(upbeat music)
- Hi, everyone. My name is Dylan.
And today,
I'd like to give you a quick introduction to the mask tool,
which has a wide range of creative applications
when designing in GoDaddy Studio.
So let's jump in and take a look.
Now, you'll find the mask tool in the editing toolbar
at the bottom of your screen when you're working
on a layer or editing a layer.
And if you scroll to the right-hand side,
there just second from the end is the mask tool.
And what the mask tool
essentially does is you erase certain sections of a layer,
typically in order to interact with the layer beneath it.
So you'll see there are four different modes
for using the mask tool.
The first two are for masking
and the second two are for unmasking,
which is exactly as it sounds.
It's the same process in reverse.
So let's just take a look.
The first option,
the first button here is for masking with a hard edge.
I'm just gonna undo that.
And then the second option is for masking
with a soft feathered edge.
And then as I mentioned,
the second two options here are for unmasking, again,
with either a soft edge or a hard edge.
The mask tool only comes in one brush size,
but if you do want to start working in more detail,
it's very easy to just pinch in and zoom.
And that enables you to get a little bit closer
to detailed sections for finer work.
And obviously, the same applies when you are unmasking too.
Now, you'll notice that the mask tool works
on individual layers rather than over your entire design.
So you'll see now I've been editing the photographic image,
but if I switch my layer to the text,
you'll see that I'm now, oops,
I'm isolating that layer to only use
the mask tool on the text.
And then similarly,
if I isolate the graphic layer beneath the image,
you'll see that the masking only applies
to that specific layer.
So that's what the mask tool is and what it does.
The next question, of course,
is how can you use it creatively when designing?
And for me top of that list is creating
a subtle sense of depth,
especially when working with text on images.
So in this example,
I just have this simple layer of text.
And it's sitting on top of this photographic image
of a horizon.
And what I would like to do is create the illusion
of this text being behind the horizon,
almost as though it's rising like the sun.
So I'm going to select the text layer, hit Edit.
In fact,
a great tip before you even get to the mask tool
is to stop by the opacity function
when you are working with text on images.
And what I like to do is just reduce
the opacity to somewhere around 50%.
And that just makes it a lot easier for me to see
what's behind the text when I'm masking it.
So you'll see, now, when I jump onto the mask tool,
it's a lot easier for me to see
where the boundary is where I need to be masking.
And I'm just gonna do a pretty quick job here
for the sake of demonstration.
Before I finish,
I'm just gonna bring the opacity back up.
And there you go.
You see I've achieved the effect
of that text sitting behind the water
rather than just on top of the image.
One thing I really love about the mask tool is how
a very subtle application can yield a very powerful result.
So in this example,
I've just masked a small section on the text
where the skateboard's hand and cap overlap.
And just with those subtle adjustments,
you see it creates a very powerful effect of this text,
almost floating in the three-dimensional space
of this image.
Again, subtlety is the name of the game.
In this example,
you see all I've done is just masked out
a very small section of the loop on this L.
And just that tiny edit,
that does a lot of work
in making it feel as though the texts
and the image are interacting almost as though
the stem of the rose is going right through
the loop of that L.
Here again,
the application is very, very minor,
just masking a small section of that D,
but the final result is quite powerful.
Making it feel as though the dancer
is almost leaping right through those letters.
I mentioned already that the mask tool
can be used on images, graphics, shapes, and text.
And a very useful application of using
the mask tool is just to modify
or slightly edit a given graphic.
So in this example,
I've found this really interesting pattern of hands.
And what I would like to do
is just make a little bit of space for some text.
So I'm going to hit Edit,
move on over to the mask tool, and pinching in.
I'm just going to mask out these two hands in particular.
And what that does is it just creates a little bit
of space for me to bring in this text.
It sits perfectly right there.
Another very useful application of the mask tool
is making subtle edits to individual graphics.
So in this example,
you may have found the perfect bird graphic
for your new logo,
but you just don't really need those stars underneath.
So again, let's just head on over to the mask tool.
And you'll see how easy it is just to essentially
erase those two stars
and modify this graphic in line with your specific needs.
Right now,
playing around with the interaction of graphics
and photographic images is where you can really
start to get creative with the mask tool.
In this example, I've just worked with two layers:
a stripe of paint and this photographic image.
I'm just going to unmask to show you what I did.
Really, really quite simple.
You just put this paint layer on top of the image
and mask out the sections that overlap
with the subject in the photograph.
And again, it creates this wonderful sense of depth.
And something quite visually interesting to look at.
And then once you begin to understand
the principle of masking,
you can start to have a lot of fun
creating really playful interactions
between graphics and photographs.
So in this example,
I'm just going to unmask some of what I did just to show
you how you can play around with selective masking.
Creating the impression
that some of these graphics are behind the model,
some of it in front of him.
And you'll see that the final result,
it feels almost as though he's standing in a swirl
of these graphics in a three-dimensional space.
Right now, in the early days of GoDaddy Studio,
the mask tool was necessary to remove images
from the background.
And as you can see, as you can imagine,
it's quite a painstaking slow work that required
a very steady hand, but thankfully,
we don't have to do that anymore because of course,
we now have the remove image background tool.
It does a much better job in a much quicker time.
You simply tap the button once to remove the background.
And you'll see it does an incredible job
of isolating the foreground figure.
But what it's also done in this example
is just include some of the shadow.
And I'd like to remove that.
So, and now the mask tool
comes in really handy just for fine-tuning
any remove background applications that you do.
It's really easy just to neaten
up the final result like that.
Similarly, in this example,
I removed the background to incorporate
the image of this woman into the design,
but just as I'm tidying it up,
I realize that it sticks out a bit at the bottom there.
So I'm gonna call on the mask tool
just to make those final adjustments.
And I've put everything perfectly in its right place.
Those are just some of the creative applications
for this incredible tool.
Why don't you try it out for yourself
by downloading the free app right now?
All the links you need are in the description below.
Thanks so much for watching.
Please remember to subscribe
if you wanna keep learning about GoDaddy Studio.
And I'll see you next time.