Photoshop Elements :: Layer Masks Not Working Properly?
Jan 2, 2014
Can normally use brushes to remove or add back part of a mask, not letting me do this at the moment, why? Also trying to use detailed smart brush but it is not letting me use on selected areas it is adding effect to whole image
I am having trouble with using my layer masks. I can use the masks that are hidden (shown with black screen) and apply them with the white brush, but I cant get white or shown masks to be taken off with the black brush. Sometimes, not always I have trouble adjusting the opacity of white masks. I was playing around with actions I downloaded and after applying three actions to a photo, elements froze on me. I read about trashing preferences, I dont know what that does or means but I tried to hit cntrol alt shift when photoshop was opening and nothing happened. When it first opens it shows I can install the new inspiration browser ( i dont know what that is either) thinking it was a required update I tried to update and it gave me an error message, something about the installer has been mis-configured.
i'm trying to fade out the last few inches of a photograph so it blends more seamlessly into backgrounds it's placed onto.If I use the gradient tool, set to "Foreground to Transparent" I get the proper effect, but instead of fading to transparent it fades to white.. which dosen't work when I move the layer over a coloured background.
I've read and watched many tutorials on this, and they all say to create a layer mask, and then use the gradient tool.. but for some reason anytime I have the layer mask selected the gradient tool won't work at all..
I've been using adjustment layers (curves) and creating a dark / light layer, and then using a brush with opacity of say 30-50% to paint onto the mask to show dark / light in selected areas of an image.
Until yesterday this was working fine. Now however, my brush is appearing pixelated, and scattered about like an airbrush or spray paint. Rather than all the brush being smooth. Even at 100% opacity, not all of the pixels are altered, instead there are clearly visible (when zoomed in) pixels which are lightened / darkened, and some which have been totally unaffected, which leads to a horrible pixelated effect.
I have an action that I created in Photoshop CS2. I used layer masks to be able to edit each layer. All of the masks work fine except for one. On this one layer (we'll call it layer 1) the mask works fine at first, but if I click onto another layer and then come back to layer 1, the mask won't work!
Instead of painting to reveal the layer beneath it, the brush starts painting black. Why would the layer mask work fine until I click on another layer?
I'm using Photoshop CS6 tonight and I'm getting some weird behavior. The thumbs for Shape Layers in the Layers panel sometimes look right, other times they collapse into a tiny square.
if something is wrong. In the photo above, the "HERO" layer is how I expect a Shape Layer to appear. However, the "TOP BANNER" layer is the SAME THING. But for some reason the thumb has become tiny. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out if this is normal for some reason or what
In Elements 9 I want to select and copy a layer which is partly empty. This is to make a layer mask. The non-empty part is too complicated to select using any of the Select tools. If I use Select All, then copy and paste to a new layer, the pasted image is not in the right place - it has been displaced significantly. I am then not able to use it to create a layer mask, because it will not be properly placed above the original image. Why does this displacement happen ? Is there something I can do to avoid it ?
One thing I have never understood is: why use layer masks and adjustment layers, instead of simply creating a copy of the subject layer (the one I want to make changes to) and experimenting with that? It's quick (Ctrl-J), I can do it as many times as I want, I'm not affecting my Background layer. If I like the changes, I can keep them. I can switch the copy on and off to compare with the Background layer. I can do any type of blend or combination I desire. I can insert Gradient layer(s), select any part of the copy and (Ctrl-J) create a new layer containing only the selected part. I can adjust size, rotate, do anything.
It almost seems that "layer mask" and "adjustment layer" are mainly another layer of terminology; how they are intrinsically different from or superior to working with copies of the Background layer?
When i am using layer masks in elements 9 I can conceal paint with a black brush, but when I want to go back over something to reveal (white brush) nothing happens. I have the layer mask selected as active and it works perfectly fine in reverse (black).
Detail Smart Brush use to have the same brightness as Smart Brush as in Bright Eyes, Whiten Teeth, etc. Now when I use Smart Brush, I get the same brightness as always, but when I try to use the Detail Brush, it is darker than Smart Brush. It used to be that I could go over an area as many times as I wanted without an accumulation of brightness with the Detail Brush. Now if I go over an area I already went over, it lightens it more. Have I done something to cause this? How can I get it back to the way it was before (and the way I can still use Elements 11 which I did not uninstall). I tried Sign Out, uninstall and making a new install but the problem was there again. Is it possible that this was updated by Adobe and intentionally changed?
I have somehow reversed the process of changing a sky in my photo so that when I get to the point of painting in the sky from the 2nd photo, it is painting with white (not black) that brings out the background I want on the original photo. Where have I gone wrong? Is there anywhere I can go to find a detailed step-by-step process for doing Layer Masks?
