Parametric Masks in the Mask Manager? How to copy parametric masks? Masks workflow in Darktable

Software darktable
1

Are there plans to include parametric and drawn+parametric masks in the Mask Manager? I can only find created shapes there. What about parametric presets or something like that? I currently use Darktable 2.6.0
I find parametric masks very useful, but how do you copy them to another module? For drawn masks I can create a mask in the mask manager and select shapes for each module I need and reuse existing shapes, but it doesn’t copy the parametric part of the mask if it is a drawn&parametric mask.

I think the way Darktable does masks is not very intuitive. I think it would be better to have masks first like layers, and then start adding modules there that automatically inherit the mask. And if I change one mask it affects all the modules inside this mask group.

2

The feature is being implemented right now, I believe.

However, you can not duplicate a parametric mask settings from one module to another and get the same mask, since the effect of the first module + mask alters the module + mask that comes after it. What has to happen is that the first mask must be rasterized or otherwise saved, then reapplied to the next module, not as a parametric mask, but as a raster mask.

I heavily disagree. I find them to be quite easy and intuitive to use. I’d rather that they not change much.

I don’t think darktable has any notion of layers or groups of layers, so implementing this would require a lot of time and care.

3

Future version of darktable will provide “raster” masks that can be copied from any other module. This is in master, so it should be in 2.8 planed for end of year.

6 Likes
4

I am not sure that a ‘raster’ mask has any advantage over the existing ‘drawn’ mask, except that the raster version will presumably be hard edged.
Being able to ‘hard edge’ a drawn mask without messing with the mouse wheel would be nice and should avoid the raster mask option. … or am I missing something?

5

It won’t be hard edged only, and it will allow you to use the mask from a specific module’s parametric mask in other modules.

6

Why? Why people are always trying to make things looks bad without having even looked at the actual feature! Beyond me :frowning:

7

Sorry … didn’t know that the feature was already available so that I could look at it in more detail.

8

Thank you for your replies and sorry for my late reply
It is cool that there is going to be raster masks. That would be a good way to “freeze” a mask to reuse in other modules. Better than what I was thinking. :slight_smile:

9

Has anyone figured out how to use the new raster mask option…I click on it but nothing seems to happen??