Caption Masks 101 for Producer

Here are the things we can do with a Producer caption:

• Mutate its color
• Rotate it or its individual letters
• Skew it
• Alter its opacity
• Pan it
• Zoom it
• Fill it with a gradient or image
• Make it interactive (start, stop, pause, link to URL, etc.)
• Use fly-in and fly-out effects

Amongst a number of things we can’t do, here are two:

• Fill it with an image in motion.
• Make it come out from beneath a layer

But we can do them if we turn the caption into a grayscale mask. If you haven’t gotten into masks yet, what follows is an easy introduction.

How to turn a caption into a mask

1. Enter a caption using Tahoma set to a size of 36, making it white on a black background. (The font and size were chosen simply so you’ll be able to see things clearly.)
2. With the caption showing on the large preview screen, right-click the screen and choose “Capture Frame(s)” in the menu that pops up.
3. In the next screen, just click “OK”.
4. You’ll now see a standard “Save to Image” dialogue. Browse to the folder where you want to save the image, and name the image something more descriptive than the default frame.jpg. If, for instance, the caption says “Rover, the dog,” name it Rover.jpg.
5. Click “Save,” and you’re done. You’ve created a caption mask.

Basic mask setup

Hey! What are you waiting for? Without closing this screen, bring up Producer so you can follow the steps given above.

Once you’ve created and saved the caption mask…

1. Drag it into a new slide.
2. Click the “+” sign to add a new layer. Choose a gradient just to get your feet wet.
3. Move the gradient down one layer to beneath the mask and click the right-pointing arrow to place it inside the mask. (Producer knows a grayscale mask when it sees one and will set it as such.)

You could have done the same thing by filling a regular caption with a gradient, but keep going…

A little less basic

1. Change the gradient you currently have, choosing “Spectrums,” “Angular,” and then the 3rd one in from the left on the bottom row.
2. Change its size to 720 x 720 (or anything that’s square.)
3. Set it to “Fill frame.”
4. Set the gradient’s rotation for keyframe 1 to -360 degrees and to +360 degrees for keyframe 2.
5. Run the slide. (Yes, it’s ugly.)
6. In Layers > Editing, set the Blur for the gradient to 100%.
7. Run the slide. (Gives an interesting flashing effect, doesn’t it?)
8. Add a color solid of any color you like, placing it in the Layer 1 position.
9. In Layers > Settings, give the color solid a pan value of -80,0
10. Select the mask layer, and in Effects > Motion, set its pan value in keyframe 1 to -80,0.
11. Run the slide. (You just made a caption do what Producer captions can’t do: come out from beneath something.)

This is only an introduction to caption mask possibilities. The tricks you can perform are limited only by your imagination and derring-do.

Create a ProShow Producer Mask for an Oval Frame

Some of the older Frame Locker products that include oval frames have no matching oval masks for easy fitting of photos. Here are the instructions I always give customers and that you might find handy for any oval frame, whether it comes from The Locker or anywhere else. The instructions are long, but the process takes no time at all. Do it just once, and you’ll never have to use these instructions again.

1. Add the frame to a blank slide.

2. In Effects > Motion Effects, press the plus sign and choose “Add Gradient.”

3. On the next screen and in Presets, choose Masks.

4. In Type, choose Radial.

6. Move the center black marker to the left so it covers the white marker:

7. Click OK, and then move the newly created gradient down to Layer 2.

8. In the Zoom controls and on the left side of the screen, unlock the x-y axis:

9. Reduce or increase the y-axis until the top and bottom of the white circle are just barely hidden beneath the frame:

10. Reduce the x-axis until the sides are just barely hidden beneath the frame.

11. Press the Copy icon and choose “Copy Start to End” to get this result:

12. Delete the frame (Layer 1), and click OK to close the Options screen.

13. Right-click the preview screen, choose “Capture Frame(s),” and on the next screen, choose a name for your new mask. Save it to the same folder where you have your frame.

14. To test your new mask, set it up so that Layer 1 is the frame, Layer 2 is the grayscale mask, and Layer 3 is your photo:

Here’s my result:

NOTE: If you won’t be using the mask again anywhere else in the show, and you don’t expect to ever use the frame again, there’s no need to save the mask. Saving it simply gives you instant access to the mask for consistent results.

Quick Frame Masks in Producer

In a perfect world, all frames would come with masks for easy photo fit, but this isn’t a perfect world. In view of that, here’s how to create your own masks inside Producer. If you like illustrations, you’ll find them below the following blabber.

Portrait Frames:

1. Add a Solid Color, choosing white, making sure it’s in the layer beneath the frame.

2. Reduce its size so the top and bottom of the white layer fit inside the frame, overlapping the edges slightly to supply a margin of error.

3. In Effects > Motion and on the left side of the screen, unlock the zoom x/y coordinates and then drag the sides of the white layer in until they fit inside the frame, again overlapping the edges slightly for that margin of error. Copy “Start to End.”

4. Using the proper layer order (1-frame, 2-white layer, 3-photo, turn the white layer into a mask.

Landscape Frames:

1. Add a Solid Color, making sure it’s in the layer the layer beneath the frame.

2. Reduce its size so the left and right sides of the white layer fit inside the frame, overlapping the edges slightly to supply a margin of error.

3. In the Effects > Motion screen, unlock the zoom x/y coordinates and then drag the top or bottom of the white layer in until it fits inside the frame, again overlapping the edges slightly for that margin of error.

