06-11-2021, 09:12 AM
(06-10-2021, 12:52 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: You can substract selection from others or you can obtain a selection from the maslk of one of the layers, and then use it to paint the other masks black (so all other layers are transparent where that one is opaque).
If you create a layer group, this creates a composite image that only includes the layers in the group, and then you can put another layer mode on the layer group, to apply the result of the group with that mode to the rest of the image(*). In your case, that could be just using the "Normal" mode for your layers, and leaving the Dodge mode to the group.
You can also apply a mask to the group, if necessary..
(*) somewhat like parentheses in algebra
Hi Ofnuts, thanks for the reply - yes I have got it working now using a similar method. However it would still be a great asset when mixing inputs from several different modified versions of the same image to have a method whereby when the input for a particular pixel was increased for layer 1 ( say ) then the other layers would be reduced automatically - this would allow an artist to blend the inputs more naturally.
At the moment the order is the order that the layers are arranged. This means if I burn a big hole in the first mask and then go to the last layer in the stack and want to make that one contribute more I first have to go and heal the hole in the top mask otherwise it always dominates.
The feature I would like to have here would be that if I paint on the mask for layer 3 say - perhaps with a brush of opacity 0.1 the each brush stroke on the layer 3 mask is not only increasing the contribution from layer 3 but it is also diminishing the contribution from the other layers - that way I can stay on layer 3 and at every stroke make it more and more dominant, then maybe I change my mind and go to layer 2 and make that one dominant in the same place - brush stroke by brush stroke. At the moment I have 5 masks to worry about and it gets very complicated changing your mind - you have to keep on "undoing" what you did with other masks to make the changes on the current one have any affect.
So in my mind I see a way of linking say 5 masks together so that whatever you do to one mask the other masks are automatically adjusted so that the net contribution from all the masks always adds up to 100%.
It would be like painting with semi-transparent colours - every stroke of 10% opacity green gradually changes the previous colour of say blue but the image does not get brighter.
What I want to do is to paint not with colours but with the five variations of the same image so that I can blend the contribution from each of the five images at a particular place and let for instance image 2 dominate at this place and image 3 dominate at that place.
I do have this working as I said but I have to manage all 5 masks rather than just painting on the one I am currently most interested in knowing that as it's contribution is increased the others will be automatically decreased.