Mask Tool

[Marpel]

I have been trying to generate a mask using the Masks (specifically Spline) tool. It was my intention to save the mask as an image file as I wished to use it again at a later time.

I was using the Spline tool to move along the perimeter of the object (a car), which, due to the various curves, required multiple applications. Some of the shapes were quite small, while others were larger and I was zoomed in quite a bit. I encountered two issues:

1. My initial attempts went well for about 6-8 applications (move spline points until shape covered, then apply, then move on to the adjacent area, repeat). Not exactly sure of the number of applications. I did not save as I went along. During the next application, I was generating and moving points when the outer box outline disappeared, leaving the unfinished outline and points of the spline itself. PWP froze and most of the icons across the top went a blank grey. I could not move the points or activate any commands, including "File" etc. Although I could move the dialogue boxes, which were located in a second monitor. I had to close the program and lost what I had accomplished to that point.

As I thought the issue may have been a lack of memory (8 gb ram), I installed a further 8gb. I also uninstalled that version of PWP and installed the latest version.

This morning I did exactly the same operation and at around 6-8 applications, the program froze again as it initially did and again I lost my work.

My computer is about 5-ish months old with, now, 16gbs ram. Any way to determine if this issue may be related to the program or my computer, amount of ram etc??

2. And, I find that when a spline is generated and applied, the box and spline outline (along with the points) remain, even though the area turns green (suggesting the mask has been created). The points cannot be moved. If a second application is generated, those first outlines and points remain until the second apply is completed. The previous outlines now disappear but the second outlines etc then remain, until a subsequent mask is applied. However, if the image is scrolled, even a small amount, the outlines disappear. This makes it difficult to select and move points around, especially if the two applications overlap a bit and I presume this is not intended.

Marv

[jsachs]

There do seem to be some problems with the spline tool. I will take a look at the code when I finish reworking the File Save logic.

There is no real need to apply the spline tool multiple times as you should be able to add as many control points to the spline as you want. Also, you can save your work periodically by saving the accumulated mask as an image file. Then start over the next time using that image as the initial mask. This should let you work around the problem for now although you lose the ability to go back and tweak the spline later.

[Marpel]

Thanks Jonathan,

For some reason I thought the Spline was limited in the number of points you could apply. Maybe I was confusing it with another programs tool(s). So that is a good thing and I will quit using the small multiple masks.

And, until I just tried it after reading your response, I did not realize you could periodically save the mask as you go along, as I thought you would have to rename the mask at each save, but it appears it can be saved over the previous mask, using the same image title, so multiple saves during the making of a mask is easily achieved. Great to know.

Also like to mention that the change you recently made to the Tint Transform that allows a shift-click in the image to be placed at the corresponding tone on the colour line is outstanding. Have used it a few times already.

Marv

[davidh]

I must second the gratitude for the shift click feature in the color lines. I had skipped the previous version and noticed this excellent instrument only now thanks to Marpel's post. It is really extremely useful if you work with B and W images. Until now I have been using the Histogram Tool to approximate the tone position on the color line.
I have wished for a feature like this for some time but would never dare to ask for it as I would expect it to be a rather demanding job.
So thanks to both, Jonathan and Marpel.

[Marpel]

Ver. Aug 31.

I just used the Masks Tool on an image (7360 x 4912) in an attempt to generate a number of masks throughout the image.

Similar to my first post in this thread, I was using the Spline Tool, in various locations with multiple points placed in each application. This time though, after I set a group of points for that particular mask, I would Apply, then save that mask as an image file (just to ensure I would not lose my work as I progressed).

I would then leave the dialogue open and open the mask thus far by doing an "Edit" to get the mask back live and continue on. I was monitoring Task Manager as I went along to see that my resources were not being over-taxed, which they were not.

For the 5th time, I started the Spline and began moving points around an object when, without warning, the points disappeared and the tool froze. Nothing worked, except I was able to click OK and the Thumbnails and associated mask icon remained in the Browser. Double clicking the mask icon brought up the dialogues but when I clicked "Edit" for the mask, everything in the dialogues disappeared and only a bunch of empty boxes remained.

I tried a bunch of things but was unable to get the tool/dialogues back to working properly and my only recourse was to close everything.

This whole thing is a mirror of the first time which generated this thread.

So, it appears the 29 Aug update did not solve this issue.

Marv

[jsachs]

I was able to reproduce this a couple of times but it was not entirely clear what is causing the problem. I did fix one possible problem for the next release and was unable to reproduce the bug afterward, but I may just not have tried long enough. Let me know if it keeps happening.