4. Same as for portrait frame instructions.

Square Frames:

Use the instructions for either portrait or landscape frames since they will work equally well for a square shape.

Circle Frames:

1. Add a gradient layer using the “Masks” presets and choosing “Radial” as the type.

2. Click the second choice given in the row of examples.

3. In the Colors section of that screen, move the two center sliders in so they meet in the middle, creating a hard edge.

4. Click OK and then adjust the size of the gradient layer so the white circle doesn’t show beyond the outside of edge of the frame.

5. With the circle frame on top, then the gradient layer, and beneath that your photo, turn the gradient layer into a mask.

Oval Frames:

1 – 4. Use steps 1 through 4 as per circle frames.

5. In Effects > Motion and on the left side of the screen, unlock the zoom x/y coordinates and drag in the sides until they fit the oval frame. Copy “Start to End.”

6. Using the proper layer order (1-frame, 2-white oval, 3-photo), turn the white oval into a mask.

Reducing the height of white layer for portrait mask:

Reducing the width of white layer for a portrait mask:

Layer order with white set as a mask:

Elementary Masking

There can never be too many explanations of masks. One description may leave you confused while another hits just the right spot. The odd thing about this is that, once you “get it,” you’ll wonder why you didn’t get it right away. I wondered the same thing, but I don’t know why it works this way. Brain chemistry, perhaps.

It’s easier to learn by doing than it is by reading, and so in that spirit, I’ve placed a small download over at The Frame Locker of the files you’ll use in the following exercises. The download includes 3 grayscale masks, 3 alpha masks, and even a photo so you’ll have everything you need all in one place. Create a folder named anything you choose–”Elementary Masking,” for instance–and then unzip the downloaded package there. Here’s the link: Elementary Masking.

Preliminaries:
1. Open Producer and navigate to the newly created folder where you unzipped the downloaded files.
2. Drag the photo into the first slide.
3. Change the default black background to red, blue, green, or whatever pleases you. This is to make the masking more obvious.

Simple Grayscale Mask:

Step #1: With Slide Options > Layer Settings open, drag HardEdge-Gray.jpg into the slide, making sure it lands on top of the photo, making it Layer 1.

Step #2: With Layer 1 highlighted, put a checkmark beside “Masking Layer” in Layer Settings and make sure it’s set to “Intensity (Grayscale).” [Color of the words  matches the arrows in the illustration because it couldn't be made large enough to actually see.]

Look at your preview screen to see the result. Wherever the mask is white, the corresponding area of the photo shows, and wherever the mask is black, it’s as if that area of the photo had been erased.

Simple Alpha Mask:

Step #1: With the Options window open, drag HardEdge-Alpha.png over on top of the grayscale mask, replacing it.

Step #2: Change the mask setting from Grayscale to Alpha.

The result will be exactly the same as it was using the grayscale mask, but in this case, wherever the mask is opaque, the corresponding area of the photo shows, and wherever the mask is transparent, it’s as if that area of the photo had been erased.

Grayscale Blend:

Step #1: With the Options window open, drag SoftEdge-Gray.jpg over on top of the mask in Layer 1, replacing it.

Step #2: Change it to a grayscale mask.

The result is a vignetted photograph. Why? Because the white area in the middle of the mask slowly blends into gray, gradually getting darker and darker until it’s black. Since gray contains both white and black, it shows some of the photo and some of the background. The lighter the gray (more white), the greater amount of the photo it shows, and the darker the gray (more black), the less of the photo it shows and the more of the background it shows.

Alpha Blend:

Step #1: With the Options window open, drag SoftEdge-Alpha.png over on top of the mask, replacing it.

Step #2: Change it to an alpha mask.

The result is no different from the one you got with the grayscale mask. In this case, instead of white fading down into black, you have opacity fading out into transparency. The more transparent the area of the mask, the more of the background it shows.

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Though we used a simple colored background in the examples, you can use any image, gradient, solid color, or even video as a background by simply placing it beneath the masked pair. You can also place images that have transparency in them (such as frames) above the masked pair.

All of the examples are rock-bottom basic, but without understanding the basics, you can’t move on to anything more complicated. I suggest playing like mad, even breaking things, until you get a really good understanding of how those neat little masks do their work. While you do this, you may find yourself favoring one type of mask over the other. My favorite is the grayscale mask simply because I can more easily see black, gray, and white than I can opacity, translucency, and transparency, but you may find the opposite is true for you.

So there you are: yet another basic masking tutorial.

Have a Frame but no Mask?

Here’s how to create a perfectly fitting mask for a frame that has none. The directions are for Photoshop, but most image editors work very much alike.

1. Open the frame in Photoshop.

2. With the Magic Wand tool, select inside the transparent area of the frame.

3. Go to Select > Modify > Expand and type in a number somewhere between 5 and 15. (You want the selected area to expand and cover a bit of the frame’s inside edge.)

4. Create a new, blank layer above the frame layer.

5. With the Fill tool, fill the selection in the new layer with white.

6. Go to Select > Invert so everything BUT the center of the frame area you’ve filled with white is selected.

7. Fill what’s now selected with black.

8. Go to Layer > Flatten.

9. Save AS under a new name. (I usually add “MASK” in caps to the end of original name of the frame so mask and frame stay together in a file listing and it’s obvious which is which.)

You now have a grayscale mask that’s a perfect fit to the frame.