luminosity mask / selection from layer not working?

[dmstraker]

Creating a luminosity mask with Ctrl-Shift-Click on layer icon (as in help system) doesn't seem to be working (though History shows selection from layer enacted). Same thing with Select/Selection from Layer. Both give marquee around the whole image. Quick Mask shows nothing, nor does creating a mask. Tried it with several images and with release and beta versions.

Is my brain on holiday or is something up?

 

[GDPR-365024]

Creating a luminosity mask in v1.7xxx is Ctrl-Alt-Click on layer thumbnail.

Yeah, the entry in Help should be amended ... presumably overlooked.

[walt.farrell]

It's Ctrl+Alt+Click on Windows.

From the Help for Selections from Layers:

Quote

To create a pixel selection from layer luminance:

• On the Layers panel, click the chosen layer's thumbnail while pressing the AltCtrl keys.

 

[GDPR-365024]

That's interesting Walt.

Searching 'luminosity mask' in Help this is what comes up. Presumably this is what Dave is referring to ...

[MEB]

Hi dmstraker, PedroOfOz,
Thanks for reporting this. That's definitely wrong (the Help file). I'm logging it to be looked at.

[walt.farrell]

But, is there a difference between a "luminosity mask" and a "pixel selection made from layer luminance"?

The Help that PedroOfOz quoted and dmstraker was looking at (and talking about) is referring to creating masks. PedroOfOz answered with the answer for luminance selections.

If they are the same thing, then probably the Help text should also be amended to clarify that, so that two different terms for the same function aren't used.

[GDPR-365024]

38 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But, is there a difference between a "luminosity mask" and a "pixel selection made from layer luminance"?

Yes, is there?

In Dave's tut here (just under 1 minute in) he makes a pixel selection made from layer luminance via Ctrl-Shift-Click on thumbnail.

I've not selected layer luminance this way until viewing that tut so I assume that was the keyboard commands until v1.7 (?)

[MEB]

What's wrong with the help file is the shortcuts. To create a pixel selection from layer luminance press alt+cmd (on Mac) or alt + ctrl (on Windows) and click the pixel layer's thumbnail. The result is a pixel selection (based on luminance). If you then want to create a luminosity mask from it, press the Mask icon on the bottom of the Layers panel (step two in the Help file). The output is a new mask layer based on the previous created pixel selection which was based on layer's luminance (or a luminance mask if you prefer).

To clear this up: The help file is correct for the older 1.6 version. These shortcuts are however different in v1.7 (as explained in the paragraph above). I'm checking if this change was indeed intentional or if there's something wrong going on.

[MEB]

This was effectively changed for version 1.7 to accommodate additional functionality (shortcuts referenced below are for the Mac version):
- to create a selection from layer's contents press and hold cmd and click the pixel layer's thumbnail
- to add layer's contents to an existing pixel selection (new in v1.7) press and hold shift + cmd and click the layer's thumbnail
- to create a pixel selection based on layer luminance press and hold alt + cmd and click the layer's thumbnail
- to add layer's luminance information to an existing pixel selection (new in v1.7) press and hold shift + alt + cmd and click the layer's thumbnail

Regarding the new functionality: suppose you have painted three circles in three different layers with the Paint Brush Tool. You can now press cmd and click the first layer's thumbnail to create a selection around the circle on that layer (so based on its content). Then press and hold shift + cmd and click on the thumbnails of the other two layers to add their containing circles as selections to the existing selection of the first one. You should now have a pixel selection containing the three circles. Similar situation with pixel selections based on luminance. You can now add layer's luminance information to an existing pixel selection in a similar fashion using the corresponding shortcuts on point 4 above.

There's currently no way to subtract selections from existing selections (no more modifiers available).