How can I use an Area selected with "Select Area"

[Borbarad Profile]

I have come across the same problem multiple times. I work on a picture and click "Select Area" and lets say I define "Background". Then I apply an effect and can use the defined Area "Background" again, if I want to stack multiple effects on the same Area.

Now I want to adjust color saturation, brightness and such things and I select "Area Treatment", but I just don't know how I can use my already defined Area "Background" there?!?

I think it would be great if the "Area Selection" tool would be completly seperate from what I want to do with the Area. Why cant I just define as much Areas as I want and save these selections without even applying a single effect. It would be great if you could first just define the areas I want to use later and then use these defined areas with any of the great tools in the editor.

If somebody knows how I can do this, I would very much appreciate the help.

Incredible tool this editor by the way.

[Arwin Profile]

Hi Borbarad,

You can reuse a mask created with the select area tool by hovering above the effects gallery button, you will see that there will be a popup window that displays a 'background' button (in case the selection was background of course), a click on that button will add a new effect on the same masked area.
When defining a new area with the select area tool, let say a new backround area again, will result in an extra button when hovering over the effects gallery button with the name 'background2' this will be your second mask of the background area.

Steps:
-Select an area with the select area tool (background as in example).
-Choose an effect for that area and confirm.
-Hover above the Effect Gallery button and see the background button in the popup window, click on it and choose a second effect for the same area.

-Again select an area with the select area tool (background as in example).
-Choose an effect for that area and confirm.
-Hover above the Effect Gallery button and see the background2 button in the popup window, click on it and choose a second effect for the second background area.
-etc etc.

Hope this will help you, succes!

Arwin

[admin]

Hi Bordbarad,

You do have a point: although you can re-use any selection in the gallery, you can't currently re-use any selection in the area treatment tool. A work around for now is to select the area first in Area Treatment, then it can be re-used in the Gallery.

Tony

[eadams Profile]

Arwin wrote: You can reuse a mask created with the select area tool by hovering above the effects gallery button, you will see that there will be a popup window that displays a 'background' button (in case the selection was background of course), a click on that button will add a new effect on the same masked area.

Oh gosh, I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to apply my selected background mask on stacked effects. Now I know!

[leithp Profile]

On this mask re-using bit ... what if I don't want to stack effects? What if I just want to play with different backgrounds?

I masked an image, and then applied a background effect. But now *instead* I want to do a composite with the same mask and a background image from my computer. And what if I want to come back to the same project next week and use a different background I've found without re-doing the mask. I mean, masking can be RELATIVELY easy, but it's far from automatic and there is some work and fine tuning involved.

[admin]

Hi,

If you want to keep swapping backgrounds, the easiest is if you do it manually, i.e. in the effect editor. Here's how:

Firstly, go into the composite mode and add an underlay. (I presume you already know how to do this)
To switch to a different background:

Right click on the composite tab at the top of the interface and choose: "Manual Edit", this lets you play with the composite you've created.
To switch images click on the "Load Image" node on the left and press the "..." button to choose a different file.
You can click on the "Place And Merge" node to get the handles for moving the background around.

Hope that helps

Tony

[leithp Profile]

Thank you!

I've never done the underlay thing, but I've seen the option and I can probably figure it out.

You've pointed me in the right direction, which is probably all I need.

Thanks again!