P: Layer Mask Icons in 25.1

[Trevor.Dennis]

Someone has asked about this in the main Photoshop forum.  I'd not opened 25.1 and can't find any information — like a what's new.  @CShubert can you explain how the new layer mask icons work?  Thanks.

[DAVID27152055uqhe]

Thanks Trevor, for posting this in regards to my original post.  Hope we can get some info on this as I'd sure like to be able to have the option of using the older icon format.

[Trevor.Dennis]

The mask still acts like it used (as far as I know).  I think the new icon is more about information, but I'm as interested as you to find out.

[Earth Oliver]

But there's ZERO information about the second mask. The only thing a user sees is that it's different, but not what that difference is. And the badge is only so slightly different that most users won't even see it. Ridiculous UI design here.

[MarkTo]

Yes, It actually obscures the mask istelf, making it a lot harder to visually identify whats in the mask in the layers Panel. The only way to see now is to option click each mask. (And option clicking  in the layers panel now often takes the whole image full screen, a deeply annoying "feature" for anyone doing detail work.)  The circle, whatever its for, is also visually far too large and obtrusive.   

[David32911201tbeg]

I agree with Mark. Just spent 15 minutes trying to turn that off with no solution. 

[Delkin525]

Same here. I hope this is a bug because this is terrible. It obscures so much of the layer mask area. Normally I need to be able to view the layer mask thumbnail to see what's masked out, or painted out, now this blocks a lot of info. Please fix this Adobe, for the love of God. This icon just came with the most recent version of Photoshop...

[Brian24789201lmds]

please give me an option to turn this off. Grrrr

[meyrickgj]

It is a darned nuisance.  I gather under panel options in the Beta you can turn it off, though I don't have the Beta installed. 

Whoever came up with that one has to be a programmer who doesn't use PS. If they want parity between the icons on the layer and the add mask icon, then change the add mask icon so it looks like the mask. Don't remove a useful facility which a lot of people use. !!

[marinkamasseus]

It indeed is terrible as it obscures the mask. I identify each layer by looking at the mask, which is now impossible. This is absolutely unacceptable and I will go back to installing an earlier version of Photoshop.

Please fix this Adobe. At least give the option to toggle it off.

[DiodorS]

The icon obscures the mask. Please provide an option to disable this new visual distraction.

[Trevor.Dennis]

If you have the screen space, you can set layer thumbnails to large in Panel Options.  I use three large screens and the only time I use the smaller thumbnails is with frame animations when I have lots of layers and need to see them all.  

This is a 1:1 screen shot.  The thumbnails are more or less ideal due to the document's aspect ratio.  Narrow aspect ratios make for shite thumbnails.

The other option, which is useful with smaller screen sizes, is to set Contents to Layer Bounds.  I doesn't help with the layer mask, but the layer element fills the thumnail making it easier to identify.

I actually named those layers for the sake of the screen shot, as I am not great at naming layers usually, so when I b]need to identify a particular layer's contents I either:

• Ctrl click it to surround it with marching ants.  Works even better iof you hit Q to go into Quick Mask.
• Alt click it's thumbnail, to turn all other layers off. 

To do it the other way round, right click over an image element to show eveery layer beneath the cursor position.

Something that I always seem to end up with are empty layers, which can become a pain.  So just a reminder that there is a script to remove them all at once. 🙂

[Pete.Green]

Thanks for bringing this one up Trevor and all, apologies for the workflow disruption!

This layer mask badging went out intially without the preference to disable it when desired, and that preference has now been added to the latest Ps beta version Adobe Photoshop Version: 25.2.0 20231018.m.2368 in Layer panel options > Show layer mask badges.

Regards,

Pete

[Trevor.Dennis]

That is very cool Pete.  We love being able pass on such speedy responses from the Development Team.

    

[Ged_Traynor]

@Pete.Green what exactly is the purpose of the layer mask badges, other than getting in the way.

[DiodorS]

Thank you for adding the option to disable the badge!

[DiodorS]

@Pete.Green it seems that this option is not saved when you restart PS 25.2.0 20231018.m.2368 😞

[CarlosGordillo]

Thanks for adding this option! I would now appreciate adding it to Photoshop as well (non-beta), as these badges now also appear in PS 25.1.0. Best regards!

[meyrickgj]

Thankyou. Perhaps someone will do a bit of work over the weekend, and have an update (PS 25.2 )by Monday? 

Offers absolutley nothing. What was behind this? 

No one that I have spoken to - at our Club  for example, can see that it serves any useful purpose. It simpoly obsures and interrupts an otherwise useful and quite well used facility. 

If you want parity between the add mask icon and the mask, then change the add mask icon so it looks like the mask it is adding. 

[SensationElle]

so this is just a matter of time, until I get the update from 25.1 to 25.2.0 20231018.m.2368 to get ridd of this nuissance that blocks 1/3 of my layer maks (I am working on a macbook pro).

Thankfully there have been enough replies, that this will be fixed 🙂

[Gardan_Arts]

really great, that you already addressing the issue.. but why do we need these icons at all?
It's kinda obvious that these are the masks. Ok, maybe the first day PS user doesn't know this, but the badge won't help. Masks are always in the same place, so why add this issue at all? Or is there any functionality with these badges that I missed?

[BoekMarc]

When can we expect it in a non-beta version?

As a pro, I do not work in beta versions.

[JustLetMeEnterAName]

Can you fix this in the main version? This is a huge error that needs to be addressed asap. So annoying. 

[Aaron299214098w9r]

I agree, this feature is useless. It just makes it hard to see my mask. Please remove or at least let us turn it off... A solution provided above was that you can turn off a check box in the layer panel options. This is not available in Photoshop 2024...

[Sandy694]

There's an option to turn this off in the beta but not the release version??!!! What intellectually impared person decided on that solution? GET RID OF THAT ICON!!!!