Curvemeister Forum

Can the functionality be added to allow CM to modify a layer and export the mask that is used in CM back to PS as a layer mask instead of actually applying the mask to the layer?

Mike, you told me that PS interface does not directly support the automatic exporting of masks back to Photoshop. This implies that the above request is not possible…yet. :)

Can CM export a (modified) channel to an alpha channel at least? In that way I can, remove the mask in CM and apply it manually from an alpha channel to the CM modified layer. For my workflow it’s nice to be able to see what mask was applied to a layer.

As an aside, (and as Mike is already aware) this request stems from my desire to pick and modify a channel for use as a layer mask to an already existing layer without making any CM filter changes to the layer.

Right now the main way to do this is via the channel copy operation.  Doing more than that would require some additional complexity that is only available to an automation filter. 

So the fully automated implementation would probably in the form of an external thread running as an automation filter, being triggered by curvemeister to create the layers, with the layer data perhaps being saved in an external file by curvemeister.

Which leads me to what might be today's good idea.  How about the ability to save a mask of channel, from Curvemeister, as a tiff file?  Then you make an action that would run curvemeister, load the file, and use it for any purpose, such as a layer mask.
Dang, I like it.

Could a button be made in CM that does all this?
1. save mask as tiff
2. remove mask
3. close CM and automatically call an action that opens the tiff, creates a layer mask and apply image the tiff to the layer mask

BTW, I'm definitely not a coder, just a user who used to teach users.

Mike will that action play in PSE??

Just curious...

Greg

AFAIK, Elements won't support actions, unless someone has figured out something clever.  You could still open the tif file. 

For Elements it would be an alternative to using the clipboard, and could be more convenient if you wanted to export several channels or masks without having to run CM over and over.

yes but if you code it as an action called from CM3 would it cause a crash if PSE does not support the action...

Error trap??

Greg

Re Howie's question about a single button - the whole thing could be made into  a Photoshop action.  Or made into a script, which would also potentially work under Elements.

Having curvemeister initiate the creation of a mask after the user clicks Apply is another level of difficulty, and involves a level functionality that I have not yet included in Curvemeister.

Our posts crossed in the ether.  I think scripting will work the same for both elements and photoshop, so that might be the way to go, rather than an action.