Using Help
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281
Adobe Photoshop Help
Using Channels and Masks
Using Help
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Contents
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Index
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281
To create an alpha channel and specify options:
1
Do one of the following:
•
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the New Channel button at the bottom
of the palette.
•
Choose New Channel from the Channels palette menu.
2
Type a name for the channel.
3
Select display options for the channel, as described in steps 2 through 4 of the
procedure for changing Quick Mask options in
“Creating temporary masks in Quick Mask
mode (Photoshop)” on page 278
. Alpha channel options are identical to Quick Mask
options.
4
Click OK. A new channel appears at the bottom of the Channels palette and is the only
channel visible in the image window.
5
Click the eye icon next to a color channel or the composite color channel to display
the image with a color overlay.
6
Use a painting or editing tool to paint in the image. Paint with black to add to the new
channel, paint with white to remove from the new channel, or paint with a lower opacity
or a color to add to the new channel with lower opacities.
Saving a mask selection
You can save any selection as a mask in a new or existing alpha channel.
To save a selection to a new channel with default options (Photoshop):
1
Select the area or areas of the image that you want to isolate.
2
Click the Save Selection button
at the bottom of the Channels palette. A new
channel appears, named according to the sequence in which it was created.
To save a selection to a new or existing channel:
1
Select the area or areas of the image that you want to isolate.
2
Choose Select > Save Selection.
3
Do the following in the Save Selection dialog box, and click OK:
•
(Photoshop) Choose a destination image for the selection in the Document menu.
By default, the selection is placed in a channel in your active image. You can choose to
save the selection to a channel in another open image with the same pixel dimensions
or to a new image.
•
Choose a destination channel for the selection from the Channel pop-up menu.
By default, the selection is saved in a new channel. You can choose to save the selection
to any existing channel in the selected image or to a layer mask if the image contains
layers.
•
If you’re saving the selection as a new channel, enter a name for the channel in the
Name text box. In ImageReady, you can change the default channel name if desired.
•
If you’re saving the selection to an existing channel, select how to combine the selec-
tions: Replace Channel to replace the current selection in the channel; Add to Channel
to add the selection to the current channel contents; Subtract from Channel to delete
