Corel Painter Help | Painting on layer masks

Painting on layer masks

You can paint in a layer mask; apply effects to it; fill it with a color, pattern, gradient, or weave; and feather it.

A layer mask before (left) and after (right) feathering

Layer masks are grayscale images that are separate from the RGB image; therefore, you cannot paint with color; you can use only black, white, and various shades of gray. Painting with white removes areas from the mask and reveals more content from the layer. Painting with black adds to the mask, which conceals more of the layer. Painting with intermediate gray values makes the mask semitransparent. You can edit a layer mask at any time. Just select the mask in the Layers panel, and paint in the document. As you make modifications, the mask is adjusted automatically.

To paint on a layer mask

1 Select a layer mask.

2 Click the Brush Selector on the Brush Selector bar, and choose a brush variant that can paint on layer masks.

3 Set brush attributes such as size, opacity, dab profile, hardness, and expression now, or you can adjust them later as you start painting.

4 In the document window, perform a task from the following table.

To	Do the following
Conceal content	Paint with 100% black at full opacity (100%).
Reveal content	Paint with pure white to make modifications or bring back details that you have erased.
Make pixels semitransparent	Paint with shades of gray. The lighter the shade of gray you use, the less transparent the area of the layer will be; the darker the shade of gray, the more transparent the area will be. Tip: To control the shades of gray, adjust brush opacity.

Thick Paint, Liquid Ink, Watercolor, Real Watercolor, Selection, Erasers, and Impasto brushes cannot paint on layer masks.

You can also use the Paint Bucket and Interactive Gradient tools to quickly fill an area or create a soft and gradual transition between pure black and pure white, respectively.