|
|
| Author |
Message |
rowan.bradley
Joined: 23 Jan 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Newmarket, England
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:51 am Post subject: How to create a feathered vector mask? |
 |
|
I want to fade out the bottom right hand corner of the attached image (the stairs) to a background colour. How do I do this most easily in Photoshop? In my mind, what I want to do is:
1. Create a vector shape for the part of the image that I want to mask out (or the part I want to keep).
2. Define the colour I want to fade out to.
3. Apply a gradient or feather to the edge of the vector shape, of a width that I can adjust.
4. See the resulting masked image.
5. Adjust the shape of the mask (still using vector tools) and the width of the feather until I get what I want.
This seems conceptually very easy but I can't see how to do it in Photoshop.
I actually created the attached adjusted image by putting the layer containing the background colour above the image itself, then adding a clipping mask, and using the Gradient tool with a linear gradient from white to transparent to create the mask. Every time I masked a bit too much, I had to clear the clipping mask layer and start again, which was very tedious. It would have been much easier if the mask could have been a vector shape which I could have adjusted the shape of. It would also have been easier if I could have created the clipping mask from a group containing two or more layers. This is because the mask I actually wanted was actually two combined gradients. If these two gradients could have been adjusted individually, rather than written on top of each other, it would have avoided a lot of "oh sh... I'll have to clear it and start again". Photoshop didn't seem to allow me to use a group as a clipping mask. Is there a way of doing this?
Thanks for your ideas!
Rowan
| Description: |
|
| Filesize: |
157.85 KB |
| Viewed: |
1808 Time(s) |
|
| Description: |
|
| Filesize: |
164.26 KB |
| Viewed: |
1808 Time(s) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
hawkeye
Joined: 14 May 2009
Posts: 2377
Location: Mesa, Az
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:46 am Post subject: |
|
|
I didn't see where you mentioned your PS version but I'm using CS5 and in the mask palette there is a feather setting. I think this would also be in CS4.
Bear in mind with any mask, you can unlink it from the layer by clicking the link icon between the layer and mask. Then you can move the mask separately to adjust it's position.
|
|
|
|
|
|
rowan.bradley
Joined: 23 Jan 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Newmarket, England
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm afraid I'm using CS2. I can't even find a mask palette, let alone a mask feather setting.
Unlinking the layer mask and moving it doesn't work unless you are only trying to mask out an area in the middle of your image, because as you move the mask (e.g. upwards and to the left) you expose a strip along the bottom and right hand edge which are completely unmasked.
It works better if you enlarge the canvas in all directions first, and then create the mask to the new edge of the canvas using the Gradient tool or whatever. Then when you move the mask there is some genuine additional mask outside the image area to move onto the image. But you can still only achieve the adjustments possible with the Transform tools - somewhat limited in my opinion. It would be much more flexible to be able to manipulate the edge of the mask as a path with anchor points.
Thanks - Rowan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
