Mask Problem is CS2

Phyxius

Okay, I recently upgrade from PS 7 to CS2. Have I lost my mind or is there actually something wrong with my masks. I've done a couple OOB and some other edits and everything has been fine...until today.

When applying a mask I have to paint it on in WHITE and black does nothing.

:huh:huh:scratch:scratch

So, again; using the paint BRUSH white applies the mask and BLACK does nothing. Using the paint bucket is still backwards, but black does actually do something.

Any ideas?


***Oops, I just realized this is Digital Darkroom GEAR. Gee, I'm batting a thousand tonight huh? Sorry!***

Phyxius

Uhhh.

It's normal now. I have no idea what I did. Still any ideas so I a) don't do it again like the doofus that I am or b) know how to fix it if I do do it again like the doofus that I am?

dogwood

Phyxius wrote:

Uhhh.

It's normal now. I have no idea what I did. Still any ideas so I a) don't do it again like the doofus that I am or b) know how to fix it if I do do it again like the doofus that I am?

I'm assuming you know all about using the "x" on your keyboard to set the white or black brush and the "\" to view the mask? Sometimes the order gets all screwy and you're painting white when you meant to paint black and then it switches back when you're not viewing the mask... always make sure to double check the white and black squares on your tool palette. But again, you probably know all that-- took me a call (and $35 service charge) to Adobe to figure that out!

Is this happening on an adjustment layer?

Phyxius

Dogwood,

Yep, it was happening in an adjustment layer. I couldn't figure out why the Brightness/Contrast wasn't decreasing when I was applying the mask so I took the paint bucket and dumped black in the mask (which worked) and then colored back in some white to unmask the area (which also worked).

But, Oops! I went a bit too far and switched back to black...but nothing would happen. Using non black/white worked somewhat, but all black wouldn't do anything. I accessed the "paths" and turned on the mask (red at 50% Opacity) which I then bumped up to 100% Opacity so I could SEE the mask. I deleted the layer, made a new layer. Same thing. I opened a new image. Same thing. I closed and then reopened Photoshop. Same thing.

I THINK what might have changed it was accessing the little tool menu on the top of the frame, under File - Edit -Image, etc. When I clicked on it it had about three different preset brush types, including something like Normal Soft Brush, I just clicked that and it was back to normal. At least I THINK that's what I did. So, maybe it was set to lighten or screen or I don't know what. Maybe it was just a mini-bug and has since gone away?

I'm sorry I can't do a better job of explaining it, when I get home I'll look at what I reset the brush at.

Thanks for your time!
(Oh, and I remember first trying to figure out masks way back when.) I actually thought GIMP was easier

jfriend

Some pitfalls to look out for

Phyxius wrote:

Dogwood,

Yep, it was happening in an adjustment layer. I couldn't figure out why the Brightness/Contrast wasn't decreasing when I was applying the mask so I took the paint bucket and dumped black in the mask (which worked) and then colored back in some white to unmask the area (which also worked).

But, Oops! I went a bit too far and switched back to black...but nothing would happen. Using non black/white worked somewhat, but all black wouldn't do anything. I accessed the "paths" and turned on the mask (red at 50% Opacity) which I then bumped up to 100% Opacity so I could SEE the mask. I deleted the layer, made a new layer. Same thing. I opened a new image. Same thing. I closed and then reopened Photoshop. Same thing.

I THINK what might have changed it was accessing the little tool menu on the top of the frame, under File - Edit -Image, etc. When I clicked on it it had about three different preset brush types, including something like Normal Soft Brush, I just clicked that and it was back to normal. At least I THINK that's what I did. So, maybe it was set to lighten or screen or I don't know what. Maybe it was just a mini-bug and has since gone away?

I'm sorry I can't do a better job of explaining it, when I get home I'll look at what I reset the brush at.

Thanks for your time!
(Oh, and I remember first trying to figure out masks way back when.) I actually thought GIMP was easier

Here are some potential pitfalls when trying to paint on a mask:

• Is the mask the active area in the layers palette?
• Is the correct layer selected and active?
• Is the opacity of the brush at 100%
• Is the color of the brush right?
• Is there an active selection that might be limiting the painting to only within the selection. Remember selections can be completely hidden with Ctrl+H.
• Is the blend mode of the brush set to Normal? If it's accidentally on Lighten or Darken or nearly anything but Normal, you can get unintended behavior.
• Is the brush tool selected in the palette and not the clone tool or some other tool that doesn't paint normally?
• Is the brush set to a meaningful size?
• Is the opacity of the layer set to 100%?
• Is the blend mode of the layer set to Normal?
• Is the layer and it's mask clipped by a previous mask? (shows as indented in the layers palette).
• Is the layer visibility set to On? (eyeball in the layers palette)

Phyxius

jfriend wrote:

• Is the blend mode of the brush set to Normal? If it's accidentally on Lighten or Darken or nearly anything but Normal, you can get unintended behavior.
• Is the blend mode of the layer set to Normal?

Thanks for your time jfriend! Out of all of those possibilites these are the only two that I'm not sure of. For the layer the blend mode is directly under the "layer" tab in the layers palette, next to opacity, right? If so, then this was set to normal.

I THINK the blend mode on the brush was set to lighten because I had previously followed a tutorial and it involved chaging some brush settings (but I thought it was using the healing brush, not the normal paint brush ). But, that's the only thing that I can think of and it's the only thing I'm not sure of. Everything else was checked and rechecked.

The brush went back to correct black/white function when I clicked "Airbrush Soft Round 50% Flow".

So, while I may never know why it "acted up" that time I now know that I have to check the brush blend mode.

Thanks again Jfriend and Pete!

Dogwood wrote:

I'm assuming you know all about using the "x" on your keyboard to set the white or black brush and the "\" to view the mask?

I didn't know that, but thank you for the shortcuts!!!