I'm using a clipping mask on a layer. The base layer that the clipping mask is referencing has a layer effect applied (in this case an inner shadow). I want to make it so the layer effect is only applied to the base layer and NOT the clipped layers.
Below is an example of what I'm talking about. as you can see, layer 1 has the base layer's inner shadow applied to it. I want the inner shadow to be hidden by Layer 1, but the clipping mask to still apply.
Is there a way for me to reset my preferences to the original. I was not having a problem applying a exposure compensation mask a few days ago and now when I do it does nothing. When I use the brush tool in masking nothing happens.
My goal is to batch plots using VB in Visual Studio 2008, Autocad Map 3D 2010, Win 7 Pro 64. It all works but now I want to apply layerstates.
I am using the example in the dev. guide here: [URL]........
My questions:
1. If you use Option Strict, how do you convert from integer to "layerstatesmasks.color"? VS shows the error "Option Strict On disallows implicit conversions from 'Integer' to 'Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.LayerStateMasks'." I can't figure out the conversion. Are the values documented somewhere? "clientmask" is not in the object browser or the dev. guide.
2. If you aren't sure what is masked, do you turn on all of the options on (on, color, linetype, lineweight, etc.)? Is there a sum of values that means "layerstatemasks.all"?
3. LAS files are DXF format. Do I have to read the LAS to detemine what the user wants?
4. The second argument to .restorelayerstate is the viewport id. The examples use objectid.null. I could have several layouts to plot, and maybe several viewports. Is the process a) Make the layout current, b) activate each viewport, c) set model space current, and d) restore the layerstate?
I have added a layer mask and now they want me to fill it black... problem is when I do will it black it removes the blur and revert back to the normal image?
I am having a problem in Photoshop CS6 where I am getting posterization in a layer mask, instead of a smooth gradient / transition. I am 87% sure that this is resulting in a visible hard transition in the final image (a TIFF, not a jpeg).
I have tried applying a gaussian blur to the mask, but this just changes the posterization, it doesn't remove it. Doing the gaussian blur with the document in 16 bit mode doesn't make any difference.
The posterization is visible at all zoom levels. I have tried setting cache levels to 1 and GPU acceleration to basic (and restarting PS), but still see the posterization when using a soft brush on a layer mask.
I read some of the other threads on the forum where people had problems with their graphics cards / monitor profiles causing things to look posterized when they weren't really. The examples given in those threads looked okay to me, so I think it is a Photoshop related problem rather than a general problem for me. I've attached two screenshots below, hopefully you can open them up full size and see if they appear posterized to you.
I'm not sure what the problem is or how to fix it?
I swear I remember that there is a preference somewhere for turning off the automatic addition of Layer Masks for new Adjustment Layers, but I can't remember where I saw it. I'd like to disable the automatic creation of layer masks during addition of adjustment layers.
I have several times a little problem with subject.
If you take some Layer Style and then set mask on it then its of course mask all image.
I have problem to exlain it, i'll show:
that i have, and want to achieve that:
but get that by swich on mask on that layer:
So did i miss something about layer styles and there is easy way to apply mask to only effects, but not to image itself? Or at least to get something like that:
P.S. I know that it can be done my manipulation with groups or "merging" but is there some more "natural" way?
I would like to know if someone can please show me how to use multiple layer masks in an image? For example..I would like to do a curves adjustment layer and also only add contrast to a certain part of the image.
How to fix broken / destroyed layer masks (or the reason for that phenomenon)?
After clicking Alt+Click the whole picture transformed into rectangular fields and all masks are broken. I save the file 5min before that accident and it still works - only this file is dead
1st picture: accident 2nd picture: how it was before last 3 pictures: layer masks right now... yes they are changing
if it's possible to add a GRADIENT vector mask to a vector shape layer?
I have a logo made up of various vector layers, and I need one of them to fade to transparency. I traditionally use a regular "black-to-transparent" gradient on the mask for this, but it's pixel-based. So my question is, with regards to the black-to-transparent gradient located in the mask of a vector layer... is there any way to make this gradient vector-based instead of pixel-based?
So I can resize the logo at will without affecting the quality of the gradient in the single layer mask.All the vector mask tutorials I found are for shapes (regular and irregular) but don't seem to involve gradient-based transparency <- which is what I need.
I regularly work on large Photoshop files with many layers and folders within folders and always have the problem moving a folder only to find that somewhere inside there was a layer with an unlinked mask and it gets left behind. Is there a way i can 'relink all layer masks' without having to manually go through and relink them all? Similar to the 'Close all folders' option i guess...
I am having trouble aligning two layers that have layer masks on them. At the moment, the Align Left Edge tool is aligning the layers based off the entire contents of the layer, and not the mask, resulting in the layers not appearing aligned at all. Is there something I can do to tell the Align tool to take the masks into account?