Compound Masks - Tutorial for Affinity Photo

[@richardlarsen5716]

Great explanation, thank you.

[@fenixsyrell]

Super helpful. Great video! No faff. The best!

[@sudrajad4743]

Nice tips

[@starchy97]

I've viewed quite a few videos about compound masks but I've really struggled to grasp the concept. At last, thanks to your very clear and straightforward explanation, I feel confident about when and why they can be used. Thank you very much.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks, @starchy97, glad to hear it!

[@dougdina]

Excellent video. Rich with very usable content.

[@dulmin_]

Nicely explained ❤

[@sbr-synrosimbugracing9338]

Finally, a creator that uses proper masks. Sub'd and excited to see what you do next.

[@elbass0]

This is pure gold. Thank you!

[@MatrixTek]

Awesome follow up!

[@frankbelt633]

Thank you. Very helpful.

[@lloydstuartm.d.5625]

Slowly starting to make sense. I've tried this and sometimes the hard transition from sky to ground (in your example) leaves some weird artifacts.

[@mtm7031]

Thank you so much Sir your videos is really helpful

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks MTM!

[@dakara4877]

Thanks, good quick overview. I wish Affinity would fix all the Erase mode bugs as that can also be used to create lots of interesting masks. You could already do most of what the compound masks do and more, except for erase mode is so badly broken :-(

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @dakara4877, thanks for the comment! I'm not familiar with the Erase mode bug. Is that something that happens when using the Erase blend mode?

[@dakara4877]

@@TechnicallyTrent Yes, the erase blend mode. There are many, but haven't had the motivation to open them on the Affinity forum as no bug I've ever opened over the many years has ever been fixed 😞 I hope Canva can put some more resources on fixing old bugs. Anyway, erase mode is really awesome when it works. You can create a group in erase mode then just add any kind of shapes or objects to that layer and they all combine. You can even add another child erase mode to subtract from that group. However, anything beyond simple use starts breaking. When creating sub groups sometimes it just stops working. Or when you add effects, like you want to add a Gaussian blur to soften the mask. It will sometimes break, almost always if you are using Artboards. But some of those bugs might just be side effects of the broken rendering order that make erase mode not usable. Affinity has so many really awesome features, but break with advanced use. If you want to see something wild, see the bugs I submitted on the forum under post "rendering order nightmare". Every "exception" listed is a break in expected behavior.

[@p6x2]

I found the compound mask, luminosity mask, masks, inversion, boolean operators bugged. I have been trying to use the technique on some of my photos, especially one which is overexposed, but where the overexposure is the ground part, not the sky. I noticed that my actions may result in the feature not working. I have to delete all the layers and start again, using a different sequence. For example, adding a mask inside the compound mask, inverting and then changing the boolean operator may not work. If you select the operator and then invert the mask, then it works. I don't think those features are really robust yet. Especially with guys like myself, I make so many mistakes....

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @p6x2, thanks for the comment! So far, I have not noticed those bugs, but my usage scenarios are pretty simple. If you have an example of a file with the bug in it, I definitely recommend submitting the issue to the Affinity forums. The developers read that and can perhaps address the issue: forum.affinity.serif.com/ Hope this helps! Trent

[@sherry.soulartist]

Thank you for the videos they are great. I am using version 2.4.2 and the masks are in the top menu not on the right click of the mask in the panel. Can I add it there? Thanks in advance.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi @sherry.soulartist! That is odd that the masks are not appearing. Which operating system are you on? I'm using Windows. If you're on Mac, maybe you need to hold option while clicking on the Mask button. Hope this helps!

[@YoBroz-ix5rq]

Same for me. No mask options on right click on the icon. I‘m on macos Sonoma. Tried it together with pressing option, command or shift but didn‘t work either. Yo

[@barbarossa04]

Thank you!

[@stewartlogie]

I’m still confused, so I need to watch in chunks and go practise.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Hi Stewart, it is a tricky topic at first and definitely can require some time to understand. Feel free to ask any questions here!

[@Bob-The-Guy]

You covered a lot of ground here. Maybe a little too much.

[@TechnicallyTrent]

Thanks Bob! Sometimes it is tricky to know what level of detail to go into.