Page 335 - Xara Designer Pro X17

Photo Regions and Masks 335

Both the Region and Mask painter tools allow you to change the nib size quickly by
holding down Alt and using the mouse-wheel. However the easiest way to work is usually
to just zoom in where you need to paint a smaller area.

For more on nib selection see the Shape Painter tool (on page 159). And for more
information on the smoothing control feature see the Freehand and Brush tool.

Editing Regions and Masks

Both the Region and Mask painter tools can be used to erase unwanted parts of region
and mask shapes. Hold down the Shift key and your left mouse button and drag the
pointer around the area you wish to erase.

You can also edit region and mask shapes using the PAGE & LAYER GALLERY to access
the mask layer. This is useful for the fine detail editing of mask shapes, or if you want to
move the position of a mask, or else to create a soft mask.

1. Click on the selector tool and open the PAGE & LAYER GALLERY.
2. Click on the mask layer to unlock it.
3. Select the mask or region shape you wish to alter and reposition/ resize the shape
as required.
4. Double click the shape to edit the shape using the SHAPE TOOL (on page 159). Or if
you created the shape using the RECTANGLE REGION TOOL then a double click will
enable editing with the RECTANGLE TOOL.

It's easy to switch between the Regions and Mask tools - if you created a selection using
one of the Regions tools and you want to turn it into a mask instead just click on the
MASK PAINTER tool and the selection will now be a pink masked area instead. And the
reverse is also true, create a mask shape using the MASK PAINTER tool, then click on one
of the Regions tools and the mask will now be a selection.

Soft Masks

A soft mask is a mask that includes varying levels of masking, instead of consisting
simply of just masked parts and unmasked parts. For example part of an image may
have a 50% mask applied, so that a subsequently applied operation has only a 50%
effect on that part of the image. Or a mask shape could have a graduated mask that
smoothly graduates from 0% masking to 100% masking. If such a mask is then used with
the PHOTO ENHANCE TOOL to brighten the photo, the effect of the brightening would be
similarly graduated.

Not all operations support soft masks. For example Content Aware Scale, Clone/Magic
Erase and Clipview creation will ignore any softness in the mask.