Inverting a Mask - how to do that in Affinity Photo

[3drenderingservices.co.uk]

Seems you cannot invert a mask just like you can easily do in Photoshop.

 

Sometimes it's easier to mask what it is you want by painting it black and then inverting the mask to get that selection to be white (and I'm aware of cntrl+shift+I))..... 

[MEB]

Hi 3dvisuals.co.uk,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Select the mask layer in the Layers panel then go to menu Layer ▸ Invert or press ⌘ (cmd) + I (CTRL + I if you are using Windows).

[annmiller1949]

How do you invert a mask on Affinity Photo for iPad?

[lumaluke]

I also wonder how to do this on the iPad?

[annmiller1949]

I figured out how to invert a mask on the iPad version. Go to the channels area and you'll find it

[lumaluke]

Thank you, Anne! So much to learn;) The features of the application are very inspiring :)

[JeanSJ]

Hello,

 

I've run into a problem trying to invert a mask in Affinity. While selecting Cmd+i (Mac OSX High Sierra) the mask does seem to invert but the mask icon that appears in the layer panel does not indicate that it has been inverted. The only way I can invert the mask and have the icon indicate that it is indeed inverted is by right clicking on the mask and selecting Cmd+r to release the mask. The mask then shoots to the top of the layer stack. I then have to invert the mask and drag in down into its proper position. This seems rather cumbersome.

Grateful any suggestions

[duncang]

Hi, created a mask by selecting the sky in photo wanting to mask off the sky and keep the ground showing but the mask keep the sky showing and masks out the ground.  How can I flip that so the sky is masked off - it seems counter intuitive to have selected the sky and then create a mask from the selected area to find that that area is not masked off, in fact the opposite happens - the unselected area gets masked off.

It seems a bit like Windows - you know - scroll up to scroll down !! 

 

[Yodel]

I have tried this on the desktop version and it doesnt seem to work as described. I think whats desired here is to invert the effect of the mask so that the area outside the shape gets visible and the object itself reveals the masked layer. Did anyone here manage to do this in Affinity?

For demonstration purposed I faked it by making the circle a donut and enlarging it until it covers all the masked layer. 

[NotMyFault]

You are using vector shapes, not bitmap mask layers.

Consequently, you need a different workflow. For vector shapes, you need to directly manipulate the shapes.

• create a rectangular shape in the size of the canvas, fill white with 100% alpha
• Create second shape, fill with white again
• Geometry>subtract on both vector shapes.
• nest rectangle to masking position of other layer.

you could even create a compound shape, but Affinity forced collapsed if a compound is used in masking position making it hard to edit the compound.

[Yodel]

Thank you NotMyFault, i have seen this solution in a YT tutorial and thought this cant be the ultimate solution...

I hope Affinity will simplify this in an update.

[luislodosm]

I agree that should be a simple button to invert shape mask.

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Edited July 16 by luislodosm