Introduction to Masks

Not Your Ordinary 'Masquerade'

Okay, just a forward to go with this one. This is not a 'beginner' tutorial. Masks are very simple in their essential explanation, but in execution? Not so much. I'm writing this tutorial assuming that you have an understanding of layers and using filters. If you don't, I'd recommend you check out some tutorials involving layers. If you do, welcome to the land of masks. Leave your feathers and heels at the doors, ladies--this ain't no masquerade ball.

First off, here is my image. I'm going to use Beryl. The thing with masks is they aren't terribly useful for everyday editing. At least, I don't think they are. I rarely use them (I'm more prone to the selection tool) and when I do, it's to change the color of things. I do know they are particularly useful for making clothing, skins, etc for The Sims 2. But I don't do that, so we'll cover editing with them.

First, we need to select our background layer and duplicate it. You can right-click and select 'duplicate' or simply press CTRL+J. Once we have our duplicated layer, we're going to add the Layer Mask. Go to the bottom of your Layers window and find the rectangle with a circle in it. That's the mask button. Give it a click while your second layer is selected.

Now you should have something like the image below; your second layer with a little white square attached to it. That is your mask. The essential purpose a mask is to 'blend' two pictures together or to completely change the appearance of a picture. If you've seen photomanipulation, then you've seen masks used.

What you have to remember is that black 'covers' while white 'reveals'. Masks only see in black and white, that's it. So when you want to edit a particular piece of a picture, you use black to 'black it out'. It's like selecting it, only not. Now that I'm done sounding all zen, let's move on.

I want to change the hair color of this picture. So, after selecting the paint tool, making sure my color is 'black' and my mask is selected, I'm going to paint all of Beryl's hair. This is a bit easier for me, as I'm using a tablet. You may find hand cramps plentiful if you're trying to be precise with a mouse! No worries, we can always fix, very easily, what's been messed up. Just worry about coloring over whatever you want to change. Another good thing is to make the bottom layer 'invisible' so you can see what you've colored over. Just click the 'eye' icon to its left.

Once I'm done, Beryl looks very strange, but I've successfully selected all parts of the image I want to change.

Now is where the fun stuff begins. Now you can edit what you've blocked out with the mask! Make your bottom layer visible and select it. Move your mouse down and select the halved circle. That's your adjustment and fill layers. To change Beryl's hair color, I'm going to need to select Color Balance from the menu.

The Color Balance dialogue will pop up, enabling me to quickly change Beryl's hair color to a more vibrant red. I could make it blonde, too, or black even if I wanted to. It's basic color theory and anyone who had Elementary Art Class should be able to get the color they want. It doesn't stop at colors, though. You can change the saturation to make someone pale, and use gradients to block things out without losing what's behind it. The possibilities are limitless.

If you made a mistake, all you have to do to fix it is paint over it with white. Tadaa! It's magic. Very simple, very easy.

Anyway, I've done Beryl's hair and now I'm going to do some more. Once you've finished with your color change, just right-click your top layer and click Flatten Image. Now you're back to square one, with one layer. Just redo the above steps for whatever else you want to change.

Below is my finished image. I changed Beryl's eyes, hair, and skintone. Those were all masks. Everything else was just simple editing, but the eyes definitely stick out, don't they? That's probably my favorite thing to do with masks and The Sims 2... change the eye color. ;)

Hopefully this was helpful as just a basic, toe in the water sort of approach to Masks and using them with The Sims 2 editing. Sorry I couldn't do anything about blending or skins... not my area of expertise, I'm afraid!

Please don't reproduce or copy this tutorial without asking first! And please, please, don't claim it as your own work. I'm very nice! Just email me if you want to post this somewhere or reference it. I really don't mind, I just appreciate a heads up. Thanks! -Mao