Crops or covers up parts of your image by applying a second image on top of it
and removing/covering parts of the original image based on the image content of
the second, Mask Image. Mask Image works similar to features such as Clip Masks
in programs like Photoshop, where a shape is juxtaposed with an image so that
only the parts that overlap are visible.
As an example, lets use a circle shape and apply it to a sample image as the mask. The circle mask is applied like a stencil to hide all the parts of the image that the circle area doesn’t cover. The effect of the mask is highly customizable with features like inverting of the mask, offset, scaling, and extend mode, making Masks and incredibly powerful tool to edit your images directly within the Job without having to actually alter the original image file.
With Mask Presets, the process becomes as easy as a few clicks, allowing you apply the same mask to multiple images within seconds, increasing efficiency and productivity.
To apply a Mask to an image, select the image in the Job and go to Properties & Actions > Mask Image.
To apply an existing Mask Image Preset, select it from the dropdown menu. The Selection window of the JobComposer will instantly show a preview of how the mask will be applied to the image. This preview can be extremely useful to see the effect of your changes to the mask and to find the appropriate settings before committing them to the image.
Click the Apply button to confirm the mask and apply it to the image in your job.
To configure a new Mask, either select -Custom Settings- and configure the Mask settings in the dialog, or click the Add button to create a new Mask Image Preset.
Mask Path: Opens a file explorer window to select the image that should be used as the mask. Currently supported filetypes are tif, jpg, bmp, eps, ps, pdf.
Channel: Selects the image channel that should be used as the mask. In CMYK image these can be the individual color channels as well as spot channels in any supported image type.
Extend Mode: Sets how to deal with the parts of the original image that are not covered by the mask (E.g. if the original image is larger than the mask image, some areas will be outside the mask area). There are several different options:
Opaque: Covers up the area outside the mask with white so only the masked part is visible.
Transparent: Doesn’t cover up the extend area. The parts outside the mask are still visible.
Tile: Repeats the mask image in a grid across the original image area.
Crop: The extend area not covered by the mask is cropped and removed. Note that the crop doesn’t appear in the preview, but is committed to the image when clicking Apply.
Invert: Inverts the mask so previously masked areas are visible and vice versa.
Scale and Offset relative to image: Activate to have scaling and Offset factors be calculated relative to the original image. E.g. if active, having the scaling set to 100% will scale the mask image to the size of the original image. If inactive, the scaling is calculated relative to the original size of the mask image.
Scale: Scales the mask size in %. By default scale affects the overall size of the mask and will keep the proportions of the original image. The change the width and height of the mask individually, activate the checkbox Distort.
Offset: Changes the position of the mask on the image in %. The left box affects horizontal offset, the right box affects vertical offset. By default offset is calculated based on the size of the mask image.
Distort: Enables individual scaling of vertical and horizontal size in Scale.
Rotate: Rotates the mask image in 90 degree steps.
An image that is usable as a Mask can be created either using black and white or transparencies in order to separate the parts that should be visible from the parts that should be masked out. In this example we will use Black and White color, but white can also be interchanged for transparent areas.
Open the image editor of your choice and set up a new document. If you already know the dimensions of the image the mask will be applied to, it can make things easier to use those same dimensions for the mask since we can already set up size and position correctly in the mask. Of course we we can also adjust the mask size and position in the RIP in Mask Options.
With our document set up, add a shape that should be masked out. Make sure that the shape is filled with solid black and sits on a white background (Transparent backgrounds work too). Adjust size and position as desired, it can always be adjusted further with the Mask tools in the ErgoSoft RIP.
Export your mask image as tif, jpg, bmp, eps, ps or pdf and save it in an accessible directory. The image can now be used as a mask in the ErgoSoft RIP by selecting it in Properties & Actions > Mask Image.
This is just a simple example of how to set up a Mask. Of course masks can get very intricate and complex and even support % transparency to have elements only partially masked away.