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DrawMask

Loads and saves texures. The modification of textures is only black and white. The main purpose is the use for mask in combination with Texture-Effect-Nodes.

The saved texture will be a PNG.

DrawMask Node

Create Custom Masks for Texture Effects

DrawMask provides a simple black-and-white drawing editor for creating alpha masks. These masks can be used with texture effect nodes like ShaderTexOP to control where effects are applied, hide projector overlap regions, or create custom vignettes.

Reference

The following properties can be configured for this node:

Property Type Description
image file - load image (TIFF. GIF, JPEG, PNG) and save mask
filewatch - reloads texture automatically if file changes.
dimension - default dimensions. used to create default mask.
planes - The loaded image is a black and white-texture. This has to be transformed into a ARGB-texture and the planes defines how the black/white values are set for a 4-channel ARGB texture.
  • 'mmmm' will set all channels to the bw-values.
  • 'mwww' will only set the Alpha-channel to the bw-value, while the RGB-channels will be set to white (1.0)
  • 'wmmm' will set the Alpha-channel to white and the RGB-channels to the bw-value.
    		•
    edit - sets the focus of the editor window to this node
    render pass - render pass. default is a manual render pass since the loaded texture needs only passed on once because of its static nature.
    Inlet Type Description
    properties properties properties | use message [set <propertyPath> <value(s)>] (without node/<nodeName> at the beginning) to set internal properties
    Outlet Type Description
    texture texture texture out

    Plane Modes

    Understanding Plane Settings

    The planes property controls how black/white values are mapped to ARGB channels:

    Mode Alpha Red Green Blue Use Case
    mmmm mask mask mask mask Grayscale mask affecting all channels
    mwww mask white white white Alpha-only mask (common for transparency)
    wmmm white mask mask mask RGB mask with full opacity

    Choose based on how your target effect node interprets the mask texture.

    DrawMask Editor Controls

    The DrawMask editor has three modes: Line, Polygon, and Color. Press Tab to cycle between modes.

    General Controls:

    Key Action
    Tab Cycle through edit modes (Line → Polygon → Color → Line)
    H Toggle help overlay
    S Save mask to file
    Space Swap foreground/background colors

    Line Mode — Freehand drawing:

    Key Action
    Set starting point
    - drag Draw continuous line
    Up Increase line thickness
    Down Decrease line thickness

    Polygon Mode — Filled polygon drawing:

    Key Action
    Add polygon vertex
    Enter Complete polygon and start new one
    Space Finish current polygon (swaps colors)

    Color Mode — Canvas operations:

    Key Action
    C Clear entire canvas

    Workflow

    Creating a Mask

    1. Set dimension to match your target texture size
    2. Click edit to open the drawing editor
    3. Use Line mode for freehand edges or Polygon mode for filled areas
    4. White areas = visible/applied, Black areas = hidden/masked
    5. Press S to save the mask as PNG
    6. Connect the texture outlet to your effect node's mask inlet

    Important Notes

    Save Your Work

    After modifying the texture with the editor, you must press S to save. Changes are not automatically saved and will be lost when the project is closed.

    File Locations

    ~/_assets/_textures/     # Mask texture files (PNG)

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    Last updated: 2025-12-01 | Edit this page on GitHub