Allow copying the settings from one mask type to another.

Question

Ever since the new masking features became available in ACR and LR my workflow has gradually changed from 10% raw/90% Photoshop, to in most cases, the complete opposite. That said, there is one feature I would love to see added at  some point and that is the ability to copy the settings from a particular mask, say a radial mask that I frequently use as a quick test of what I'm looking to accomplish over a broad area of my compostion. It has worked very for this but quite often I then manually writing the settings down so I can transfer the exact combination to a brush mask so I can have finer control over my final edits. I realize that I can use the add and subtract sub-masks to achieve a similar outcome but I find I like using the brush much of the time as opposed to that approach. I see it being another option, much the same as "Duplicate and Invert" addition by selecting the context menu from the elipsis and chosing "Copy Settings" with then another obvious addition being "Paste Settings". I could see this being very useful in many instances and believe it would be a rather easy thing to add. Thank you so much for all of the additions and improvements to ACR over the past few years. I hope my idea finds it's way into one of the updates in the near future.

Conrad_C · Accepted Answer

If I understand correctly, there is already a built-in way to do what you want: Take advantage of Masking Adjustment Presets. The technique below usually helps me after I realize the last mask I did uses better settings than masks I created earlier, so I want to apply the mask’s exact settings to the masks I already created, without writing anything down. You can use the same technique to transfer settings among different mask types. These are the steps shown in the demo below:

1. Make your radial gradient test mask, and work out the settings you want. I made my mask settings a little darker and cooler, just to make it obvious what was changing.

2. Save a new Masking Adjustment Preset, and name it anything you want. I named mine “transfer”. This stores the settings of the mask adjustment you made.

3. Create a new mask of any other type. I created a new Brush mask.

4. Choose the Masking Adjustment Preset you created in step 2. Those settings, originally created for a Radial Gradient mask, now apply to the currently selected Brush mask.

5. If you no longer need the preset you created, you can delete it from the same menu that creates it.

Important: A Masking Adjustment Preset is not the same as an image-wide preset/profile. These settings apply only to masked adjustments. To create a Masking Adjustment Preset, you must use the Preset menu at the top of the Masking Adjustments panel, as shown. It won’t work to use the Presets panel or the other preset commands on the More Image Settings menu on the toolbar, because those presets are not available for masks.

TheDigitalDog · Answer

Do you mean like this?

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