Fade An Operation? Invisible Masking?

[Richard Feltner]

John, I hate to be pesky but, would it be possible to add a "Fade" command to SA4, something variable perhaps? For example I run a Texture operation over an existing image and while the effect is nice I want to be able to hit a command key and fade the effect subtly on the fly without having to undo, make adjustments and then redo. A pop-up box wherein you could enter a percentage of fade would be nice so I could throttle back the effect to fine tune it. If this were application wide it would also allow one to fade individual strokes of color, etc.

One other request - is it possible to have the option to display a mask as a selection border (or even toggle the visibility of the mask)? I use masks a lot and when the non-masked areas are covered by a gray overlay it makes it impossible to accurately judge the effect or paint applied in relation to non-masked areas. I think at one time you suggested a semi-elaborate work-around but something simple and elegant would be less intrusive so I don't have to add layers or work with multi-step processes. Thanks.

[Synthetik]

We can consider adding some kind of fade command for the future. I haven't thought enough about any potential ramifications or issues associated with something like this to comment on it at this point in time.

You mention being able to toggle the visibility of the mask when in selection mode. You can do this now, just turn the mask checkbox in the main operation toolbar off to toggle the mask view off.

Are you asking for a 'marching ants' style selection display option? As opposed to the current gray overlay for non-selected areas approach we currently use.

[Richard Feltner]

Thanks John. I'm aware of the toggle for mask visibility (cmd-Y). What I was alluding to is the ability to toggle the gray visibility on and off while leaving the mask in a functional working mode. I want to be able to mask an area, enable the mask to paint or perform an operation but have the gray overlay off. That way I can paint and see the relationship of the colors to the unmasked areas as I paint. I do subtle brushing and blending - it is pretty hard to judge when enough is enough when everything else is covered in gray.

Yes, marching ants would be an alternative if hiding the gray overlay is programming issue.

[Synthetik]

OK, I'll think about what you are really asking for. We used to have the option to turn the mask display off in 3.5 in the region selection control panel, the issue was that people forget they turned it off and then wonder why selection isn't working, so we removed that option in version 4.

Maybe we could add some hot key option to get at what you want. If we made the opacity of the gray overlay user adjustable, would that also make it work better for you?

[Richard Feltner]

The hot key idea would be good but that means the hot key would have to be pressed continually,right? Like using the Q hot key for interactive masking mode? Having to hold it down continually could be an ergonomic issue during extended sessions. The adjustable overlay would be fine if you had the choice to dial it way down to a value close to zero.

All of this relates to an individual artist's method of work or process (by hand or more procedural). Masking visibility won't be an issue for many of SA's users. I thought I'd ask for it if it isn't a huge deal.

[liveart]

John the mask already "disappears" when we do interactive adjust or warp functions, which is very helpful, so I can see where Richard's process might also benefit from the option. As long as we are talking about masking I will re-raise the request to have the ability to apply the warp functions to the mask.