There's also a context menu for actions, check "properties...", there's some space for further description there.

2) I don't think there's a way already built in. But there's ALT+I to invert colors, creating a layer mask will be recorded into actions, and you can assign own keyboard shortcuts to actions. Put all this together, and you can do it by pressing a key.

[Alan9940]

This is kind of funny...here I was asking about the Actions panel and I didn't even think about recording my own action to create the hide all mask. Works like a champ! Thanks to both of you for your input.

However...

How do I assign a keystroke to the action? Per the context menu, all I can do is name it and jot in a brief description. Also, is there a list of existing shortcuts/keystrokes already assigned or will the program itself prevent me from overwriting one that I might need?

Thanks, again, for your help.

Best regards,
AlanH

[Hoogo]

"Edit > Options > Usage > Keyboard layout".
At the end of the list you find the available actions.
When you enter the text field and press some keys, PL will tell if that shortcut is already assigned to something.

[Alan9940]

"Edit > Options > Usage > Keyboard layout".
At the end of the list you find the available actions.
When you enter the text field and press some keys, PL will tell if that shortcut is already assigned to something.

Hello Hoogo,

Found it in Preferences (I'm on Mac)...works like a champ. Thanks!

Best regards,
AlanH

[photoken]

Also, any idea why resulting layers are in German when I'm running the English version of the program? Having layers labeled such that I could read them would certainly go a long way to helping me understand what's going on.

What I've done is to edit the action -- you'll see where the layer name is created and can alter the name to an English one.

(When you find such a non-English layer name, you can also document that as a Feature Request here in the forum.)

[greenmorpher]

2. Is there a simple way to create a "hide all" layer mask such as PS option/alt click on the Create Layer mask icon?

You could create a layer mask (via Layer Mask -> Create), then do Tools -> Colour -> Invert. If that's not quick enough, you could record this as an action and assign a keystroke.

Hiya Burkhard

Why would you want to do this -- make a "hide all" layer? What is the use of it?

Cheers, geoff

[bkh]

Why would you want to do this -- make a "hide all" layer? What is the use of it?

After all, it's just a layer mask which is black initially instead of white. Such an initially black layer mask can be useful if the layer contains a pattern or structure and you want to add some of that structure to parts of your image – you can simply paint these areas white in the layer mask while the rest of your image remains visible.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[greenmorpher]

Thanks, Burkhard.

Cheers, geoff