TUTORIALS: MASKS-Comprehensive Discussions (PSP v5+)

Please post your tutorials here for ProShow Producer only. Provide a lnk if you have a file that can be downloaded by others. This is not a discussion section, but rather a source for sharing tutorials.
.
User avatar
Posts: 3745
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:21 am
Location: Parker, CO

TUTORIALS: MASKS-Comprehensive Discussions (PSP v5+)

Postby im42n8 » Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:15 pm

Back in the July/August 2008 timeframe, I released a Comprehensive Masking Tutorial. Back then, Producer version 3.2 was what we were all using. Since then, a number of changes have occurred with the program. With the release of v5, the user interface changed considerably. While the use of masks within Producer remained unchanged, the changes in user interface was significant.

If you are somewhat unfamiliar with ProShow masks and how it deals with a masks' opacity, I am hopeful that these tutorials will provide some "Aha!" Moments for you. For some, learning how to effectively use masks is somewhat like pulling eye-teeth ... and you might not catch on right away. But, there WILL come a time when it suddenly clicks and all becomes very clear. For others, simply facing them in the right direction is enough. These tutorials should provide you with the necessary tools to gain the necessary understanding. Watch them as often as necessary ... and have fun!

The 28 minute Comprehensive Masking tutorial is actually a set of 6 different tutorials that you watch separately:
1) Masking Basics (8' 14''),
2) Masks 1 (2' 37"),
3) Masks 2 (5' 06"),
4) Masks 3 (3' 35"),
5) Text Masks (2' 00"), and
6) Conclusions (6' 41").

Together, they should give you a really good handle on how ProShow masks do their magic. A solid understanding of masks is crucial to making effective use of Producer. While simple to use, some of their finer points (such as handling opacity) are not quite so obvious; especially when the mask is inverted.

UPDATED FOR ProShow Producer v5+
A Comprehensive Introduction to ProShow Masking: http://www.photodex.com/share/im42n8/pdxdpmg4
ProShow Masking Conclusions/Summary: http://www.fenimorephotovideos.com/fpvp ... 130818.pdf
(This is a document version of the Conclusions tutorial above)

I've released the tutorials on YouTube to remove the dependency upon ProShow's Presenter for viewing. They're listed below for viewing.
• Part 1 - Basics (Introduction to Masks in ProShow)

• Part 2 - Removing Things from Images/Videos (Use a mask to cut out parts of an image/video)

• Part 3 - Images (Using masks with images. Portrait images are used but the concepts are easily transferable to other image aspects)

• Part 4 - Transparency Masks

• Part 5 - Text Masks

• Part 6 - Conclusions


Dale
Last edited by im42n8 on Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:09 pm, edited 14 times in total.
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
FPVP Blog "Making the Difficult Easier," FPVP News

Member
User avatar
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:54 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby adami » Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:08 pm

Hi,

I was looking for tutorials about masking, the only problem I have with PP. Unfortunately all your videos regardless of browser don`t work, actually any time I try to open your site it freezes browsers due to some PP Plug-in problem. Could you make sure it is HTML embed or website ready? Thanks
Merry Christmas :)

.
User avatar
Posts: 7501
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Kirkland,Wash, USA, Earth

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby gpsmikey » Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:19 pm

I'm not sure what problem you are running into with Dale's links - the first one does require the Presenter plugin to be installed but that should be already installed if you have Producer/Gold installed (or it will prompt you to install the latest presenter version). Plays fine for me in Firefox (win7/64). The second link is a 3 page pdf file which also loads fine for me in Firefox (just checked both).

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

.
User avatar
Posts: 3745
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:21 am
Location: Parker, CO

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby im42n8 » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:20 pm

I'm not sure what the problem is either. I tried to take a look at the tutorial with the latest install of the Presenter plugin and it took several attempts before the presenter quit crashing. Now, that's after installing v6 and its version of presenter. Anyway, it finally worked for me. It may be that Presenter is just being finicky... it has that history... :shock:

What I have been thinking of doing is revamping the tutorial using the program I used with my Pan Following tutorials. That will make it more compatible with the newer technologies. So, it's a project I've got listed for another update later this year.

Dale
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
FPVP Blog "Making the Difficult Easier," FPVP News

.
User avatar
Posts: 4553
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:07 am
Location: Israel

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby cherub » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:48 pm

adami,
I think that the problem is a Firefox/firewall problem (could be other browsers too, but I wouldn't know).
Firefox is trying to tell you that a new plug-in should be installed , but it can't.
In any case, as Mikey pointed out, you should install the latest Presenter, even if you haven't updated to Producer 6 yet.
Download it and install it from here: http://kb.photodex.com/591/downloading- ... presenter/

Member
User avatar
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:55 am

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby bigoldjon » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:03 am

Not running Tiny Wall Firewall are you? I do. & had same problem. Cured by allowing all presenter
applications + an active x one. Hope this might help

.
User avatar
Posts: 3745
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:21 am
Location: Parker, CO

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby im42n8 » Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:13 am

No Firewall. :shock: The tutorial is hosted on the Photodex Share site. The conclusions document is hosted on my site. But, as Mona pointed out you need the latest installation of Presenter. The tutorial is created to run on the Photodex site and, as a PX show, needs the proprietary plugin from Photodex.

Guess I'll want to create the tutorials as separate shows and post them on YouTube as well ... Options ... love options! :D

Dale
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
FPVP Blog "Making the Difficult Easier," FPVP News

.
User avatar
Posts: 3745
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:21 am
Location: Parker, CO

Re: MASKING: Comprehensive Tutorial (Updated for PSP v5)

Postby im42n8 » Wed Mar 12, 2014 7:38 pm

I thought that the PX version would be all that people needed to view the tutorials. :)

But, some have tried to view the tutorials and but didn't have the proprietary Photodex driver installed in their browser. So, to remove that requirement, I exported each segment of the tutorial series as YouTube video. I listed each of the 6 YouTube tutorial videos in the initial post. Hope that helps. :D

Dale
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
FPVP Blog "Making the Difficult Easier," FPVP News

Return to PSP - Tutorials

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests