Masks
Paint foreground and background regions to control where effects appear
This page covers painting masks and pointing effects at the regions you paint.
Masks split the image into a foreground and a background region. Each effect can then target one region — snow behind a subject, fire only on it, and so on.
Painting a mask
Pick a brush
Press B for the foreground brush or N for the background brush, or click them in the left panel.
Paint the region
Paint over the image. Foreground strokes show as a tint. Adjust brush size with [ and ] or the slider, and edge softness with the Feather slider (0–20, default 4).
Point effects at a region
In each effect's controls, set Region to Foreground, Background, or Both. New effects default to Background.
Region options
- Background — the effect only appears in unpainted areas (default)
- Foreground — the effect only appears in painted areas
- Both — the effect ignores the mask entirely
Tips
- Press
Mto toggle the mask overlay and check what you have painted. - Use a large, feathered brush for soft transitions between regions.
- Mask strokes are undoable with
Cmd/Ctrl + Z. - Clear mask in the left panel resets everything to background.
Clear mask is destructive
Clearing the mask resets the entire canvas to background and cannot be selectively undone from the confirmation dialog — painted foreground regions are lost.