Quick Photoshop problem

[iLikePie]

hey ppl,

i'm doing a simple layout thing in PS, and having a bit of trouble with an image... I need to erase the background so i added a layer mask and did the erasing - fine so far.

the problem is, now i realised i need the image to be a bit bigger, so i wanted to just free transform it and make it a bit bigger, but it seems i can only transform the image OR the mask at a time, even though they're linked (by default). How can i scale both the image and it's mask so that it doesn't misalign itself?!

also, out of interest, if i was going to, let's say, reload the original version of my image, is there any way i could attach the mask i've already got to it, and align it properly and stuff?

thanks heaps
- stu

[thesparky007]

somewhere there is image size in the menu
change the size of hte whole image

[iLikePie]

mmm i don't think that works... because that's to resize the WHOLE document, not just this specific jpeg i've got in it...

it needs to just be the single image within the document.


and i've got that problem with another thing too now :( I resized another image which didn't have a layer mask, but i had an alpha channel of the selection, and now the alpha channel doesn't fit!

[.soulty]

hey pie.

ok to resize the layer with the mask you must make sure in the layer that the box showing the actual shape of your object is selected and then you can resize both object and its mask. // ive been using ps cs2 .. its acts a little differently i would aspect from cs .. in cs2 i can select either mask or layer to transform the layer, but if i rememeber correctly the way i mentioned is for v7 - cs1.. //

Depending on your mask you can get its selection by selecting the layer with alt - left click, and then just drag that selection across to the new document by using any of the selection tools inside the layer where the tool icon will change a arrow with a dashed rectangle under it. you can drag selections this way without deselecting them.

OR you could just get the selection of the mask make a alpha channel with it. then go to your new document (keep both documents open)... go to select / load selection / you are presented with a pallette, switch the document in the pallette to the document with the selection and change the channel to the mask, click ok and you should have your selection positioned (if both docs are the same size) and in the new doc.

in regards to the alpha channel i dont think you can scale a alpha channel. What you can do is create the alpha channel again, alt click on the layer to get its selection and then go to the channels pallette and create mask.

this if off the top of my head so i might of missed something.. any other issues post them.

hope it helps
;)

[iLikePie]

hey thanks for that stuff, gave me some new ways of doing things. however, i'm pretty sure that whether i select the image OR the mask, free transforming only applies to the actual thing selected. I don't have PS at home to check, but i *think* i tried to do that.. maybe i'm wrong.

and with the other stuff, the problem is not copying the alpha channel itself, but making it fit the new image perfectly - i moved and scaled the object, so now the selection from the alpha channel is displaced and of the wrong size... i know i can use transform selection to manipulate it, but i can't seem to make it fit just right :P

i think i just need to plan how i do things better.

[dr_vroeg]

couldn't you copy the mask by physically copying it not copying the layer ctrl+A, ctrl+C. Transform your image, then make a new layer and paste your mask. transform it to the exact ratio of your image, copy the psuedo-mask layer and then create a new mask for your transformed image and paste. Is that any closer? I can post some jpg's to confuse you more :D

[iLikePie]

yeah i hear what you're saying... that sounds like it might work. It still might have the problem of getting all the ratio's just right, but i think it would technically work.

i just assumed there would be some easy way to do this, doesn't seem like something that should require such an annoying workaround.

[.soulty]

why dont you just recreate the channel with the new dimensions? less headaches and theres less issues with particles lose when you scale the channel.