HOW TO: Masks

Before you can begin to ultize photomasks, you'll need this plugin HERE. It does work for the 4.0 version of Paint.Net.

You'll also need to create a folder to hold your photomasks. You can do this so in a folder near your designing supplies (as I have) or one in your Paint.Net files. Either way, you must know the location of the masks before utilizing the plugin.

Open your program and utilize the paper of your choice. I am using a darker colour paper so you can see better.

In your upper toolbar, go to Effects > Alpha Mask and click. The next box will pop up after you click the plugin.

Locate the mask you wish to utilize by clicking the browse button. Click ok once you have located the mask.

And now you can see that the mask has been applied.

Now you can add this to any white background to give your design an added pop of colour.

But, what if the mask is smaller than the paper? This can easily be solved by opening the mask, resize it to the width you need and saving it again (Effects > Resize > and then increase the size as needed). Most tagger photomasks are between 500-800 so choose what best fits your paper. (If your paper is 800 x 800, upsize your mask to 800 widths. It will automatically change the height ratio.)

You can also resize a scrapbooking paper to become smaller if you are using a tagger's photomask.

What if the mask applies inverted or has a .png background? I'm glad that you asked! This can be fixed in two ways.

One is to open the mask, add a new layer and create that layer as black. Move this layer below the actual mask and then invert the original mask layer. To invert a colour, go to the upper toolbar and Adjustments > Invert Colours and it will automatically change the image colour. Merge the layers when complete and save.

(Mask by Breath of Rain Scraps)

Now it will act as any other photomask.

Some masks will apply invert, as seen below but don't fret .... it is so fixable!

When you locate and the mask you wish to apply, simply check the "INvert Mask" box and it will apply as normal.

If all else fails, utilize one of the previous steps to correcting the problem. However, if your mask shows a shadow of a previously used element (like your chosen tube), clear your cookies and then try again. Sometimes the system gets backed up with commands and it needs a good sweeping before it will work. 

Cheers!