Masking for Beginners

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

"ProShowThink" now has a very basic masking tutorial for any of you who are new to the masking game. You can quickly download the files used in the tutorial, and you can keep the blog page open while you work through the exercises in Producer.

Here it is: Yet Another Masking Tutorial

Have fun!

Barbara

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Barbara, I can't find the download link.

[ChrissyC Profile Private message]

Mona, she also put a link to the download on her Blog, check here

http://proshowthink.wordpress.com/2010/ ... y-masking/

This is where I got the files...
C.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

It's okay, Mona. You don't need any instructions whatsoever in masking. Some of what I know, I learned from you!

Barbara

[Oldguy Profile Private message]

Thanks Barbara, I worked the whole tutorial.
How do I know when to use Alpha or Greyscale?
It seems like they do the same thing.....

Forrest

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Forrest, the easiest way when starting out and so as not to get confused is to set an image that has no transparency (usually a JPG file) to grayscale and anything that has transparency in it (most often a PNG file) to alpha. When I was first learning, I'd try grayscale, and if that didn't work, I'd try alpha, and if that didn't work, I'd click "invert" on each choice. Eventually something worked and I was happy or nothing at all worked and I'd come screaming out here to the forum for help.

And yes, they do the same thing. Some people love alpha and some love grayscale. You can get what you want using either of them. I vote for grayscale because I have trouble seeing what are nearly but not quite transparent pixels.

Barbara

[Oldguy Profile Private message]

OK, strangly enough, I think I understan that.
Thanks Barbara

Forrest

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Not strange at all, Forrest. You probably know more than you as yet realize.

Barbara

[leslie325]

Hi, I was curious where the other tutorials are for people who have never used a mask before. I have a ton of masks and would love to use them but i dont know how to. For example I have masks of flower borders that i would love to use but i dont know how to change the color of the mask or anything. Any ideas? Tysm.

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

The color of the mask itself isn't changed. Instead, you alter the color of the image that's just beneath and inside the mask. Try this: Add that flower border mask to a slide. Add a solid color of your choice and move it to the layer immediately below the mask. Click the little right arrow to place the solid color inside the mask. Look at the result. Then right-click the solid color layer and choose to edit it, changing it to a different color. Again look at the result.

The funny thing about masks is that they're actually very simple little creatures. They do nothing more than create cutouts of anything you place inside them.

Do a search on "masks" or "masking" here in the forum, and you're likely to come up with a bunch of stuff. Better yet, look in the tutorial section.

Hope I've helped at least a little bit.

Barbara

[compass Profile Private message]

Thank you for this link. I can now use modifiers.
Newbie Chris

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Chris, I'm so glad the article got you up and running.

Barbara

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

This is basically for Leslie and Forrest but anyone who hasn't used masks or don't know what they can do for you but want to understand can benefit.

A mask can be any color you want it to be (that's right, a mask does NOT have to be all white or all black or some shade in-between!). The thing about a colored mask is that if it's a grayscale mask, the opacity of the mask will be something between opaque and transparent. The amount of opacity in the mask will depend upon the color used. The closer the color is to white, the more opaque it'll be. Likewise, the closer to black, the more transparent it'll be.

An alpha mask doesn't care what color the layer is. A white layer set as an intensity (grayscale) mask will work exactly the same as an alpha mask (of any color). Alpha masks, therefore, are useful when you want to color code your mask layers.

A red layer set as an alpha mask will work the same as a white grayscale mask. A black layer set as an alpha mask will work as a white grayscale mask (this same layer will be completely transparent if used as a grayscale mask).

Also, you can set any grayscale layer (that is, a layer that has various colors in it or a variety of shades of gray) as an alpha mask and anything underneath that layer will be affected (that is, anything outside the confines of the mask is trimmed away).

A layer set up as a mask is treated effectively as if it's a grayscale image (i.e., all white, all black, or a layer with some combination of white and black), even if it's a green, purple, red, yellow, etc layer. (basically, it's the hexadecimal translation of the color to some equivalent gray shade).

Add two images to the slide. Add a vignetted layer as the first layer. Make it a circle (720x720, 50% size, fit to safe zone, vignetted as an ellipse). Make it a mask over an image and play with the different settings and note what the results are. This should give you the idea fairly quickly. You'll find what punches a hole in one of the images or reveals a portion of an image. Invert the mask and try the same settings. Change the colors of the mask and try to see what the results are for an alpha mask as well as for the grayscale one. This will quickly let you know what will work when. Make NOTES! Then start using the results. Eventually you won't need the notes. This should help you all get to where you need to be with some of the simpler masks.

Have fun!

Dale

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Darn it all, Dale, you just confused me!

You said, "A red layer set as an alpha mask will work the same as a white grayscale mask (it'll work as a translucent mask when used as a grayscale mask).

That red alpha mask can't be equivalent to both a white and a gray intensity mask. You meant something else, right?

Barbara

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

Arrrrrrgghhhhhhh! I've been getting up really early for photoshots. Took a nap. Reviewed what I wrote . . . that "extra" part of the sentence was removed (I guess I was rummy when I wrote it!).

No. A colored layer used as an alpha mask is a the same, effectively, as a white grayscale mask. That same colored layer when used as a grayscale mask will be a translucent mask.

Dale