Using layers colour as clipping mask

[mikko.kovasiipi]

Hello

Is there a way to use layers colour as clipping mask?

Below there are two images that have been rendered in 3ds max. I will drag and drop them from Finder to Photoshop by holding ALT so they will be linked layers.

For now I have made a selection from the Channels and use that selection as Mask but this slows me down as there are about 300 product images I need to do.

I would like to use some sort of clipping mask where I can choose which colour channel to use as mask. This would speed up my work flow and also it will be faster for me later if I need to move the objects. All I would need to do is update the changed linked files and that's it.

Hope you understand what I'm after with this.

Thanks

Mikko

[c.pfaffenbichler]

You can use the Blend if-settings.

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

You may need to add a Group, though.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I suppose there are alternatives, but they all come down to the same thing as the Blend-if method c.p. showed you, so I guess it would come down to which one fitted your workflow best.

To create a clipping mask you basically need a selection.  With that you can add a layer mask as probably the most obvious way forward.

So to clip to red, Ctrl (Cmd) click the red channel.  There is some red content in both the left hand teapots, so you have to Alt (Opt) drag a marquee across to unselect that area.

Ctrl clicking the Blue channel will work for the blue teapot.

Note that I have the large thumbnail selected in the Panel Options.  This makes most sense when using multiple screens.

Dragging a channel to the New Channel icon gives you a full screen version, and effectively saves the selection (you can Ctrl click the new channel any time to load it as a selection).

I hesitate to show you Calculations as it is the same process from a different direction, but there are times when it would beneficial.

You have clear and obvious colours in your example image, but that is not always going to be the case. Calculations (you'll find it under the Image menu) allows you to use different blend modes to calculate channels against each other.  In this instance both are set to the same channel (red) and the default blend mode which is Multiply.

But it really does all come down to the same thing that c.p. showed you.

[EDIT]  I should really say how I would personally approach it.  That would be to Ctrl click the appropriate channel and add a layer mask. Then use whatever tools I needed to fine tune the layer mask.  I like to work this way as once you have the layer mask in place, you can use _any_ of Photoshop's tools to fine tune the mask.

[mikko.kovasiipi]

Thank you to both of you! I have done just the way you Trevor did, by making a selection in channels and using that selection as a mask. Also I tried that blend if -thingy but I didn't realize that it needs to be in a group. why?    Anyways, I will use that method for now.

Thank you!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

why?

I assume the basis of the Blend if appearance of the Clipping Group is the cumulated appearance (of the base Layer and the rest).

The Group is a work-around, but since one can Clipping Mask Layers to Groups since a few versions back it seems acceptable.