The Maskerade window is a temporary container used to view your source images and to build and preview your final image in. You can think of it as a container for a single masking 'session'. The window has the necessary tools for opening new images, building the final image, manipulating and previewing each image, and discarding any images that you opened by mistake or are not completely satisifed with. When you are finished with a session and want to begin a new session, you can close the window to automaticaally discard all of the files associated with it. This is much faster than discarding each image individually with the 'Discard Image Tool', although both methods yield the same results. They both provide an empty window to begin a new session in.
Pan Tool
The pan tool is used to view different areas of an image. Select the pan tool and drag in the image to move the image in the window.
- Press the
key while any other tool is active to temporarily select the pan tool.
- Double-click the pan tool to fit the view to the screen (The minimum view reduction is 25%).
Zoom Tool
The zoom tool is used to magnify or reduce the view of an image. The placard in the lower left corner of the window displays the current magnification or reduction of the image. You can magnify up to 3200% and reduce to 25% of the original image view. The percentage shown represents the magnification of a pixel in the image. For example, at 100% one pixel in the viewer can represent one pixel in the image. At 200%, 4 pixels in the viewer (a 2 x 2 matrix) represent a single pixel in the image, which makes the image appear twice as large. In the opposite direction at 50%, a single pixel in the viewer represents 4 pixels in the image (a 2 x 2 matrix), making the image appear half as large.
To zoom in, select the zoom tool and click the area of the image that you want to magnify. Each click magnifies the view to the next preset percentage.
To zoom out, select the zoom tool. Hold down the 'Option' key and click the area of the image that you want to reduce. Each click reduces the view to the previous preset percentage.
- While any other tool is selected, pressing
will temporarily activate the zoom in tool.
- While any other tool is selected, pressing
will temporarily activate the zoom out tool.
- Double-click the zoom tool to display the image at 100%.
Eyedropper Tool
The eyedropper tool is used to set the background points used during the masking process.
For proper use, refer to 'Selecting Background Points'.
- While any other tool is selected, pressing
will temporarily activate the eyedropper tool.
- To change the color of the markers in the viewer, double-click on the eyedropper tool and select a color from the color picker. If the color is set to 100% white or 100% black, the markers will automatically 'invert', depending on the image color, to improve visibility. However, if the image color around a marker is approximately 50% gray, the marker will be very difficult to see. In this case, double-click the eyedropper tool and change the marker color to a contrasting color to improve visibility.
Color Readout
The color readout displays the alpha, red, green and blue values of the pixel underneath the cursor.
The values that the color readout displays depend on the preview mode that the image is being displayed in. When viewing source images in 'Image 1' and 'Image 2' tabs in 'Color' mode (the only possible mode), the color readout only displays red, green and blue values. When viewing the Final Image, if the preview mode is set to 'Transparent', the readout will display red, green, blue and alpha values. If the preview mode is set to any other mode, the readout will display red, green and blue values only.
Tech Tip:
Unlike every known program that uses a single alpha channel for transparency, Maskerade is fully capable of calculating three channels of alpha information for each masked image. Although not presently used, a future release will support true color filter effects when compositing (like what occurs with stained glass and photographic color filters). Until this is implemented, the red, green and blue values all display equal values when viewing the grayscale mask in the 'Mask' preview mode.Image Selection Tabs
The image selection tabs are used to choose which image is to be viewed. Image 1 and Image 2 tabs display the two source images. Final Image displays the transparent image created from the two source images.
- Press the
key to select the next image tab.
- Press the
keys to select the previous image tab.
Open Image Tool
The open image tool is used to open an image file from disk.
This tool is equivalent to "Get Image From File" in the File menu.
Discard Image Tool
The discard image tool is used to discard an image in a tab. You will be prompted before the image is discarded.
This tool is equivalent to "Discard Image" in the File menu.
Build Final Image Tool
The build final image tool is used to begin the masking process. The button will be inactive until both source image tabs have images opened in them. In addition, if the background points are not set, you will be prompted to set them before masking can begin.
This tool is equivalent to "Build Final Image" in the File menu.
Save Image Tool
The save image tool is used to save the Final Image to disk.
This tool is equivalent to "Save As Photoshop" in the File menu.
Information Placard
The information placard displays information about the current image being viewed.
The leftmost values are the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the image in pixels.
The center value is the resolution of the image in dots per inch (dpi).
The rightmost value is the current zoom percentage.
Final Image Channel Preview
The final image channel buttons are used to select the preview mode for the Final Image tab.
The color button
displays the color channels of the final image.
The mask button
displays the alpha channel, or mask that is applied to the color channels to produce transparency.
The transparent button
displays the image with transparency on a checkered background as you would see a transparent layer in Photoshop.
The composite button
displays the transparent image composited onto a solid color background. When selected, the pop-up menu to the right of it is enabled. This pop-up menu displays color choices for the solid color background:
'Animated' displays the image on a constantly changing background. In a matter of seconds, it is possible to check the quality of the image on a background of any color . When the animated preview is activated, the cursor changes to an animated mouse
. Clicking the mouse anywhere will stop the animation. See Composite Animation in the Preferences section for information about changing the colors used.
Multiple color choices are available for solid, static backgrounds. The menu choices are self explanitory.
'Other' opens the color picker to allow the selection of a custom color.