Layer Mask Compatibility

Hey,
I use both Gimp and Photoshop (CS5) and swap between the two when designing.
However, I painted a layer in CS5, then went into Gimp and added a layer mask with some gradients on it. Then when I go back into CS5 the layer isnt visible unless I "Disable Layer Mask" and the layer appears. (BTW the layer is visible before anyone asks). Anyone know why? Is there compatibility issues between CS5 and Gimp Layer masks?
Its just annoying as unless I can fix it, then I will have to re do all the gradients in CS5 instead of Gimp.
Thanks,
Connor

Welcome to the forum.
My best guess would be that there IS an incompatibility between the Gimp Layer Mask, or perhaps THAT Layer Mask.
There are several folk here, who use Gimp, and will likely be able to give you direct comments on compatibility, or lack there of.
I do similar between Corel Painter and PS. Over the years, Painter has gotten better at handling most things in PS, but going back and forth can require some workarounds, or at least some planning, before just switching back and forth.
Good luck,
Hunt

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Help with Photoshop CS2 files MUCH larger than normal, possibly not compessing layer masks

Has anyone else come across a problem where Photoshop files grow in size much faster than expected, especially when adding layer masks?
Normally when you add a layer mask the file size grow a small amount if the layer mask is mostly all white or mostly all black. In this case it's like the file size is growing exponentially, almost as if the layer mask isn't being compressed at all.
The file in question although large, is similar dimensions, resolution, and number of layers as other projects that have been worked on and all the usual thing have been checked like resolution, colour mode, bit depth and the image has also been cropped so there's nothing outside of the page.
The file has been checked on 2 different macs and exhibits the same behaviour and Photoshop preferences have been deleted and re-created and we've tried copying the file by dragging layers to a new document of the same dimensions with no success.
The only things we're certain of is that file size grows dramatically when adding layer masks in particular and layers in general.
The file was created by someone else, if that might be a factor, though the file has been "saved as.." with no improvement.
Any ideas?
TIA
Tom
The only

Maybe it has something to do with "Maximize Compatibility". If that's checked when you save, it might add a lot of weight to your file, even with just a simple layer mask. Don't know, haven't done any testing, just a thought.
Edit: Just did a quick test:
1. flat image saved as PSD = 5.2 MB
2. same image converted to a layer with simple layer mask, saved as PSD = 5.8 MB
3. same layer mask image saved WITH "maximize compatibility" = 10.7 MB
So adding "maximize compatibility" nearly doubled this test file. Could be it?

Photoshop TIFFs with layer masks do not display correctly

I am sure other people must have this problem, but I cannot find any related posts so here goes:
I open an image using the "open in external editor" command (typically a RAW file converted to a TIFF), edit in Photoshop and save the file (as a TIFF, I do not use PSD format)
If the PS edit contains any layer masks or alpha channels (masks in the channel pallet) it does not display correctly when it reappears in Aperture. Only the top most mask will display, assuming I have multiple layer masks in the PS edit.
Not only will the TIFF only appear as the mask in Aperture, but Aperture will print or email the mask, not the PS edited file as it should appear.
It seems that Aperture only recognizes the layer mask (or alpha channel mask) as the image, and all the other layers etc are disregarded.
Is this a confirmed bug, or is there some setting I have not correctly configured or some other issue?
I love Aperture, but this problem is nearly a deal-breaker for my workflow, and would be for any serious photoshop user, I would imagine!
I cannot believe this is still a problem in version 1.5, which is the version I am using (thus my system is 10.4.8)

David,
I assume you mean in the edited PS TIFF file:
In different cases I have either:
A. A TIFF file with layer a layer mask
B. A TIFF file with multiple layer masks
C. A TIFF file with an alpha channel mask
D. A TIFF file with multiple alpha channel masks
E. A TIFF file with any combination of the above
the outcome is the same, they all do not display correctly in Aperture. It does not seem to matter if the file was opened in PS from Aperture via the open with external editor command or if it was worked on outside Aperture entirely then imported. I do have maximize compatibility in PS checked (though I understand this is only for PSD files, though perhaps I am wrong here)
any thoughts?

Photoshop Generator: Unbound Layer Mask do not render correctly

I'm a huge fan of the Generator feature in Photoshop CC. However, there seems to be a problem with layer masks: If you unbound the layer mask from it's content layer, the generated images will not match the actual image. It seems, that the layer mask is positioned in different way.
Correct
Incorrect
Full Image
Layers
(no difference between bound & unboucn layer mask)
Is this the expected behaviour?
I'm using the latest Photoshop (14.2.1 x64 on OSX 10 Mavericks)

David,
I assume you mean in the edited PS TIFF file:
In different cases I have either:
A. A TIFF file with layer a layer mask
B. A TIFF file with multiple layer masks
C. A TIFF file with an alpha channel mask
D. A TIFF file with multiple alpha channel masks
E. A TIFF file with any combination of the above
the outcome is the same, they all do not display correctly in Aperture. It does not seem to matter if the file was opened in PS from Aperture via the open with external editor command or if it was worked on outside Aperture entirely then imported. I do have maximize compatibility in PS checked (though I understand this is only for PSD files, though perhaps I am wrong here)
any thoughts?

I am unable to click on a layer mask for editing. CS6 OS10.10

I have been working on a file and all of a sudden I am unable to click on a layer mask in order to edit that mask. I am still able to do the following things:
Create a new adjustment layer. When I do this a new mask is formed for that layer and automatically selected for editing. I can edit this mask. As soon as I click off of it I cannot go back to it.
I am able to shift-click and command-click on layer masks and get those options/selections.
I am able to drag an existing mask to a new adjustment layer.
Hide/unhide the mask-overlay
Pretty much everything but click ON the mask and have it selected for editing.
I have tried the following:
Closing and re-opening the file.
Restarting photoshop.
Restarting my computer.
Deleting/recreating the preferences files.
Any insight out there?

I discovered my problem by trying to paint on whatever I was selected on. It laid down the mask overlay. I thought about it and realized that I must have bumped the 'Q' key and put myself in Quick Mask mode.
So now this is here in case anyone else makes this mistake! :-)

How do I add a gradient to a layer mask to counteract a gradual change in tone from one end of a photo to the other?

I swear I must be going nutso. I have a photo taken with a rather extreme 10mm shift of a shift lens, which consequently has a gradual darkening toward the top of the photo. No problem, says I. I just added a layer mask, clicked on the gradient tool and drew a line (in the appropriate direction) with that tool. What I got was a transparent area at the black end (of the gradient applied to the mask) grading to the darker part of the image showing through at the other end (of the gradient.)
I've done this before, and did the above instinctively, so I thought I was doing it right. When it didn't work, I tried applying the mask and gradient to a duplicate background layer, then flattening the image. Nada.
Jees. Something set wrong? A different blend mode than normal? I even checked with a CS6 guide by Martin Evening, who seems to be able to do exactly what I wanted with no trouble.
Or......maybe I am going nutso :).
Thanks in advance,
BAB

Thanks, that's exactly what I've done.....now I'm at least certain I'm not going nutso . Specifically, I have image 2 stacked above image 1, with the mask for image 2 appearing on the same layer. However, when I apply the gradient, exactly as you have indicated, I do not get image 4. Instead I get image 2 showing through at the top where the mask is white, and then a gradual fade over the black part of the mask to the diamond pattern typical of transparent layer.
Well, I be darned. I just tried it again and now it's working exactly as you described and exactly as I had expected it to. I was using a .psd and wondered if that were the problem, although why I couldn't imagine. So chose a .dng I had just downloaded and the process worked perfectly. Huh? So I went back to the .psd (a test image that I had done to see how much falloff there would be using this shift lens at it's fullest shift) and it worked perfectly also. I have no idea. I promise you I did exactly as you indicated above in all the times I tried to get the falloff subdued. Yes, I did the mask in the right direction, as you've shown above. Yes I used a duplicate layer, and yes I applied the mask to the duplicate layer. I can even get it to work using the mask applied by the Curves layer I used to lighten the duplicate layer. If you can think of anything that may have been set wrong, please let me know, because I think I checked everything including layer properties and those of the gradient tool as well. And I'm certain it will happen again when I'm on some deadline and really need the gradient. You know about Murphy's Laws, right?
Thanks, though. I'll mark this question answered and if I find something I set wrong, on purpose or accidentally, I'll pass it along.
BAB

I am having an issue in PS CS6 (on a Mac) where in the middle of working on a file, it gets corrupted by filling in a grid of squares in my layer masks as well as deleting out those same sections of misc layers throughout the file. I have reset the prefer

I am having an issue in PS CS6 (on a Mac) where in the middle of working on a file, it gets corrupted by filling in a grid of squares in my layer masks as well as deleting out those same sections of misc layers throughout the file. I have reset the preferences, cleaned up the file. Renamed it to another file and 2 weeks later it is doing the same thing. Luckily I had my main subjects as smart objects and it saved them. This second time I just closed it out and opened it again and it is fine. Anybody else have an issue with this? Also it runs really slow these days on my MacBook Pro Retina 2.6 Core i7 with 16gb Ram.

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Can't paint at full opacity in layer mask in CS6 64 bit windows 7

A problem has developed in my photoshop CS 6 64 bit on windows 7. I can't paint at full opacity in a layer mask. It is like an 75 % opacity brush. I have gone back to the default brushes soit is not the particular bursh. My brush settings are all at 100%, mask density is 100% , the blend mode is normal,-can't think of where else to look for the solution.The brush works just fine when I am not in a layer mask.
I updated the graphic card driver and also the wacom intuos driver. It has to be somewhere in photoshop CS6 as when I go into my older version photoshop, cs5, the mask opacity works works at 100 % opacity
Any ideas of what to do next.

I am having a similar problem that I need help with. I just loaded CS6 for the first time ever last week and have been tinkering around with photo editing. I am trying to use an action I downloaded to whiten the whites of the eyes and teeth. When I run the action I cannot paint with the soft white brush. I hit backslash and it shows no work completed, just a red background. I have everything selected at 100% opacity (brush and action layer).
A couple days ago I was able to use the brush tool to darken the background by loading an action and paiting on. Now I can't do that anymore.
I can use my brush for other tasks. I am so confused. I would greatly appreciate any insight.

How do I add a second layer mask to turn more areas transparent?

I can't get this to work, and I haven't been able to find a post specifically for this question. I applied a layer mask to a photograph to take out part of the background, that is, make it transparent. I would like to add several more masks to make more areas transparent. But when I add a second mask, it hides the first one, and the first one hides it. If I turn off either level, and I can see the transparent portion for the other level, but when both layers are visible, all of the transparent sections are covered.
It seems to be there ought to be a simple way to do this. Perhaps it is possible to combine all the selected transparency layers into one mask?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Best -- Cat

Thanks, Scott! I'm not exactly sure how to use groups, but this is a good reason to figure it out.
I also figured out a kludgy way to do it. I make transparent the part of one layer that is blocking the transparency of the others. As long as I don't have a lot of layers do to that way, it works okay. It's a pain, though.
Thanks for the help!
best -- Cat

PS CC (since JAN 2014 update) Layer-mask editing causes hangs/crashes

ONLY since JAN 2014 update, PS CC has been hanging/crashing when I paint/edit a layer mask. All may be well at first (or not), but suddenly the display of the mask (or mask overlay on the layer itself, as shown when hitting backslash key) is not shown in full but renders in s-l-o-w-l-y in rectilinear pieces <snapshot below was taken before video card upgraded but is still typical of what I mean>. When I view Windows' Task Manager for PS, I see my CPUs are each working at their upper limits (up to 80+-90+%), varying only by a few points, over a VERY long time... which could be MANY minutes. OR the System has decided PS is Not Responding.
In any case, whenever this happens, it means in all practicality PS CC is not working, so I either kill it or it's crashed.
Now, here's the thing: that VERY file, can immediately be opened in PS CS6 (which I have fortunately kept installed on my computer), and the mask will be as I thought it should be, and I can edit it as I always could, just fine! So it's obviously a PS CC thing, and I do NOT recall this happening prior to the JAN update. It is still a problem after the two subsequent updates.
I have not been able to determine the specific instances when this happens, as it seems to happen whenever I am editing a mask, no matter what size/softness/color brush, what magnification, what view mode, many or few layers, big or small file, etc.
I did upgrade my NVIDIA card (from GeForce GTX 260 [with current driver] to GTX660), just in case it was a factor (maybe kept it from crashing as fast? hard to tell... but it's still an unworkable problem). You can see from my Sys Info shown here from the PS CC Help menu that it should be more than sufficient for any PS CC task, and it's running the latest driver:
Adobe Photoshop Version: 14.2.1 (14.2.1 20140207.r.570 2014/02/07:23:00:00) x64
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit
Version: 6.1 Service Pack 1
System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:14, Stepping:5 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2
Physical processor count: 4
Processor speed: 2664 MHz
Built-in memory: 16379 MB
Free memory: 12453 MB
Memory available to Photoshop: 14697 MB
Memory used by Photoshop: 60 %
Image tile size: 1024K
Image cache levels: 4
Font Preview: Medium
TextComposer: Latin
Display: 1
Display Bounds: top=0, left=0, bottom=1200, right=1920
OpenGL Drawing: Enabled.
OpenGL Allow Old GPUs: Not Detected.
OpenGL Drawing Mode: Advanced
OpenGL Allow Normal Mode: True.
OpenGL Allow Advanced Mode: True.
AIFCoreInitialized=1
AIFOGLInitialized=1
OGLContextCreated=1
NumGPUs=1
gpu[0].OGLVersion="3.0"
gpu[0].MemoryMB=2048
gpu[0].RectTextureSize=16384
gpu[0].Renderer="GeForce GTX 660/PCIe/SSE2"
gpu[0].RendererID=4544
gpu[0].Vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
gpu[0].VendorID=4318
gpu[0].HasNPOTSupport=1
gpu[0].DriverVersion="9.18.13.3221"
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gpu[0].CompileProgramGLSL=1
gpu[0].TestFrameBuffer=1
gpu[0].OCLPresent=1
gpu[0].OCLVersion="1.1"
gpu[0].CUDASupported=1
gpu[0].CUDAVersion="6.0.1"
gpu[0].OCLBandwidth=1.16816e+011
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gpu[0].glGetProgramivARB[GL_FRAGMENT_PROGRAM_ARB][GL_MAX_PROGRAM_INSTRUCTIONS_ARB]=[16384]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS]=[4]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[192]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[32]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS]=[32]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS]=[8]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS]=[4096]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_FRAGMENT_UNIFORM_COMPONENTS]=[2048]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VARYING_FLOATS]=[124]
gpu[0].glGetIntegerv[GL_MAX_VERTEX_ATTRIBS]=[16]
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_VERTEX_PROGRAM]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_FRAGMENT_PROGRAM]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_VERTEX_SHADER]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_FRAGMENT_SHADER]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_EXT_FRAMEBUFFER_OBJECT]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE]=1
gpu[0].extension[AIF::OGL::GL_ARB_TEXTURE_FLOAT]
I work on digital-photography files, and use a layer mask in almost every file, so this relatively-recent bug is a big PITA, having to switch back and forth between CS6 and CC!
Until there's a fix... is there a way to roll-back my PS CC version to BEFORE the JAN 15, 2014 update?

I am not qualified to comment on technical issues; I'm just a user whose son in IT is my 'technical support department.' (But he's not much of a PS user.)
I'm pretty sure, however, that all my Prefs were set to the same things BEFORE the Jan 16, 2014 PS CC update as after (unless the update itself changed something I was unaware of... the settings APPEARED to be the same but I can't easily locate my notes of what my Prefs were from long ago).
And they were the same as the PS CS6 I have had installed on this same system for a very long time, with older video card with older driver, with newer driver; newer video card with newest driver, etc. Yet after that CC update, CC has not (until this workaround) worked re 'the masking bug' for me, yet CS6 has always worked just the same.
So I conclude that the only variable (other than the video card upgrade I did in an attempt to solve this and of course those Windows auto-updates) in this scenario IS something to do with PS *CC*, and after Jan 16, 2014.
As for restarting the machine vs. restarting PS, well, PS is the major player of my system, so when I shut that (and LR) down, I might as well 'clean things up' by Restarting. BTW, I am in the habit of closing and reopening PS (CC or CS6) whenever I finish with a file and load another, in order to get back some of that memory which PS never seems to want to let go. (This is not new to the latest versions, I think. My son says it's a 'memory hog'? ;-) ) I track its memory use in Windows' Task Manager and find that seems to let it 'refresh' itself. (See, I told you I'm not a technical person. ;-) ) But I do not think this has anything to do with the bug. Just a quirk of PS. Like when a tool goes all wonky (for example, its little icon becomes just a 'plus' sign even though the tool is still performing correctly, it's telling me, I think, that it would like to be restarted. And that makes it feel all better... I mean, tool icon reappears.)
Anyway... it's up to Adobe to figure out IF and what may be wrong with PS CC -- it still doesn't work for me as I had it configured at first, and I think it should, right? -- and to fix that... PLEASE. SOON.

