It would be nice to be able to load a Liquify mask from a mask layer in the document

[GarryP]

Edit: The suggestions in the two posts below by Walt give two good ways to do what I have requested but by using existing functionality.

In the Liquify Persona, I’ve had a little look round and I can see that I can Clear the mask, Mask All, and Invert the mask, but can’t figure out if it’s possible to load a mask from a document layer.

It would be nice if I could create a mask layer by using the various functionalities already provided but then also use that mask inside the Liquify Persona (and/or Live Liquify Filter).

By doing so I could create masks which conform much more easily to the thing I want to liquify, or the thing around which I want to liquify, without a lot of manual work in approximating it with brush work.

For example, if I have a picture of a building against the sky I could use the Selection Brush to create the selection, Refine it, then create the Mask in a normal way. Then I could load the mask into the Liquify functionality and then liquify only the building, or the sky, without ‘going over the lines’.

Being able to do this would also make it easier to create liquify masks with straight edges, which I find difficult to do.

I found this related thread: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/183041-liquify-— is-it-possible-to-convert-a-grayscale-image-to-a-mesh-or-a-mask/

...but couldn’t find a subsequent feature request, hence this one.

Edited August 9, 2023 by GarryP
Added note.

[walt.farrell]

Why not just:

1. Create your Selection; then
2. Add a Live Liquify Filter, which will automatically be scoped to the active Selection.

[walt.farrell]

Though, actually, simply making the Selection then going into the Liquify Persona also works for me.

[GarryP]

Nice, thanks, I didn’t think about it that way round.

And I guess I could save the selection in case I needed it again in either case.

That works for me, but I’ll leave the request open in case anyone sees it and thinks of a better reason for keeping it than I can.