Welcome to this video tutorial series on
masks in PaintShop Pro. Masking can seem
like a confusing or overwhelming topic,
but once you go through a few examples
you'll see that they're really quite
easy to understand and use. Before we get
started, if you're watching this video on
YouTube you'll find a link in the
description below that will take you to
our tutorial page on Corel's Discovery
Center. Here you can find a written copy
of this tutorial, as well as links to the
other videos in this series on masks. One
way to think of a mask is with the
analogy of painter's tape on a blank wall.
The photo is the paint, and the tape
applied to the wall prevents those areas
from being painted with the photo. Or, you
can also think of masks like windows. The
areas not being masked are the parts of
the photo that show through. Like a
window and lets light show through a wall.
The bits that are masked are like the
wall — whatever is behind the wall can't
be seen through the window. To
demonstrate, I have this image open and
I'll choose Layers > Load Save Mask > Load
Mask from Disk. I'll click this default
mask and choose another one that's more
obvious to see, the flower. The black
areas will end up covering the image.
Remember, black equals block. And the
white areas will allow the image to show
through, like a flower shaped window. I'll
keep the default settings and I'll be
covering these options later in the
video series. I'll click Load. This is the
result: the center of the photo appears,
and the background is blocked off,
following the flower shape. So, for a
photo that has its subject in the center,
this mask is good for blocking parts of
the background and highlighting the
subject. Also note the change of layer
structure. The mask layer appears above
the background layer and both layers are
placed inside a layer group. Masks are
always grouped with the layer that was
active when the mask was created. And
because there's no practical reason for
a mask to be under the photo, I can drag
this layer below the background. Masks
can also have shades of gray, enabling
some of the image to show through. I'll
undo the flower mask and I'm back to a
single layer again. No groups.
This time, I'll choose a different mask,
the one called Edge Burst. It's white in
the center and black and gray along the
edges. The result, is that I can see the
entire image in the center, and there's
some partial transparency outside this
area. There are several practical uses
for masks. I'll demonstrate some quick
examples in this video, and I'll go
through examples in more detail in later
videos in this series. For my first
example, I'll first remove the Edge Burst
mask, then I'll add a new raster layer
above the photo and use flood fill to
paint the entire layer green. The green
layer is active,
so whatever mask I add now will be
applied to the green and not to the
photo. And this time I want to block the
center of the green layer, not the parts
along the edges. So when I go to apply
the mask this time, I'll invert the
transparency so that the center will be
black, and therefore blocked. The green
layer remains atop the image as a frame
with some translucent areas and the
center of the image shows through.
And because the green layer was active when
I applied the mask, the green layer and
mask are grouped. I can turn off the
entire group to remove the green frame,
or I can just remove the mask to bring
back the full green layer. We saw that
PaintShop Pro comes with a few mask
images and in a later video I'll show
how to get more from Corel's Discovery
Center. But a mask can also be an image
you create or find yourself. I'll remove
the mask and the green layer from this
photo, then I'll open this image that I
found online, which is black in the
center and has a square shape. And keep
in mind, you can use a color image as a
mask as well, though PaintShop Pro will
reduce it to grayscale when used for
masking. I'll switch to Window > Tile
Vertically to see both images. Going back
to my photo, this time I'll choose Layer >
New Mask Layer > From Image. I'll find the
image from this list and I'll invert it
so that black and white will be switched,
meaning the outside will be blocked and
not the center. And note that the mask
image was stretched to fit this photo,
which is one of the default mask
settings. To get the same green frame
effect I got before, I can just create a
new layer,
flood fill it green, and drag it below
the mask group. The green fills in all
the black and gray parts of the inverted
mask. I'll right-click on this group to
ungroup the layers, then delete the mask,
choosing not to merge the mask when
deleting. I'll keep the green filled
layer below, and my photo layer is active.
The Layers Palette also has masking
options. If I click the New Mask Layer
icon, I have the From Image option as
well as Hide All and Show All. I'll show
these more in depth in later videos.
But basically these options enable you to
either hide or block the entire image
and use white paint to bring back the
parts you want to show. Or, I can show the
entire image and use black paint to
define the areas to block.
I can also use masks for transitions
between images. I have these two images
open, one as a photo, and the other is the
photo with the stained glass effect
applied from our Pic-to-Painting plugin.
In the painted image I'll add a new mask
layer, either Show or Hide will work. On
this mask layer, I'll add a black to
white gradient fill I created for this
purpose, and flood fill it in. Then, I can
select the regular image and copy it.
Going back to the masked image, I'll
paste in the photo and drag its layer to
the bottom. This creates a smooth and
gradual transition from one image to the
other. I can do the same thing with this
panorama. Transitioning from grayscale to
color.
Another use for masks is to make
textures. In this example, I have a new
image with two raster layers, each flood
filled with two shades of blue. I can
turn off the darker layer to see the
lighter one below. I also have open
this greyscale image of woodgrain. With
the darker blue layer active, I'll apply
this mask, which creates an image that
looks like distressed wood, painted blue.
I can make the mask group active and
reduce its opacity to bring out more of
the light blue below. I'll close the
woodgrain image and I'll keep this one
open to use later. Finally, I'll show one
more mask scenario for making a collage.
I'll choose File > New from Template >
choose the Collage Category > and select
this free template called Shatter 01. The
layer structure of this template
contains four groups, one for each photo
slot. Each group containing a mask above
a dark grey placeholder shape. Each
group's mask is all black with a white
shape in various locations to correspond
with the transparent cutout in the
template itself. And of course, the white
spot is where the collage photo will go.
I have the photos I want to include open
over here. For the first image that's to
go into the collage, I'll make it active
and copy it. Then, I'll go back to my
collage, choose the layer where I want
this photo to go, and paste it. Then, with
the new photo layer active, I'll use the
Pick Tool to move and size the photo to
fit its spot. What's great about this, is
that no matter what the size of the
photo, no photo will ever appear in any
spot but its own mask shape. Without
masks, it would be really tough to fit
these photos into such irregular shapes.
I'll repeat these steps for the
remaining photos. I still have my masked
wood texture open here so let's make use
of it. I'm not so sure blue wood is what
I want, but I can flood fill both layers
with other colors, such as two shades of
brown. The masked grain pattern remains.
I'll merge all layers to a single layer
and I'll copy this image. On my collage,
I'll activate the template layer, and use
the background eraser with a huge brush
to erase the white background. I'll copy
and paste in the wood, drag its layer to
the very bottom, and use the Pick Tool to
size the wood to fit the background. I'll
demonstrate more about collages later in
this series. This brings us to the end of
this introduction to masks. The next
video in the series will cover several
ways to create masks, including masks you
can create yourself. If you've been
watching this video on YouTube, please
follow the link in the description below,
which will take you to this tutorial
page in Corel's Discovery Center.
Here you'll find a written version of
this tutorial, along with links to the
other videos in this series on masks.
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