The Draw Mask tool allows you to draw or edit a texture mask on a photo. See Texture mask image name for information on using texture masks and Creating mask images for a summary of various mask creation methods.
The Draw Mask tool is on the ribbon toolbar’s Create Tab (Photo group) and enables when a photo window is active.
To draw a mask, click the tool to enter the Draw Mask mode. The cursor will change to show that you are in the mode and that you are adding a mask region, i.e. with a [+] sign.
Begin by clicking the first boundary point of the mask and continue to click along the boundary until you form the desired masked region. Double click to close the region, or right click and select Close Mask Region. Note that when you are in Draw Mask mode, the region you draw will form the masked or blocked region and this portion of the photo will not be used by the photo texture generator.
Once a mask region is closed/completed, the “Texture Mask image file name” Photo property (see Photo Properties) will be set and a mask image file will be written in the “Masks” subfolder of the project. If the project has not been saved before drawing a mask, you will be prompted to save it, to allow for the mask image to be written to disk.
The masked region will overlay the image and will appear as a translucent black region overlay. You can change the color of the mask region on Preferences - User Interface.
Masks visibility is controlled on the Visibility on Photos pane (see Visibility and Selection Control). Once a mask photo property is set you can enable or disable the visibility of it on the photo. You can also control the transparency of the mask using the Transparency slider in the Settings section of the Visibility on Photos pane.
The right click menu while in Draw Mask mode has the following tools:
• Change to Subtract Mode (or Change to Add Mode if already in Subtract sub mode): To cut away part of an existing mask, switch to Subtract mode and the drawn region over top of a mask will get cut or ‘subtracted’ from it. The cursor will invert and show a minus [-] sign. In some cases, it is easier to cut away a small portion of a mask (e.g. after using the Mask Whole Photo tool) than it is to draw the actual mask shape. You can also temporarily switch to Subtract Mode by pressing the Alt button while in Draw Mask mode. Note that you cannot switch to subtract mode midway through a region – you must switch before your start defining the region.
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• Mask Whole Photo: Use this tool to mask the whole photo. This is useful when the mask region is relatively large and you use the Subtract mode to cut out a portion from the full mask.
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• Clear Photo Mask: Use this to clear the mask on the photo. This will clear the Texture Mask photo property and delete the mask file on disk. There may be times when it is easiest to clear a mask and start over.
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• Invert Mask: The mask will invert, where what was masked is cleared, and what was clear is masked.
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• Finish and Add to Mask (or Finish and subtract from mask, if in Subtract mode) : Use this to close the mask region, and apply the drawing to the mask (in either Add or Subtract mode).
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• Cancel Mask (Esc): Cancel the drawing of the mask, in case you need to start over.
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• Hide menu: Use this to hide the menu and return to the draw mode.
Note: Masks drawn in this mode automatically set the Photo’s Texture mask property. You can also set the DSM mask property on Photo Properties and browse to the same mask image in the project’s “Masks” subfolder.
See also Create Masks Dialog.