How do I save / reuse Selected Areas for subsequent Effects?

[brian_m_byrne Profile]

How do I save or reuse a Mask to apply to alternate or additional effects to the same area - without the hassle of redrawing the mask for each Effect?

Once I have used Selected Area to create a mask and apply an Effect ... How do I save/reuse the same Selected Area (Mask) to apply a different Effect to the same area to create/evaluate alternate versions or to apply to subsequent Effects (ie. to the same area).

Also be nice to be able to save a Session with an Effect applied to a masked area background - then at a later time be able to load the Session and apply a different Effect(s) to the same area.

Surely saving and reusing Selections/Masks as per Photoshop would greatly reduce work and faciltate application of a variety of combined effects.

[admin]

Hi Brian,

There are a couple of ways to reuse areas:

The simplest is to hover over the Effects Gallery button, where you'll see a list of previously created areas. Just click on one to see another gallery for it.

If you want to make a copy of an existing area then change it, choose "Select Area" then Add your existing area (found under Utilities). You can then tweak that area before finding effects to apply to it.

Tony

[Moonbeam1 Profile]

The question is exactly what I was wondering and the answer does not help me understand unfortunately.

I just spent over an hour masking an intricate picture, for the third time so make that closer to 2 hours

I kept losing the masked photo while trying different features. I thought saving as a session would save me a ton of work so I saved 9 copies. Come to discover that this didn't help. None of the saved sessions gave me my photo back WITH THE MASK. Please tell me there is a way to save multiple copies of masked photos. The other methods do not work when there are crashes and mistakes in selection.

[admin]

Hi,

Saving your work as a session should have retained all the masks you've used. I'm send you a private message to try and figure out what you mean.

Cheers,

Tony

[Moonbeam1 Profile]

Hi.

Sent you a PM. But just in case I'll post reply here:

I'll be happy to send you some but none of them saved with the mask so are you sure it would be helpful from a technology standpoint to figure it out? In the meantime I am going to go ahead and delete all the SPE program and start again. I am going to install ONLY the beta version I was sent and see if that works without the prior version first. If not I will then try installing the original version and the beta again. What was strange was that when I THINK I installed the beta I did not get the request for my activation token as I was told would happen. Maybe that indicates that the beta did not get installed after all?

Looking forward to your reply about the saved sessions.

Regards,
Phoebe

[Moonbeam1 Profile]

I just deleted the software and reinstalled. My computer would not allow me to delete the other two pkg installers for some reason. Kept getting mssg they were in use and could not be deleted?

Anyway, I tried another SAVE AS SESSION. SPE would not allow me to save a MASK as a session without choosing an effect first. So bizare. I'm going to send you one of the saved sessions anyway just in case that helps figure this out.

[admin]

Hi Phoebe,

The session you sent me was useful. I could see two selections you've saved in it. To use them you need to hover over the effects gallery button to see both of them. I've sent you more detailed explanation in a private message.

You can also add or remove either selection from any new selections by using the buttons under "Utilities" in the select area panel.

Let me know if you want any more information.

Tony