Tutorial

Using Maskerade is a two step process. Step one occurs in the studio where you capture two images of your object - one image of the object on a dark background and one image of the object on a light background. Step two occurs inside Maskerade where you open the two images, identify the background of the images, then watch as Maskerade creates the final, transparent image from your images.

In this example, we will begin with two existing images. If you want to use your own images, simply refer to the 'In The Studio' section for tips on proper setup and lighting for capturing good images.

1. Launch Maskerade by double-clicking the Maskerade icon. You will see the Maskerade splash screen displayed for a few seconds while the program starts up. When it is finished initializing, click once on the dialog to dismiss the splash screen.

2. You will see a new Maskerade window with the 'Image 1' tab in front. Open your first image file by clicking on the 'Open Image Tool' or by selecting 'Open Image File' from the 'File' menu.

You will see the file open dialog box. Select the "Mask 1" image file.

Note:
It doesn't matter which image you open first.The order of the images is unimportant.

3. After the file has been opened in the 'Image 1' tab, Maskerade will automatically look for a matching image file since source images for use with Maskerade must occur in pairs.

Tip:
The 'Auto Open Sibling Image' feature is an option that can be changed in the Maskerade preferences. See the 'Preferences' section for more information.

Since we are using the supplied images, Maskerade will locate the matching image file and display a dialog asking if you would like to open this file. Press the 'Open' button to continue.

4. Maskerade will automatically switch to "Image 2' tab and display the sibling image.

5. Select the 'Eyedropper Tool' and click once near the left edge of 'Image 2'. A small marker will appear marking the point you just selected. With the 'Eyedropper Tool' still selected, click a second time near the right edge of the image. A second marker will appear at this point.

Note:
The exact locations of the points are not critical for this tutorial. Just try to select points that indicate only the background color. In simpler terms, pretend that someone has just asked you "Which is the background and which is the object?" The goal is to point at background pixels only.

6. Click on the 'Final Image' tab. Maskerade will quickly perform its operations and display the resulting image in the 'Final Image' tab.

7. Click on the Composite button at the bottom of the window, and then choose 'Animated' from the pop-up menu to the right of the Transparent button. You will see the background of the final image change constantly to preview the masked image.

8. Select 'Save As Photoshop' from the 'File' menu. You will be prompted for a location to save the final image.

9. At this point, you're done. If have Photoshop installed on your machine, you should run Photoshop and open the file you just saved. You can also switch to the Finder, locate the file and double-click on it to launch Photoshop and automatically open it for you.