Halloween Masks Show with a twist

[Lin Evans]

Something new near the start...... just winding down from Halloween - LOL

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/masks.zip (about 28 meg)

and the Vimeo Link for a low res version:

http://vimeo.com/2125709

Lin

[Paul T]

Hi Lin

Now tying to recover from the trauma of this show. Thought it was great fun and wouldn’t it be great to use this in a future Halloween party with a video projector and play it as a loop on a big screen at the venue. So next year I will be waiting for the invite for your big Halloween Party

Paul

Oh! and by the way how are your eyes? as if I remember you did have a problem with them about a year or so ago.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Paul,

LOL - I wanted to play the sound track last night for our little Halloween Trick or Treaters but we live on a ranch in a very rural area and only had four little neighbor children from two families stop by and they were so young I decided it would not be wise to frighten them. We have enough normal nightime howling from local coyotes, growling dogs, shrieking foxs and lots of glowing eyes from cats, dogs, deer, raccoons, skunks, foxes and the occasional cougar that the little munchkins are already nervous.

I was hoping we would have more kids this year but most in our area are now teens and deem themselves much too "mature" to go door to door. Alas, I see five pounds coming from eating left-over Halloween candy.... Yummy... HA!

Fortunately, the eye healed up nicely and now rarely gives me any grief. Thanks for asking! It's just a normal aging issue according to my Opthamologist. So now I can see about as well out of either eye and that's a great comfort because for a while It was a real pain.

Best regards,

Lin

[liebgott]

[Lin I watched your Halloween show with masks. So now I want to know how to make a mask. I know how to make a png.

Beat

Barbara

[Lin Evans]

Hi Barbara,

It depends on the kind of effect you want to create. Let me try to answer your two questions from this post and the other in which you wanted to know "why" someone would want to use a mask.

First, play this earlier demo I created - here's the link:

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sampl...demorevised.zip

First for the "why" one would want to create a mask......

Did you notice the use of the mask to change from a black and white to color image? That was done using a simple white rectangle which acts as a "window" when set up as a mask in the 5.6 betas to allow you to see the image resting on the layer beneath the mask while still seeing the main image.

Notice that on the third sample you see portions of three images superimposed on the main image - again done with masking. You "could" do this by creating partial images using PNG transparency objects but it would be very tedious and not nearly as effective.

Did you notice the "magnifying glass?" This is done with the mask being a circle of white on a black background with the circle positioned and sized to exactly correspond with the "lens" area of the magnifying glass. The image revealed by the masked area is a duplicate of the main image but zoomed in and positioned to overlay the main image. This can't be done without using masking.

In the waterfall samples notice water moving in various directions. Again - not really feasible without masking unless you have a great deal of time to devote to sectioning an image into numerous "slices" and great skill in positioning and timing. With masking it's very easy.

Now for the "how to create a mask"...

In the relevant sense, that is using layer masking rather than a simple PNG with a transparent center, a mask is nothing more than a black and white image.

The black portion when used inside a Mask Container becomes transparent to allow the main image to show through. The white portion is opaque to the main image but transparent to the image on the next layer. The size of the white portion, the shape, whether solid or gradient, etc., determins the shape, size and transparency or opacity of the image revealed by the mask.

Read this and I think it will help you get started with how to proceed:

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901

Download and read the PDF Mask Tutorial....

Here are some masks you can start with to get an idea of how to create.....

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/masksforbarb.zip

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin I watched your Halloween show with masks. So now I want to know how to make a mask. I know how to make a png.

Beat

Barbara

[liebgott]

Lin

Thank you so much for your patience and expertise. You have started me off on a new adventure and I shall do my best to be a good student. On my off days from work I shall have a go at the mask problem.

Again. thanks

Barbara