Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Step Nine:
When would I turn Auto Mask off? Well,
when painting a large background area
(like the sky), I'd turn it off (press the
A key
to toggle it on/off), then quickly paint in
all the background areas. There are two
reasons I do this: (1) The brush moves
faster when it's not detecting edges as it
goes, and (2) it keeps you from getting a
white edge fringe around fine detail areas
(like those trees in the upper-right that
extend up into the sky). With Auto Mask
turned on, it left a little white edge fringe
around them, so I turned it off and let
the brush paint a little onto them back in
Step Three, and it did a great job. This won't
always happen, but if it does, you know
how to deal with it. So, in general, to work
quickly with the brush, turn it off for big
background areas, and then toggle it back
on when you get near edges you don't
want to accidentally paint over (go ahead
and click on the first pin you created [the
sky] and go over that tree area to test this).
Step 10:
So, how do you know if you've actually
painted over an entire area? How do you
know whether you've missed a spot?
Down in the toolbar, across the bottom
of the Preview area, you'll find a check-
box for Show Selected Mask Overlay.
Tur n that on and it shows a red ma sk
over the area you painted (as seen here).
This is incredibly handy for making sure
you didn't miss any areas. If you did miss
an area, just paint over it. If you painted
outside of where you wanted, press-and-
hold the
Option (PC: Alt) key
and paint
over that area to remove it (the red mask
will go away where you painted). If you
just want a quick look at the mask, move
your cursor directly over a pin and it
shows the red mask overlay for where
you painted.
