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Layer Mask Tutorial....


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Pants

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Hi, I just went through the layer mask tutorial, and I understand the idea but what I dont understand is how you use different tools to create the masks....
What I mean is, in this tutorial http://photoshopgurus.info/intermediate/photo_makeover/photo_makeover.shtml
You say use a brush, but if I go to layer mask it just says hide or reveal all...
If I make a selection with a marquee tool I can do it but I dont see how you use the other tools....
What am I missing here?:D
thx[/url]
 
If you click on the little layer mask icon in the layers palette, it becomes "active".
After clicking on it, look at the title bar of the document window. It should say some like "(Layer 1, Layer Mask)" on the right.
When the title bar says that, you know the layer mask is active, and you can paint directly on it. Or run filters or whatever.
 
Nothing is supposed to 'happen' really. Nothing except the mini icon to the left of the layer thumbnail changes. It changes from a brush (which means you're working on the layer) to a dark square with a white circle in it (which means the layer mask is now active).

You should not have to worry about this when doing the tutorial though Pants. The steps are written out so that activating the layer mask should happen naturally. You may have wondered of track for a second at this point, and click something else. Which might have removed the focus from the layer mask.

When you want to add a layer mask, simply click the dark square with a white circle in it which is along the bottom of the layers palette; 2nd from the left.
In any case though, to answer your main question... just click your mouse on the layer mask and you can then use just about any tool or filter to create/edit the mask.

That help? :B
 
I think I understand what you're asking. . .now let's see if I can explain in clear enough for you to understand ;)

Whenever you add a Layer Mask to an image layer, a little white icon appears in the Layers Palette beside that layer. After a Layer Mask has been added to a layer, you can work (i.e. affect the pixels of) on either the layer itself or the Layer Mask. You can easily tell whether the Layer or the Layer Mask is currently in the "active" state, by looking at their respective icons in the Layers Palette. The "active" element will have a white outline around it's icon in the Layers Palette.

When a Layer Mask is active, you are able to do just about anything that you could do on the regular layer. If you paint on the layer mask using the Brush tool with Black as your foreground color, the result is that it will "hide" the corresponding pixels of the layer to which the mask is connected with. When you paint on a layer mask using the Brush tool with White as your foreground color, the result is that it will "show" the corresponding pixels of the layer to which the mask is connected with, but only if those pixels were already hidden. If you paint with White on a White ("Show All") Layer Mask, nothing happens because you are trying to make something transparent that is already transparent.

(Hint: Make a mental picture that the Layer Mask is sitting directly on top of the Layer. When you add a "Show All" Layer Mask, it is transparent. When you add a "Hide All" Layer Mask, it is opaque. Painting with Black makes the mask more opaque; painting with White makes the mask more transparent.)

As you add brushstrokes to a Layer Mask, its icon in the Layers Palette will show what you have done. Once you have added brushstrokes to the Layer Mask, you can then use a Filter on the Layer Mask to enhance the effect.

Hope this helps!
Dubya
 
Guess I took too long. . . Mark beat me to it! ;)
 
OK, I think I got it now, thx:)
I was actually clicking the brush and not the little thing at the bottom:)
 
The other thing to remember that hasn't been mentioned, Pants, is if you want to actually see the layer mask as you're working on it, just "ALT+Click" on the layer mask thumbnail in the layer's palette. ;)
 
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