Contrast mask method and mask handling.

[MikeL]

I've been trying a few more complex things to try and get to grips with the PW8 workflows, and I had a go at implementing den's contrast mask method. This is what I came up with, and thought I would post it to see if anyone can improve on it.

I was unable to make the masks using the 'masks' menu or buttons. After making the gamma curve mask I was not able to reuse it to invert and blur it. Furthermore there is no no way to use 'filter' with a mask as input that I could see.

I assume there is no way to promote a mask to be a top level image without saving it to a file and reloading it? This breeds clutter for me.

Finally, I cannot figure out the 'save current' & combine mask functions: after clicking the former I could never find a scenario in which the latter could see a mask.

I attach the script that made the demo together with another that prompts for a file name.

Overall PW8 is great from the point of view of keeping track of where you are, and fine tuning your parameters as you work. Many thanks to Jonathan for making it available to try out (and for his generosity in giving away PW7).

Mike

[jsachs]

>> I was unable to make the masks using the 'masks' menu or buttons. After making the gamma curve mask I was not able to reuse it to invert and blur it.

Sorry, can you restate this with some simpler examples of what you tried to do that did not work?

There is no way to promote a mask to a top-level image without saving and reloading it, so if you want to apply transformations to a mask other than what the mask tools can do, this is the only way.

The save current function makes a temporary copy of the current mask that can only be used within the mask dialog. Its purpose is to let you assemble complicated masks that have to be created in stages and then combined. Implementing a full Mask Combine tool as in PWP7 would add enormous complexity due to the dependencies it can create.

[MikeL]

>> I was unable to make the masks using the 'masks' menu or buttons. After making the gamma curve mask I was not able to reuse it to invert and blur it.

Sorry, can you restate this with some simpler examples of what you tried to do that did not work?

The original recipe required making a gamma curve mask, applying it, and then further processing it to make a second (inverted blurred) mask. I was trying to do this using two mask slots, but couldn't, so made the mask in general transformations instead. It would not have done me any good anyway, since I then needed to use one of the masks as input to 'filter' which cannot now be done, it seems.

Sorry if it looked like an appeal for help: I'm just trying to figure out the new way of doing things. Realizing that the program has a priority of avoiding circular dependencies and that the transformations need to flow along dependency lines make it suddenly seem a lot more intuitive!

The save current function makes a temporary copy of the current mask that can only be used within the mask dialog.

So the scope of the save restore is within a single mask (not between the 4 mask of the same image, and not between images?

Thanks

Mike

[jsachs]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say a mask cannot be an input to Filter.

As long as you are processing masks as images, you can definitely use a black and white mask image as an input to Filter. If the resulting black and white image is the same size as an image for which you want to use it as a mask, you can turn it back into a mask by selecting it from the menu in the Amount control.

Think of the save/combine mask feature as like having a calculator that has a register you can store a number in and then recall it later in the calculation. This lets you split a complicated calculation into two parts and then combine the results.

[MikeL]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say a mask cannot be an input to Filter.

Sorry, I think we are on the same page here just with semantic confusion. When I said 'mask' I was thinking of an image actually in the mask box so that it appears as a fly-out thumbnail.

Mike