Sometimes a brush mask is a little too wide and goes beyond the boundery of the subject ( a bird, an insect) want to mask. Is it possible to erase that part and if yes: how?
Jan.
If you canāt get exactly what you need by using the sliders in the parametric and feathering sections of the module, you can always export two images. One masked along with one unmasked, and do it manually using Gimp. Probably not the answer you wanted but I have done that in the past. Good Luck!
Or probably use the path tool instead of brush for more freely shapes.
you can add a further mask and use mask manager to switch the mode to difference
https://docs.darktable.org/usermanual/4.0/en/module-reference/utility-modules/darkroom/mask-manager/#set-operators
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I tried to use the path tool. It works fine, BUT it also places another kind of āmask pathā, a kind of feathering around it, so that I cannot limit the effect of the contrast equalizer manipulation to the subject. I clicked the small arrow to edit the mask, but that does noting but showing the name of the mask i.e. #path 1, etc, in the mask manager. How can I get rid of the feathering? I already have set blurring and feathering to zero, without any effect.
Jan
Avonds, @janvangastel,
Follow @MStraetenās adviceā¦
MvG
Claes in Lund, Zweden
I would also like to vote for MStraeten.
Apart from that concerning the path in general, have you set the feathering size?
Yes, I have set feathering to zero, but without any effect on its size.
I looked at MStraeten and found a website with lots of information, but I donāt understand why I have been pointed to that website, because I do not know where to find any solution to my problem.
quite simple
Add a brush stroke to delete the already masked stuff. By default drawn masks are added.
Then switch to mask manager and set the mode for that new stroke in the group folder of the module to difference.
In difference to gimp macs arenāt represented by pixels but as vectors. So you canāt simply delete some pixels of an existing mask - you need to place a further mask in difference mode to substract that content.
You need to try to understand the mask logic - there are of further ways even to make mask following edges etcā¦
BTW: thereās a 7 part video on masks starting with darktable ep 108 - Masks (part 1.... again!) - YouTube
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How to āeraseā parts of a mask as suggested by MStraeten in very short moving pictures:
For more insights, follow his links.
I wonder if you confuse feather size with feather radius? Otherwise Iām affraid I need some images to understand your issue.
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The reason I love darktable is its ability to mask so well. It may take a little getting use to , but it is worth the effort. I personally rarely use the brush tool as like yourself I have difficulty getting it controlled how I want. My problem, not DTās. I nearly always defer to the paths tool. I find this much easier to use and manipulate.
To resolve your problem, read the manual about how to adjust the feather size which is shown as a dotted line around the solid line of the drawn mask. This is done by using a shift + scroll action on my windows computer. Then you also have feathering radius and blur radius sliders which I nearly always use to create an invisible transition. I avoid sharp edge masks as they inevitably produce dodgy results. I always used soft edge masks.
Good luck with resolving your issue.
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Share an image and get people to mask itā¦ if you hover on the path you can see the scroll optionsā¦you can scroll the path feather down to zeroā¦this is not the same as the feather sliderā¦ this is edge aware featheringā¦in fact if you draw your path a bit inside what you want and then tweak the mask feathering and opacity you will usually get a nice fit. You can add in a parametric mask at times to help as well to leverage a tone or hue or chroma level that could help ā¦on the other end if your path is a bit outside crank up the contrast and this pulls it in along the edgeā¦ you will need a small amount of transition or the effect will not blend nicelyā¦ but againā¦throw up and example and see what people come up withā¦it might be the quickest way to say yes or know to your approach or that of othersā¦
Edit as you mention an insect I think @nwinspeare did a nice mask on an insect in one of his videos if I recallā¦ I tagged him here so he might be able to direct you if you have not seen it yet and want something that features your use caseā¦
On a path, you can change the individual points as well. Four options: deplace the point, deplace the āfeather borderā and change the curvature (the end-point of the perpendicular line) or delete the point.
Thanks all, for taking the time to give me such good advice. I have learned a lot and now I can draw and finetune a path mask without problems. I also understand much more about how masking works in DT. I will have to spend more time to practice and reading the manual of course, but I am sure I will get to like DT and its masking possibilities.
Jan.
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