Got the how of masks but not the why

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

You're probably right, Mikey. I should be more confident that it'll fall into place for me. It hasn't so far because I think I've had a little voice in my head saying it was beyond me. There's little difference between belief and fact. Hey, if I believe I'm going to win the lottery, do you think it'll happen?

Barbara

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

The trick is knowing how to play the game. I can honestly say I have never lost
any money playing the lottery !!! ( of course I refuse to play it either )

It will drop - if you can handle keyframes, you can certainly handle alpha channel.

mikey

[debngar Profile Private message]

Barbara,

I too was confused about Masks. I think trying to understand the Alpha Channel thing first is too confusing and not so necessary until you have a good grasp of the mask thing. To me, Alpha Channels are like trying to run before learning to walk. I didn't understand masks yet so forget the Alpha Channels! LOL

I didn't try to understand masks it as it relates to anything via Photoshop or whatever. I started playing with the adding of the gradient layer and using that as a mask over the image and seeing all the the different ways it could block out parts of the image. Also I took time to observe how changing the style and size of the gradient (space between the center black and white arrows) made the image look.

So when you add a plain (black) gradient, you first will have a color line that has black on one side and white on the other. As soon as you pick say for instance a radial style gradient, you introduce two more arrows on that line that are additional black and white ones. Where they are positioned along that line changes the look of the gradient and therefore how much picture is in total view versus a foggy kind of view (the grey/gradient area).

I did a short show to demonstrate a few masking possibilities to show what happens when one inserts a different gradient mask over the same photo. All of it was done in Producer, no Photoshopping. I don't know if you had a chance to see that or not but maybe that would help things click in your head.

"Masking Possibilities" - 2:24
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=127032


Also another very very short one on composit images that involves a mask is here:

"Composite Image Possibilities" - 1:10
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=127032

Then I'm still amazed at how we can make a mask out of an ordinary photo using only Producer. I turn it into b&w by colorizing it and then use it over another photo as a mask by clicking on the mask check box. That is fun too but I've not found practical ones to use in a show yet or maybe just not experimented enough myself to make it work the way I'd like.

I have tried the Alpha Channel thing but don't understand quite what the different adjustments do exactly even though I've played with them. I believe it can block a certain color out for masking purposes but that's all I know about it.

Debbie

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Debbie, that was perfect. It's precisely what I needed--to see what was being done and how it was being done. And I think you may be right about trying to understand the technical aspect of alpha channels. The point is to learn how to do the things that alpha channels allow to be done and stop worrying over the fact that they're as mysterious as electricity. Um, electricity is pretty mysterious to me, anyway, but it hasn't stopped me from turning on a lamp.

Thank you so much.

Barbara