[DRAMA]

to all who own the skill of dealing with masks...

i come to you with my problems and questions...

please take a moment of your amazingly expensive time to hear me....


How in the world can I see my mask? I have a mask, but it's not visible with that red overlay?

[HOPELESS]
... please help me in this difficult issue... please....
[/HOPELESS]

[/DRAMA]

i can only tell for windose.

So, you have this layer palette, showing the layer and next to it the mask icon.
ctrl-click the mask icon to get a selection.
Now click on the bottom of your toolbox the quick mask icon and you will see your red area.

If you double-click the quick-mask icon, you get a settings dialog.
You can change the red color there, but - more important - you can switch here which part of your mask is shown in red.
Obviously, if you choose "masked areas" it will overlay the masked area.
Otherwise, with "selected areas" activated, it will overlay the selected, visible part of the image/mask.

Thanks.. but.. uhm... yeeess... i think i have that..


Must i always use the quick mask? why can't i use the mask in the layer? quick mask editings do not adjust the mask in my layer. I can't imagine that is the way it should go.
According your explanation I should work with my layer mask.. then quick mask.. and then i must edit my layer mask?

Indeed. I don't see a way to directly apply the changes of the quick mask to the mask layer itself. All that changes afterwards is the selection..

That's why i always work directly on the layer mask with a black/white/gray pen tool ... Edit: wait, that hairy thing aint a pen... err.... Brush Tool!
No further idea about the quick mask tool...
Anybody?

I have not a clue! But I have Google

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/how-to-use-the-quick-mask-tool-4648

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_IukgNM1fI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUyTqdO9Vws&feature=related

Goed bezig, Fempie

ah.. ja.. and I have you
Anyways thank you! (and google ) .. thats nice to show me how quick masking works.. but actually my question is different.. maybe i was a bit unclear.

let me put it this way.. there is this "quick mask", right? That means there must also be a "slow mask". I assume that is the one you create in the layers panel. And that is the one i wanna be able to work on with a red/no-red overlay.

Or do I want things that don't exist? (wouldn't be the first time)

There is a mask and ther is a quick mask. The slow one is me...

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/using-layer-masks-with-photoshop-4876

http://designreviver.com/tutorials/photoshop-101-how-to-use-layer-masks/

http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/a-complete-beginners-guide-to-masking-in-photoshop/

And there are clipping masks (whatever that is):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoKyP_vFsRI
This guy is cool!

I need to watch these so that I can know why in the world I'd need a mask.


Maybe it will be psc-life changing!

The nice thing about the masks is, that you can change the visibility of image parts (or effects!) as often / long / precise as you want - without actually working on the original.

thank you so much for all your help. I followed parts of the tutorials and I think I know enough now to deal with masks. There are still some questions left, but that will solve itself I guess with experience.

thanks again!

argh!!


I can't figure this out!


See my problem? There pops up an option when I double-click the layermask-thumbnail in the layer panel.. but what is this for? The mask never displays!

HA. I think i found it

Say you have already masked some part of a layer, right?
Ok, now click next to your layers palette on the tab "channels" - there is a layer called "layer XY mask", and it is disabled!
If you enable it (click on the eye), you see your mask (the masked area that is) as Rubylith overlay. And even better, now you can see the changes you "paint" in the actual mask layer in real time.
Parts you paint black (or mask, make invisibe) are shown as red overlay.

Was that the question? Did i win sumphin?

well... it's getting closer. I can indeed see what i am creating as mask. I can see what I am revealing or hiding... but actually I am painting red/non-red instead of black/white... whats the use? I still can't see parts that I wanna unhide through a half transparent mask.

hope this makes sense

slowly i feel really stupid.. i have blond hair but didn't know it has influence on my brain until now

mmm... ok, i think we missed one little detail, an extra layer.
Now here is a mini-tutorial:

1. Open the image you want to work with. Notice the white background, thats what makes your red mask above look so "solid".



2. Now make a copy(!) of that image layer and start selecting the area of interest. You can use quick select, quick mask even, or any other tool. I used the lasso here:



3. When you have selected something, click on "new layer mask" and you will see - no change
That's because parts of the image are masked, but the original layer below is showing through:



4. NOW you go to the channels and activate the "layer XY mask"



5. Finally you can go back to the layer palette, select the layer mask and start painting (=adjusting your mask). If you are done adjusting, you go back to channels and disable the "Layer XY mask" again!



6. If you then disable the original unmasked image layer, the white background will be visible and on top of it: the (un)masked image parts.



You could now even ctrl-click (Windows) the mask icon to actually select these areas for further use.

Happy masking!