The Masks Palette

dekePod Episode 008: 'Tis the season for dark and terrible creatures. Mindless teenage slashers, horrors that come alive when you dream, insane devil dolls. Photoshop CS4 has just such a dark creature living inside it: the Masks palette. It pretends to be small, unassuming, even helpful. Until you try to actually use it. That's when it slices at you and chants its taunting catchphrase, "No mask selected!" But there are ways to make the Masks palette submit to your imaging will. Secret ways, peaceful ways. And Deke is privy to them. Here's the official marketing description:

Photoshop CS4 has been out one week. Hardly enough time for any of us to embrace it, let alone place our faith in it. And yet faith is precisely what one of the program's most highly touted features, the Masks palette, requires of you. Everything about it is promising; little about it makes sense. The palette that makes masks also wears one. In this special Halloween episode, we unmask the Masks palette. Will it be a bag of treats? Or a bundle of tricks? You'll find out, at dekePod.

Watch for a cameo appearance by a real black cat that really crosses my path -- and on a ladder no less! Not to mention scary images of spiders and blood and very high energy prices! If you're interested in downloading this special holiday video, try one of these links:

• For a high-quality QuickTime movie, right-click here and choose Save Target or Download Link or the equivalent.
   
• For an M4V file that you can play on an iPod, right-click here and choose one of those same commands.
   
• Or you can subscribe to dekePod via RSS or iTunes.

You can also check out the page at my book publisher O'Reilly Media.

As usual, keep an eye out for a special dekeStuff article documenting the entire technique from beginning to end. Or create a free 7-day trial account at lynda.com/deke and watch the 9th movie down, "The Masks panel," part of my hit video series Photoshop CS4 New Features.

And don't forget to avail yourself of every last one of our tricks and treats here at dekePod, recently voted the Sincerest Pumpkin Patch of 2008.