Layers and masks drive me mad!

[Phil_rose]

Hi all, I had 25 years experience with PS before jumping to AP and I am now having the most basic problems with layers and masks.

I have a photo. I duplicate the layer. I sharpen the new (top) layer. I create a mask on the top layer (I only want the people in the shot sharpened and not the bg). The mask exposes all of the layer but I want to expose none of the layer until I paint onto it. So the mask is white but I want it to be black. In PS I would hit CTRL+Del and it would invert the mask but if I hit CTRL+I which is invert on AP it not only fills the mask layer with black but the image layer too (see screenshots). If I take the Flood Fill tool and fill it with black the same thing happens. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing here as this should be so straightforward as it is something most people must be doing constantly, surely?

Thanks!

Phil

[Murfee]

Hi Phil, this is behaving exactly as I would expect. The white mask shows everything as no edits have been made. A black mask hides everything until you paint white on it, those areas will then be visible. Because it is masking the top layer it is hiding it until you paint white on it.

[RNKLN]

Apart from that, isn't it easier to simply apply a non-destructive sharpening to the base layer and that use the mask (which automatically comes as part of the non-destructive adjustment) to paint in or out?

[Phil_rose]

44 minutes ago, Murfee said:

Hi Phil, this is behaving exactly as I would expect. The white mask shows everything as no edits have been made. A black mask hides everything until you paint white on it, those areas will then be visible. Because it is masking the top layer it is hiding it until you paint white on it.

Oh, that kind of makes sense. In PS the layer behind the mask would still be visible as a thumbnail but with the mask on top. I paint onto the mask as you suggest and it works BUT look at the screenshot here. I turned off the bottom layer and paint and the pic shows up as I paint on the mask but neither the mask layer nor the picture layer behind it shows that as a visual representation. Once the layer has turned black (both the mask and its source layer) nothing can be done to make the thumbnail represent what is going on. Is that really true? Seems weird and like a bug to me.

Thanks!

Phil

[Phil_rose]

36 minutes ago, RNKLN said:

Apart from that, isn't it easier to simply apply a non-destructive sharpening to the base layer and that use the mask (which automatically comes as part of the non-destructive adjustment) to paint in or out?

A very good point. I am actually sharpening in NIK Sharpener Pro 3 as a Plugin. I should try your method though and see who does a better job. Thanks!

Phil

[Murfee]

4 minutes ago, Phil_rose said:

Once the layer has turned black (both the mask and its source layer) nothing can be done to make the thumbnail represent what is going on. Is that really true? Seems weird and like a bug to me.

That is a problem that has been reported and hopefully will be addressed, its a thumbnail refresh issue rather than your mask. There have been a few beta releases for Windows ... I haven't followed them as I am on a Mac, have you tried the latest beta to see if it has improved?

I have found that the thumbnails will eventually come back. For me the issue only seems to manifest itself after I have been working in AP for a while on several images. As long as the main file is doing what I need then I don't worry about the thumbnails, I know what the layers are, I do appreciate that not everyone feels the same and for some it is a big problem.

[Phil_rose]

Ah, I see. I just updated the beta to 1.8 and it works correctly there. But not sure if it's what you talked about with a freshly opened app. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks!