Merging alpha masks

Hi,
I have about 10 layers that I want to merge together. Each layer has its own individual alpha mask that doesn't overlap each other. I was wondering if it's possible to merge all the layers onto one while preserving an alpha that encompasses all 10 alpha masks as well.
Thanks.

I am not sure how the merged alpha channel will help you and I am pretty sure if you applied that combined alpha channel as a layer mask on the merged images that you would not get the same result as a Merge operation (Michael already mentioned this above). In the layer stack, each Layer Mask operates wtih the existing layer and the next lower layer (with all other layer settings) to determine the Composite image to present to the next higher Layer and Layer Mask. The masks are not directly working in a cascade fashion with each other directly from a conceptual point of view (IMHO of course). That is why preserve only keeps the bottom Layer Mask. All the other masks were merged into their respective Layers druing the merge process (except the last one).
That given, if you want to create a composite mask for some purpose that I do not understand (very likely) then here is how you can do it:
- Make sure that selections are cleared
- On each Layer, add the Layer Mask to the selection
- After all Layer Masks have been added to the selection, either a) save selection as a) Channel Mask or b) create a new Layer Mask on its own independent layer from the selection.
At this point you have the combined mask as you requested either in the channels panel or as an independent layer mask. You can do the merge without preserve set and still have a combined mask as you requested to be used whereever.
Hope this is helpful and if I just don't understand your request I apologize for taking up your time. If I am off base, it may be helpful to describe what you want to achieve with your image as opposed to just what operations you want to execute. I sense other forum members don't quite understand the end result you want to achieve. I am sure you will get lots of suggestions once forum members understand the end image objectives. Good luck.

Similar Messages

Alpha-mask vs. merged-Transparency in PSD format

Hi,
I'm trying to read merged RGBA data from PSD format. "Image data" section contains channels (RGBAA... where first A might be a merged transparency or Alpha mask). Can someone tell me how to know what is stored in first A? I noticed that:
when image contains no transparency, but has at least one Alpha mask, then first Alpha channel will contain that alpha mask
when image contains transparency, then first Alpha channel will contain merged transparency and other Alpha channels will contain alpha masks
So how do I reliably differentiate between Transparency and Alpha mask in first Alpha channel?
Regards,
Paulius Liekis
Unity Technologies

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You need to ask your question in the forum for the Adobe product you are using
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Animate Particles Using Image Source Alpha Mask - Outline

I am trying to animate particles emitted from the outline of an alpha mask. I can get the emitter to see the mask, but only as a rectangular bounding box. How do I get the particles to be emitted from the organic shape within the mask? I created the alpha mask in Motion.

Heya,
I see what you're talking about: using the alpha for Fll or Random Fill seems to work fine, but using the alpha with Outline doesn't seem to work (except using the outline of the whole bounding box).
Maybe a bug, though I would guess that generating an outline path from an alpha channel would be an expensive process, computing-wise. It makes sense if you have a relatively simple alpha with a single "blob" of solidity, but if you had a complex (noisy) alpha, it would be a royal pain to solve.
Would be nice, though

Batch Process: Add Alpha Mask From File

I did a search for this, but couldn't find anything. If there is something, please feel free to send me in that direction.
I use Photoshop a lot for my 3D work. Usually, when I render an image sequence out, I have the mask saved in the alpha channel. Unfortunately, ZBrush doesn't allow me to do that, and instead saves the mask out as a separate image. I need to add the alpha mask to the color plate file. Is there any way to do this with batch processing?
--Andrew

AndrewRaz wrote:
Thank you for your response. I guess for now, I'll just add the masks by hand, since I don't know scripting at all.
It would be worth asking in the Scripting forum. There may be something available, in which case you just copy the file into the appropriate folder in PS and it's there on the menu to use.
Scripting forum.

[svn:fx-trunk] 11641: A simple fix - we need to keep track of the display list index for non-clipping masks such as luminosity masks , not just alpha masks.

Revision: 11641
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2009-11-10 18:29:57 -0800 (Tue, 10 Nov 2009)
Log Message:
A simple fix - we need to keep track of the display list index for non-clipping masks such as luminosity masks, not just alpha masks.
QE notes: Please include tests for multiple graphic content nodes with masks under a .
Doc notes: N/A
Bugs:
SDK-24133 - Multiple non-Group maskees don't work when using maskType="luminosity"
Reviewer: Deepa
Tests run: Checkintests, Bug test case
Is noteworthy for integration: No
Ticket Links:
    http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-24133
Modified Paths:
    flex/sdk/trunk/modules/compiler/src/java/flex2/compiler/fxg/FlexFXG2SWFTranscoder.java

Revision: 11641
Author:   [email protected]
Date:     2009-11-10 18:29:57 -0800 (Tue, 10 Nov 2009)
Log Message:
A simple fix - we need to keep track of the display list index for non-clipping masks such as luminosity masks, not just alpha masks.
QE notes: Please include tests for multiple graphic content nodes with masks under a .
Doc notes: N/A
Bugs:
SDK-24133 - Multiple non-Group maskees don't work when using maskType="luminosity"
Reviewer: Deepa
Tests run: Checkintests, Bug test case
Is noteworthy for integration: No
Ticket Links:
    http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/SDK-24133
Modified Paths:
    flex/sdk/trunk/modules/compiler/src/java/flex2/compiler/fxg/FlexFXG2SWFTranscoder.java

Gradient alpha mask problem

Hello-
I am attempting to create a gradient alpha mask for a PNG file, the effect being that of a reflection fading out gradually into the background. CS4 doesn't recognize the white to black alpha gradient or solid to transparent gradient. It uses the entire gradient as the mask.
I have searched and searched, but cannot figure out how to make a simple alpha gradient mask for an image.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jesse
Artwork attahced for concept.

You need to make the mask and the maskee movie clips, give them instance names, set cache as bitmap on both to true, and then use setMask to make the mask work.
I believe pretty good directions are here: http://www.align.sk/blog/blog1.php/2008/10/23/transparent-masks-with-cacheasbitmap-as3
For what it's worth, it's a well known enhancement request to have this work at author time in addition to runtime with AS (I for one sure hope we can add this).

Alpha Mask Limit?

Hello, I recently just had a long problem that I could not
figure out. I couldn't get a particular image to take an alpha
blended mask. Since I've been able to successfully do this
countless times prior (through both the timeline and AS), I wasn't
able to find the reason why this particular image wouldn't accept
it. Naturally, I went insane. If I had runtime caching checked, I
would get no masking at all. If I had it unchecked, I would get a
solid mask.
I've narrowed the issue down to one factor and one factor
alone, the physical size of the image. It doesn't matter the file
size of the image being used, rather its dimensions in relation to
the stage. Shrinking the image worked, blowing up any other image
(as a test) makes it stop working again.
My question is this: What's the largest size image we can
alpha mask? Mine was 1608x259(original) and I was trying to scroll
it across a 705x504 size stage. I didn't keep sizing down until it
worked, rather I just cut it up at its current size, so I don't
know yet this limit, but it's there.

300thnickattempt wrote:
> Hello, I recently just had a long problem that I could
not figure out. I
> couldn't get a particular image to take an alpha blended
mask. Since I've been
> able to successfully do this countless times prior
(through both the timeline
> and AS), I wasn't able to find the reason why this
particular image wouldn't
> accept it. Naturally, I went insane. If I had runtime
caching checked, I would
> get no masking at all. If I had it unchecked, I would
get a solid mask.
>
> I've narrowed the issue down to one factor and one
factor alone, the physical
> size of the image. It doesn't matter the file size of
the image being used,
> rather its dimensions in relation to the stage.
Shrinking the image worked,
> blowing up any other image (as a test) makes it stop
working again.
>
> My question is this: What's the largest size image we
can alpha mask? Mine was
> 1608x259(original) and I was trying to scroll it across
a 705x504 size stage. I
> didn't keep sizing down until it worked, rather I just
cut it up at its current
> size, so I don't know yet this limit, but it's there.
>
I could not reproduce the problem. For test I imported 2000
by 700 pixels image.
Set caching bitmap and mask using setMask action, animated
the mask, animate the image
and than the both in the same time.
Variety of combinations, each time it work w/o problem.
My guess is the file get somehow corrupted. FLA are very
delicate and its common to
experience unusually behaviors for no apparent reason.
Try to do the same in new file see if happens again. Try to
adjust the dimensions, make
the image slightly bigger or smaller. Remove the image from
stage, drag it from library
to stage again and convert it to an instance movie clip.
Sometimes the link between
library content and stage get messed up.
Regards
Urami
Happy New Year guys - all the best there is in the 2006 :)
<urami>
http://www.Flashfugitive.com
</urami>
<web junk free>
http://www.firefox.com
</web junk free>

Alpha Mask

Is there a way to use a grayscale image as an alpha mask? I'm trying to do lighting effects, also let me know if there is a better (or just easier) way to do lighting effects.

Sure there is. Heres an example which takes an original image and sets the alpha or the destination pixel based upon the "grayness" of the mask pixel.
-This assumes the mask image and src image are the same size.
-White is maximum transparency, black opaque, and transparency in the mask image is ignored.
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
* @author Ian Schneider
public class AlphaMask {
    public static final void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        BufferedImage orig = ImageIO.read(new File(args[0]));
        BufferedImage mask = ImageIO.read(new File(args[1]));
        BufferedImage out = new BufferedImage(orig.getWidth(),orig.getHeight(),BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        for (int y = 0, yy = out.getHeight(); y < yy; y++) {
            for (int x = 0, xx = out.getWidth(); x < xx; x++) {
                int argb = orig.getRGB(x,y);
                int grayness = grayYIQ(mask.getRGB(x,y));
                argb ^= grayness << 24;
                out.setRGB(x,y,argb);
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(f.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(new JLabel(new ImageIcon(out)));
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.show();
    static int grayYIQ(int rgb) {
        return (int) (
          ((rgb >> 16 & 0xff) * .299) +
          ((rgb >> 8 & 0xff) * .587) +
          ((rgb & 0xff) * .114)
}There is probably some other, easier way, but hey, I learned a cool gray algorithm in the process...

Alpha mask artifacts

this may be a very simple question.
Here it is:
All is done with AS.
I am applying a gradient mask to a movie I am animating. When
it changes property line alpha x or y there are white outlines that
appear. Is there a way to prevent that from happening.
Any support is much appreciated.
Please let me know if you need more info.
Here is a link to a sample image of the problem.
Link to
example
Cheers

Narrowed it down to the following:
Draw a circle on the stage and convert it to a movieclip. Name it for example "my_mc". Apply a motion tween to it from e.g. left of the stage on frame 1 to right of the stage on frame 20. Test it and the circle moves.
Now apply this code on frame 1:
my_mc.cacheAsBitmap=true;
Test it again: the circle doesn't move; it freezes on its left position of frame 1.
I'm using a actionscript 2.0 document in Flash CS3 with it's publish setting on 'flash player 9'. It works when I start a actionscript 3.0 document, but I want to use it in a 2.0 one. When I start a 2.0 document and change the publish setting from its default 'flash player 9' to 'flash player 8' it works???
Why doesn't the tween work when I use a AS2/FP9 work, but it does work when I use a AS2/FP8 document? Is this some bug of FP9 in combination with using cacheAsBitmap?

Flash 8 Alpha Masking

The effect I would like to create is to make a child movie
clip that is not drawn while not positioned over the parent movie
clip. The effect should be like a windowed effect, where if the
child clip is partially over the parent clip, only the overlapping
portion is drawn.
I've gotten the desired effect by creating an image with a
transparent window and placing my components behind that image, but
this is not ideal because there is a lot of wasted space taken up
by the mask image.
I've also gotten the effect by using alpha blending. I
eventually created the following setup:
Base MC - blend: Layered
|-> my_background MC
|-> my_object MC
|-> masking MC - blend: Erase (lays over the whole
screen)
|-> my background MC - blend:Erase
so i erase my background from the masking MC, then erase the
masking MC from my base MC to get a my object it's children are
only drawn if over the top of it. The problem with this is that to
use this component in another movie i can't just import it into a
movie clip. Not to mention it is somewhat of a cpu hog.
Ideally, the alpha blend feature wouldn't only be
destructive, and I would be able to do something like this:
myMovieClip - _alpha=0 - blend:Layered
|-> child movie clips - blend:Layered
|-> MaskMovieClip - Blend:Alpha - _alpha=100 - (same size
as myMoveClip and displayed over the top of it)
so any child clips that stray outside of the bounds of
myMovieClip will be clipped
Is there any way to create a parent Movie Clip that only
draws the children if they are over the top of it, or to create a
child movie clip that is not drawn while not over the top of it's
parent?

yup - very common issue - asked and answered here practically
everyday for years:
http://www.keyframer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--> Adobe Certified Expert
--> www.mudbubble.com
--> www.keyframer.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nullstone wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> So I made some small SWFs with the alpha level of text
changing(tweened) to
> create some fading. Whenever I "preview" it in flash, it
looks fine, but once I
> export it to an SWF, it doesnt show correctly....the
alpha goes from 10% to
> 100% in one frame, with nothing for all the rest of the
frames...
> I tried converting the text into a symbol and tried to
alpha blend that, same
> results...
> Anyone have any ideas?
>

Import image as a mask or How to use an alpha mask for transparency mask

Hello,
Basically I need to know how to import 1 image into another image as a mask.
What I'm trying to do:
I have a bunch of large images that put together make 1 very large image (ortho land images). I also have corresponding images, lets refer to them as mask images, that would mask out parts of the large ortho image I want to import it too. These mask images basically look like a PS mask. They are feathered black to white images. I need to be able to import them as a mask.
Is there away, if so how?
Thanks!!!!

If the masked out areas of your image are to be black, see if this approach fits your needs and forget about creating a mask. Instead bring your "mask image" into your ortho land image using your favorite technique. Now change the blend mode of this mask image to mutiply. You should now see land wherever your mask is white, black where the mask is black and transition regions where the mask has a gray value.
Alternatively, you can make an alpha channel if you want by turning off all layers except your "mask image", switching to the channel palette, Ctrl clicking on the rgb channel (to create a selection) and then clicking on the Save Selection as Channel icon at the bottom of the palette. You can then create a luminance mask by going back to the layer palette, selecting the layer you want to mask and click the Add LAyer Mask icon at the bottom of the palette.
Paulo

Alpha masks

I searched everywhere for a tutorial explaining how to make an image with an aplha mask ( not uniform transparency ) Can you hel me?

Do you mean making an image that is a mask, or making an image using a mask?
To create an image that will be used as a mask, start with a new BufferedImage having an alpha channel (like TYPE_INT_ARGB). Then draw into that image using any of the Java2D primitives, employing transparency either in the color value or an AlphaComposite. Note that the actual color is not important, only the alpha value will be used.
To then use that image as a mask, simply set an alpha composite type of "source in." After that, anything you draw into the image will be constrained by the alpha values of the image.
For example, the following will create an image with a large letter "A" and draw another image into just the pixels occupied by the letter. Since a BufferedImage with an alpha channel is initialized to all transparent, only the visible pixels within the letter will be used to mask the second image.BufferedImage bi = new BufferedImage(100, 100, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
Graphics2D g = bi.createGraphics();
Font f = new Font("sansserif", Font.BOLD, 140);
g.setFont(f);
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawString("A", 0, 100);
g.setComposite(AlphaComposite.SrcIn);
g.drawImage(anotherInterestingImage, 0, 0, null);

BitmapData masking: how to merge 2 alpha channels?

How can I apply an alpha mask from one bitmapdata to another? In other words, I want to merge the alphas, not simply copy one alpha channel to another bitmap.
Here's an illustration:
Notice that both the triangle and the ellipse have alpha channels, and the result is an intersection of these alpha channels. The RGB channels from the second image are used, and discarded from the first.
I've looked into using BitmapData/merge(), draw(), copyChannel(), but they don't seem to do what I want. Anyone?
Cheers.
-Aaron

Aha, looks like the answer was right under my nose: copyPixels() can do exactly this:
If you include the alphaBitmap and alphaPoint parameters, you can use a secondary image as an alpha source for the source image. If the source image has alpha data, both sets of alpha data are used to composite pixels from the source image to the destination image. ThealphaPoint parameter is the point in the alpha image that corresponds to the upper-left corner of the source rectangle. Any pixels outside the intersection of the source image and alpha image are not copied to the destination image.
Cheers.
-Aaron

Making a PDF with an image that has both spot colour channel and alpha channel

Hi I have a logo that was supplied to us as a PSD it has a transparent background, it also has a pantone colour channel. I have made a alpha channel from the transparent background as well.
The graphic looks fine in InDesign (alpha channel selected in the import options), ie the background is transparent.
But when we try to make a Hi Res PDF the result is that the graphic is on a solid white background.
If I go back to the PSD and merge the spot channel with so that it is just CMYK and try again the PDF is fine, but we obviously loose the spot colour.
How do you make a PDF with a transparent PSD that has a spot colour?

You know that annoying response from support staff? "We cannot replicate your issue". Well....
I created a PSD in CS5, with a bunch of process stuff, then loaded a spot color channel and painted in some pawprints using Pantone 172C:
Saved this as a PSD file, default settings (maximize compatibility on, but it doesn't make any difference in this situation).
Created a new InDesign document in CS5, added a gradient and some text, then placed the PSD. ID understands the PSD has an inbuilt background so there's no need to bother with a dedicated alpha mask:
Exported from ID using the High Quality Print option (PDF/1.4, which keeps the live transparency):
Re-exported to PDF/X-1a (based on PDF/1.3 which flattens transparency) - looks exactly the same. In all cases the spot channel is intact and the see-through regions of the PSD are maintained.

Inconsistant alpha channel import on .mov files

I am creating a movie using animation I create in Maya which is then composed in Shake with some alpha masks and exported using the animation codec to a .mov file into Motion. In reviewing my workflow (I'm about midway through things) I recognized I had an error in my screen sizes from one tool to the next and while it was not too noticeable, I thought it best to correct. This is where I should have left dead dogs lie.....
Anyway, this is best described with the flow I show below:
Motion Project Setup on ALL file types
720x480, 8bit, NTSC D1/DV
Lower First (Even)
29.97 Fps
Background Color - Black
Background - Transparent
Case 1:
Maya__->_Shake___->Anim Codec_________>Motion 720x480
720x486->720x486-->_Mil+_Col-->foo.mov-->File squished 6 pixels in Y
but alpha is present
Case 2:
720x480->720x480-->_Mil+_Col-->foo2.mov->File is 8 pixels narrow in X
alpha channel is not preset
I open foo.mov and foo2.mov in shake and look at the files and the
size is as follows:
foo.mov - 720x486
foo2.mov - 720x480
BOTH .mov files have the alpha channel present and the data is correct.
Just for grins, I output a file sequence of .tif files from shake of the
foo2.mov files and verified that the alpha channel was present in
photoshop and then did an import into motion with the same results of
foo2.mov. Size is shrunk by 8 pixels in X and no alpha channel.
It appears at least that Motion is making decisions based upon the screen
size and importing or not importing the alpha channel.
Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Well, it is strange. Shake says it is 720 and for that matter so does Motion in the Media tab. Motion says it is 720x480 as does shake but when the clip is overlayed against the black background you can see 4 pixels on each side of the clip. The motion project file says it is 720x480 too.
UPDATE....
I just checked the motion file and deleted all of the media clips, but when I went to the media tab there was still one copy of the old 720x486 clip there. Every time and method I tried to delete it, it would crash motion. So, I copied all of the other text data I was using motion to generate, created a new motion project and pasted the text in. When I import the 720x480 file into the new project it lines up perfect. This must be a "feature mode" I must have gotten motion into.
Anyway, problem solved. Thanks much for your help Andy. I kept looking at this and not seeing the forest for the trees.
Much appreciated.

Merging alpha masks

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