Photo Pos Pro free photo editor online help

Photo Pos Pro free photo editor - Online Help

Custom Search

User's Guide

Step By Step Tutorials | How to... (Quick guide for common tasks) | Support & Info Page

Masks

A mask is a very important tool when working with a picture with a number of layers. With the mask it is possible to cause certain parts in a layer to be hidden from view (transparent) or partially hidden (partially transparent). The mask is very useful when you want to present only certain parts in a layer but do not wish to erase the parts you do not wish to present, but rather hide them. Since the hidden parts have not been erased (they exist in the layer, but are hidden), it will always be possible to present them again whenever you wish. The mask is part of the layer which is why it is relevant only if the layer is displayed (Visibility On) and the mask is active (Mask On). A normal picture is made up of three color channels, RGB. The mask adds to the picture a fourth channel (called Alpha channel) and is displayed by a separate picture with 256 hues. If a layer has a mask, it is possible to see its reduced picture (its thumbnail) in the Layers Window under the Layer Properties card-index. The colored areas on the mask represent the visible parts on the layer and the dark areas represent the transparent parts (the darker the color of a mask is in a certain area, the more transparent that part will be. The darkest parts, the black areas, represent the areas on the layer that will not be visible at all-they will be hidden, that is entirely transparent).

* Masks can be applied to Parent Layers only.

Masks Menu

This menu contains functions related to mask operations such as creating a new mask, deleting a mask, inverting a mask, etc.

Create New Mask
Invert Mask
Delete Mask
View Mask
Edit Mode

Create New Mask

This function is used to create a new mask for the active layer. In order to create a mask for a certain layer you must first select the layer and then activate the function. In the functions dialog box you must select which basic mask you wish to create (after creating the mask you can edit it with the editing tools).

Show All - Will create a basic empty mask (the entire layer will be displayed).
Hide All - Will create a basic full mask (the entire layer will be hidden).
From Image - Will create a mask which will be based on a picture which is currently open in the program.
From File - Will create a mask which will be based on a picture from a file.
From Selection - This will create a mask which will be based on the area of selection. This is active only when an area on the picture is selected. Show Selection will create a mask in which the parts on the layer in the area of selection will be visible and the parts which are without will be hidden (transparent). Hide Selection will create a mask in which the parts on the layer in the area of selection will be hidden (transparent) and the areas without will be visible.

Each layer can only have one mask. In case a new mask is added to a layer which already has a mask, the old mask will be deleted.

Invert Mask

A function used for the operation of inverting a mask (the function is only available when the layer has a mask). After activating the mask, the bright areas on the mask will become dark and the dark areas will become bright (in effect, the function does a negative operation on the mask). As a result of the mask's inversion, the visible, transparent and hidden areas on the layer will also be inverted. In order to invert a mask, you must first activate the layer on which the mask is present (select it from the Layers Window) and then activate the function.

Delete Mask

A function used to delete a mask from a layer. In order to delete a mask you must first activate the layer on which the mask is present (select it from the Layers Window) and afterwards activate the function.

View Mask

Pressing this sub-menu will cause the activation/cancellation of the mask's display (this sub-menu is only available when a layer has a mask). When the mask's display is active, it is possible to view it combined with the layer. In order to view the mask of a certain layer, you must first activate the layer on which the mask is present (selecting it from the Layers Window) and afterwards press the sub-menu.

Edit Mode

Pressing this sub-menu will transfer the mask to editing mode. Pressing it again will end the editing operation. In editing mode it is possible to edit the mask with the paint tools (such as the paintbrush tool, the line tool, the bucket tool, etc.). In order to edit a certain Mask you must first activate the layer on which the mask is present (selecting it from the Layers Window) and afterwards press the sub-menu.