I’vebeen meaning to do a little write up on all of the various actions in Handy Actions 3 ever since I put them out there awhile back, but somehow just never got around to it. Now, I’m getting around to it . I’m just going to start at the top of the effects list and explain each of the actions one by one, covering a few with each post, until I get to the bottom.

 This post will cover the five Layer Mask actions in Handy Actions:

The very first action icon you’ll see when you get to the Handy Actions is the good ‘ole Layer Mask icon. This one is the workhorse of the group, and is probably the one you’ll use more often than all of the 70 or so actions in this pack.

The action itself is really a “Layer Mask - Reveal All” action, since it will create a mask on a non-Background layer that shows (reveals) everything in the layer it’s created in. You’ll see a layer mask icon appear filled with white (this is important to remember: white shows everything in the layer the mask is connected to; black hides everything in the layer it’s connected to; shades of grey add degrees of transparency to the layer - the darker the grey, the more it shows).

*It’s also important to remember that layer masks do not work on Background layers. The point of a mask is to reveal or cover up layer(s) beneath it, and since there’s nothing beneath a Background layer, it would really be pointless. If you want to add a mask to a background layer, though, there are a few tricks: one is to simply duplicate the Background layer by either dragging it into the New Layer icon in the Layers palette (or run the “Duplicate Layer” action in Handy Actions) and then run the layer mask action on the copy, or make the layer editable by double-clicking the name “Background” in the layers palette and renaming it, which will essentially make it a non-background layer.

To use the Layer Mask, grab your paint brush and paint away. When the mask is the active part of the layer (i.e., the part you’re working on), you’ll see a black highlight box around its icon in the palette. Remember that White hides what’s beneath and black reveals what’s beneath (your colors will default to black and white when the mask is selected). You can also run some filters on masks, which creates some helpful and interesting possibilities. You can also unlock the mask from the layer it’s attached to by toggling on and off the little link icon between the layer & mask thumbnails. This allows you to move or transform either the mask or the layer contents without affecting the other; and interesting use for this trick is shown in this tutorial)

The next actions are variations of the theme. The next one in the list is “Layer Mask Hide All“ . It creates a layer mask like the first, only you’ll see that it’s filled with black, hiding everything on the layer it’s connected to. This can be handy if you only want to reveal a little bit of the layer - eyes, for example, or small details. You could also use this on a duplicate background layer for spot color effects: duplicate your background layer and run the Layer Mask: Hide All action. Now make your original background layer active, and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment on it, pulling the saturation slider all the way to the left to desaturate the layer. You should see a B&W image.

Now go back to the background copy layer, click on the layer mask icon, and paint in white any area that you want to reveal the color .

The next two actions in the list, “Hide Selection” and “Reveal Selection“, will create a layer mask from any selection you have made with any of the selection tools (the lasso/magnetic lasso, circular / rectangular marquee, selection brush, etc.). Based on the name, the action will create a mask based on your selection that either hides or shows what’s selected. Handy? You bet - you can make intricate, complex selections with your favorite selection tool(s) and then generate the mask from that. It’s sometimes much easier to do it that way than to try and create a mask later.

The final action in the Layer Mask family is “Invert Mask“. This does exactly what the name implies - it inverts the mask so all values are recreated opposite: white areas become black, black areas become white, and grey areas are mapped to their opposite values.

It’s pretty handy for creating fast proofs of opposite effects. For example, say you’ve created an image with a splash of color using a mask as outlined above. Now let’s say that you’re not sure if you like it as it is, or if you’d like to see it with the color areas B&W and vice versa.

To make a new proof of the same image without having to recreate the mask from scratch, duplicate the layer with the mask on it, and on the duplicate layer, click the layer mask icon to make it active. Now simply run the “Invert Mask” action. Turn off the eyeball of the layer beneath (the non-inverted-mask layer) to see what you’ve got. Toggle the eyeballs of the two layer on and off for two quick views of the image with about half work. Handy!

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