I’ve been exploring the various Local Adjustments in PL7, how their masks are created & displayed, to what extent you can erase part of the mask and how you would know you can do this.
To do this I started each time with a Reset image and applied one the LA types, with the LA Help panel visible (available by selecting the “?” in the bottom right corner). For each LA type I looked to see whether the Help suggested any erasing of the mask was possible directly from the LA type control that was open, if it did how it behaved, what happened if I selected the Eraser in the LA palette, and how this behaved. The results reveal, to me, some inconsistencies in the Help information provided, and in the behaviour of LA types.
Control Point (CP)
The CP Help panel makes no mention of erasing, but does include a shortcut (Alt + click) for protecting an area.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser, but the Eraser mouse pointer is accompanied by a small red circle and line, presumably indicating it isn’t operational, and you can’t erase any of the CP mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you draw a new Brush LA.
Control Line (CL)
The CL Help panel makes no mention of erasing, but does include a shortcut (Alt + click) for protecting an area.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser, but the Eraser mouse pointer is accompanied by a small red circle and line, presumably indicating it isn’t operational, and you can’t erase any of the CL mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you draw a new Brush LA.
Control Gradient (CG)
The CG Help panel makes no mention of erasing.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser. You can now erase part of the CG mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you add to the existing CG mask.
Luminosity Mask
The LM Help panel makes no mention of erasing.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser. You can now erase part of the LM mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you add to the existing LM mask.
Auto Mask (AM)
The AM Help panel mentions Alt + click for the Eraser.
If you use Alt + click you can erase part of the AM mask. If you then release the Alt key further mouse strokes add to the existing AM mask.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser. You can now erase part of the AM mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you create a new Brush mask.
Brush (B)
The B Help panel mentions Alt + click for the Eraser.
If you use Alt + click you can erase part of the B mask. If you then release the Alt key further mouse strokes add to the existing B mask.
Selecting Eraser from the LA palette opens the Eraser, and the Help panel switches to Eraser. You can now erase part of the B mask.
If you select Alt + click, the Eraser switches to the Brush LA and you add to the existing B mask.
A few thoughts:
Would be possible, and better, for the Eraser in the LA palette to be greyed out for those controls where it doesn’t function if opened (CP and CL)? Since in both of these LA types the result of selecting Alt + click after opening the Eraser is to draw a new Brush LA you would lose nothing by being unable to open the Eraser LA - as you could always just open the Brush LA directly.
For the CG and LM masks, where you can erase part of the mask if you open the Eraser, would it be possible and useful to allow Alt + click while in CG or LM mode to switch to the Eraser as the AM and B LAs do allow, and to advertise his in the CG and LM Help panels. Otherwise, the only way a new user would become aware you can erase part of these masks is through trial and error or reading the manual (assuming it goes into such detail).
*The behaviour of the AM LA seems inconsistent, where if you Alt + click while in the AM LA, and then release the Alt subsequent mouse strokes add to the existing AM mask, whereas if you open the Eraser LA you erase the AM mask but Alt + click switches to the Brush and you create a new B mask.
One final thing I noticed that I found a little confusing is the behaviour of Opacity with the various LA types.
For all LAs apart from Brush, the only appearance of Opacity is in the LA palette Mask Options section, where as the help text says it “allows you to adjust the intensity of the selected setting”.
For the Brush LA, Opacity appears twice - once in the LA mask options, as with the other LAs, and also in the Brush “settings”, where you can adjust Size, Feathering, Flow and Opacity. Through trial and error I discovered that these two Opacity settings operate independently with both being applied to whatever LA setting (e.g. Exposure) you adjust. For example, reducing the Brush setting of Opacity to, say, 50% doesn’t alter the LA Mask Option default of 100% but does reduce the strength of the adjustment to, for example, the Exposure setting. Conversely, leaving the Brush setting of Opacity at 100% while painting the mask, and then reducing the LA Mask Options Opacity setting reduces the strength of the adjustment. If you reduce the Brush setting of Opacity and the LA Mask Option Opacity the effect on the LA setting is the combination of the two reduced Opacity settings. For me, while in one sense I can see the validity of this outcome, the use of the term Opacity in both places, each operating independently of the other, is confusing.
In your text, you sometimes write Brush LA, sometimes, it’s Brush MASK. Sometimes, the text comes in bold, sometimes not. Is there any significance in these subtle differences?
With Brush LA / Mask I was trying to distinguish between the LA tool launched when you select the Brush icon in the LA palette (Brush LA), and the mask drawn with the tool on the image (Brush Mask).
As for text in bold, I was just trying to draw attention to what, to me, were the significant points to emphasise. I did give it a couple of reads through but wouldn’t ever claim I’d removed all inconsistencies in my emboldening .
To date, I’ve only tried things with a colour mask. It was this that led me to find the two places Opacity was mentioned and applied with the Brush LA. I was trying to make the mask semi-transparent to see the underlying image and mistakenly altered the brush Opacity rather than the “A” setting in the Mask colour dialogue. Which also highlights two ways you can reduce the Opacity of the mask as it appears on the image (Brush setting of Opacity and Mask Colour “A” setting) - an of course only the former impacts on how the LA setting affects the image.
