Masks Are Easy! 2

  Page 1

So far you have learned how to make a mask from a .jpg image. Before we move on to making an actual .msk (the PSP program file type for mask) file let's review.

  1. Masks are always black, white and shades of grey.
  2. Masks should be applied to their own layer.
  3. Black means all of the underlying layer(s) will show.
  4. White means none of the underlying layer(s) will show.
  5. Grey means some of the underlying layer(s) will show. The darker the shade the the the more of the underlying layer(s) will show.

Any black, white and grey image saved in .jpg format can be used as a mask, but until it is applied and saved to disk it is still only a .jpg image which must first be opened in PSP in order to use it.  In the first part of this lesson you learned how to use a .jpg as a mask, now you will learn how to make an actual mask with the .msk extention.

  1. Download and save Maskpics.zip to your computer then open them in PSP.
zip file contents
  1. Click on the child.jpg to make it active. Duplicate it (shift+D) and close the original.
  2. Add a new layer and flood fill with white.
  3. Now go to masks/new/from image and select iwannabeamask from the drop down menu. Check "Source luminance" and ok.
Your image should look something like this:

masked example
This is obviously not what we want right? So now we have to change it.
  1. Go to mask/invert. Tada!
finished image
Click to view large image

Now all that is left is to save it as a mask.
  1. Go to mask/save to disk. Name it and put it in the mask folder.
Congratulations! You have made your first mask.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you found it easy to follow.  If you have any problems or questions please .

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