It seems like I should be able to create a mask, save it, and then add it to another mask, but I'm having difficulties using version 8.0.533
Here's what I do, and here's what I get.
Open PWP
Open a script that does not contain masks
Open the mask transformation
Choose Mask 1 New Mask
Draw a simple mask
In the window created by clicking on the mask gear button choose Save current mask
Choose mask 2 New mask
In the mask 2 gearbox window, choose combine saved mask.
Get message "No saved mask image"
Also get same result if have drawn a bit of mask 2 than then tried to combine
By the way, the use of "save" for saving internally is a bit confusing as I expect save to mean saving as a file. "Copy" seems somewhat better, but this suffers from the absence of a "Paste" option anywhere. I, myself would prefer copy and paste options rather than the save, and somewhat obscure "combine".
Can't copy a mask
Moderator: jsachs
Re: Can't copy a mask
The save/combine mask functions you access from the mask settings menu simply makes a temporary copy. The copy is no longer available once you close the mask dialog box. The purpose is to let you create more complicated masks than you would otherwise be able to construct.
There are several ways to share masks between transformations.
1) Save a mask as an image file. Then reload it and use it as the starting mask for another transformation. This will not update if the original mask changes.
2) Use one transformation's mask as a starting point for another transformation's mask. This does update if the original mask changes.
3) Create a mask using the Masks transformation and then access it from as many other transformations as you want. Again, changes to the shared mask will propagate to other transformations that use it as a starting point.
I have added text to the help file and Creating and Using Masks.pdf to try to clarify how the Save/Combine commands work.
There are several ways to share masks between transformations.
1) Save a mask as an image file. Then reload it and use it as the starting mask for another transformation. This will not update if the original mask changes.
2) Use one transformation's mask as a starting point for another transformation's mask. This does update if the original mask changes.
3) Create a mask using the Masks transformation and then access it from as many other transformations as you want. Again, changes to the shared mask will propagate to other transformations that use it as a starting point.
I have added text to the help file and Creating and Using Masks.pdf to try to clarify how the Save/Combine commands work.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Digital Light & Color
Re: Can't copy a mask
Actually, there is another powerful way to copy masks which I had forgotten about until recently...
To copy a mask from transformation 1 to transformation 2
1) Open the mask in transformation 1
2) Use the Mask settings menu to save the mask settings in a file
3) Open the mask in transformation 2
4) Load the saved mask settings
This clears the mask in transformation 2 and then copies all the mask operations from transformation 1 and then recalculates the mask. Unlike copying the mask image, you get all the operations and not just the end result. On the other hand if the mask in transformation 1 is modified, the mask in transformation 2 is not affected, so mask changes to do propagate from one transformation to the other. Also, if the mask in transformation 1 was created using a mask or image from another transformation as a starting point, this initial image is not saved in the mask settings file and will not appear in transformation 2. This is not something that could be easily fixed since the initial image could itself be the result of a complicated series of other transformations, all of which would also need to be saved in order to recover the image later. If you want to do something like that you would need to save a script or workspace script. This technique also lets you copy a mask between image trees and you can build a library of saved masks, each in its own mask settings file.
For a future release, I am thinking about adding a way to let you change the initial mask image from within the Mask dialog box which would let you get around the problem with a little manual intervention.
To copy a mask from transformation 1 to transformation 2
1) Open the mask in transformation 1
2) Use the Mask settings menu to save the mask settings in a file
3) Open the mask in transformation 2
4) Load the saved mask settings
This clears the mask in transformation 2 and then copies all the mask operations from transformation 1 and then recalculates the mask. Unlike copying the mask image, you get all the operations and not just the end result. On the other hand if the mask in transformation 1 is modified, the mask in transformation 2 is not affected, so mask changes to do propagate from one transformation to the other. Also, if the mask in transformation 1 was created using a mask or image from another transformation as a starting point, this initial image is not saved in the mask settings file and will not appear in transformation 2. This is not something that could be easily fixed since the initial image could itself be the result of a complicated series of other transformations, all of which would also need to be saved in order to recover the image later. If you want to do something like that you would need to save a script or workspace script. This technique also lets you copy a mask between image trees and you can build a library of saved masks, each in its own mask settings file.
For a future release, I am thinking about adding a way to let you change the initial mask image from within the Mask dialog box which would let you get around the problem with a little manual intervention.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Digital Light & Color