I wouldn’t expect the behaviours I’ve outlined in my original post to be any different with a B&W mask rather than colour one - as my findings were mainly about how the various LA masks can be erased or not, and how the LA Erase tool behaves. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be that surprised if the behaviour differed . When I’ve got a bit of free time I’ll give it a go and provide an update.
I should say that all of the above tests were with the PL7 Win version. I’d be interested to know if PL7 Mac is any different.
Does the alt + click for every mask allows to either erase mask or create protect zone control (depending of the mask) when in creating mask mode ?
You only notice that when in erase mode ALT + clic revert to create mask.
I thought it was a toogle and then act as “create” when in erase and act as erase (or protect) when in creating mode.
This sounds convenient, since the mask option opacity is here to tweak globally the effect once created.
When the brush opacity allows to modify effect intensity on the surface of the image (with different opacities at different places).
Control Point - Alt + click allows you to protect an area with a -ve CP
Control Line - Alt + click allows you to protect an area with a -ve CL
Control Gradient - Alt + click has no effect, and just behaves as if you weren’t pressing Alt, irrespective of whether or not you have already drawn a CG
Luminosity Mask - Alt + click has no effect, and just behaves as if you weren’t pressing Alt, irrespective of whether or not you have already created a LM
Auto Mask - if you haven’t already painted an AM mask then Alt + click brings up the Eraser mouse pointer, but with the red circle and line indicating it’s not a valid thing to do and there’s no effect. If you already drawn the mask then it brings up the Eraser.
Brush - if you haven’t already painted a Brush mask then Alt + click brings up the Eraser mouse pointer, but with the red circle and line indicating it’s not a valid thing to do and there’s no effect. If you already drawn the mask then it brings up the Eraser.
Is the erased part of a “bitmap (?)” mask still embeded in the mask or independant.
I mean say you create a gradient mask (maybe it is not bitmap - the way of erasing it let suspect it is) for the background and erase foreground in it.
If you choose to move or rotate a little bit the mask for tweaking, does the erased part moves and rotate too and become obsolete and so imply to delete the mask and redo it again; or does it stays fix on the protected area and works so in a convenient way ?
Hi Paul,
you took a lot of effort to test and describe! – And yes, I hope it will be documented better.
Except with the CP and CL tool, where one can subtract by adding a negative counterpart,
all others work in some way with the brush / eraser, the latter one either invoked by < Alt + > or to be chosen directly ( then using < Alt + > to revert to manual brush mode, also with Auto mask and Graduated filter ).
While things are not obvious at the first time (and it needs better documentation / ?-help), when one has ‘understood’ (e.g. by experimenting) it becomes much easier.
.
In fact, the light blue mask from PL6 is now replaced by a customizable colored mask, which indicates the selection, and the new B&W / grayscale mask can help to control & correct.
The one area where I think it’s not consistent is with Auto Mask (AM) and Brush (B). With both you can invoke the Eraser either via Alt + click when in AM / B mode or by selecting the Eraser from the LA palette.
For Auto Mask if you use Alt + click to start erasing and then release the Alt, further strokes add to the existing AM mask. If you invoke the Eraser via the LA palette, then Alt+click brings up the Brush and you create a new B mask.
For Brush if you use Alt + click to start erasing and then release the Alt, further strokes add to the existing B mask. If you invoke the Eraser via the LA palette, then Alt+click brings up the Brush and you continue adding to the existing B mask.
In both cases, when you invoke the Eraser via the LA palette the Eraser Help panel says Alt+click to “add a stroke”. For an active Auto Mask this acts as add a new Brush mask, whereas for an active Brush mask this acts as add to the existing B mask.
… ( then using < Alt + > to revert to manual brush mode, also with Auto mask and Graduated filter ).
Yes – when ‘operating’ the Auto mask, the function < Eraser + Alt > reverts to Manual brush mode adding a new Manual brush mask (and the corresponding gizmo).
.
I think that’s fine, since switching between erasing and painting is to correct the existing Auto mask
– and if one wants to extend the existing Auto mask instead, one can do so with the active Auto mask.
To correct an existing Graduated filter one can only use the Eraser directly,
while < Eraser + Alt > adds a new Manual brush mask (now without the gizmo).
Also here, it is meant to correct … (e.g. to paint in with reduced brush opacity).
And yes – it’s not consistent, but nothing new from PL 5, 6.
( Added a feature to reset a graduated filter by deleting its corrections. )
The all new Luminosity mask can be corrected like the Graduated filter,
while erasing from / adding to the existing mask.
While an improved ?-help should contain all hotkeys,
there is no other way than to experiment … to get used to.
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
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I saw the same really when I tested it. I think it boils down to the only two tools that are useable for applying and refining masks is Auto Mask and Brush.
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