Why doesn't Photoshop always generate a layer mask

I believe it was in CS4 that Adobe expanded the use of automatic layer masks ... perhaps it was with adjustment layers (I'm not quite sure)
I don't know about others, but it would save me considerable time in the long run if every new layer, (whether it is generated as a copy, from a plug-in, as a cut, or as a new blank layer) recevied an automatic layer mask. It takes no file space, but more often than not I find myself needing one. It sure would be nice to jump right into masking rather than having to first create the layer mask. Why did they stop at adjustment layers?
Am I alone in this?
thanks

Adding layers like Text, Raster and smart objects never have had automatic layers mask added. Adding adjustment layers always came with an automatic layer mask until CS4. Adode introduced bugs in CS4 when they added the adjustment panel these bugs have been carried forward into CS5 and CS6. Adobe added two options in the adjustment panels fly-out panel. These options are designed to be global, not just adjustment panel options. These options only work sometimes when changed from their default settings. When changed from their default settings they try to change Photoshop historic default operation. When you change Photoshop default operation Action, Scripts and Plug-ins that add adjustment layers may not work correctly. Adobe should fix Photoshop and remove the two bad Adjustment Panel fly-out options. The Adjustment Panel fly-out menu option to not add Layer masks can not be safely set, same goes for the option to always clip added layer mask, if you use Actions, Scripts and Plug-ins that add adjustment layers.

Layer Mask not revealing the right colors

Hi I am new to Photoshop CS6, and photoshop in general. I am trying to take a color photograph, turn it to black and white, and reveal a flower in color and the rest is still black and white.
I thought I had done this properly when I added a new "adjustment layer, hue/saturation", reduced saturization to zero, and painted the yellow flower over with black to reveal the yellow flower's color while the rest of the photo is still black and white. And it worked..except when I got to the green stem of the flower. Painting over that with black revealed a yellowish-green stem.
I experimented a little more by painting black on the new layer mask and most of the rest of the color photo comes out wrong. The blue sky shows up like a weird smurf blue, faces are oddly peach/orange and most colors look much different than the originial photo. Yellow seems to be not affected, magenta/pink seems to be OK and blue shows up so-so. But the rest of the colors are messed up.
I know this must be something very basic, but why are the colors showing up odd?
Thanks

Sounds like you did the right stuff. You should expect to see the colors revealed where the mask is made black. I might have used a Black & White adjustment layer rather than Hue/Saturation, as that would give you more control over the grayscale part of the result, but the technique with the mask should be the same.
Any chance you could take a snapshot of your screen, save as a JPEG, and paste it here? That will help avoid a whole lot of questions.
I noticed your screen name... I live in "bokeh". The weather has turned nice down here after Sandy passed by, eh?
-Noel

Problem using Brush tool with layer mask in Photoshop CC.

Using Photoshop CC, working on a layer mask. Using the Brush tool to paint white to show the effect works like normal. Painting black has no effect. Just started doing this in the last two days.

Check you Brush blending mode setting in the tools option bar.

Photoshop CS3 crashing when working on image with layer mask

I've never had problems with Photoshop CS3 (or any other version) until now.
Here's the problem:
I created an image that has a layer mask applied to it. The image is saved in one layer (named Layer One) but not flattened in order to retain a transparent background. So far so good.
But when I try to exapnd the canvas or make other changes to the image, it crashes. Repeatedly.
Do I have to apply the mask (and thus give up the transparency) to prevent crashes?
I did find a workaround. Applied the mask, made a cast drop shadow (which is what I was after all along), then copy-and-pasted the drop shadow into the original layer-masked image with transparent background.
But is this the only way? Am I experiencing a bug or is something else wrong?
Thanks!

You create a new user account
and it will show you where the corruption is. in the old user account or in the system or application.
It a method of troubleshooting.

Swap black and White in layer mask

How do I change the default settings for the layer mask, as I'd like to swap black and white color.

hi steenmikkelsen2,
white means that your mask is transparent until you fill it with black. since then, there was no option to change the mask default settings from white to black otherwise you have to do what Noel suggested. but i hope my suggestion will help you better.
►press "Alt" key on your keyboard simultaneously as you click on the "Add Layer Mask" button under the Layers panel. that switches a white layer mask to black. :-)

Layer Mask Compatibility

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