Existing users, 
 Mask-R-Aid - 4.1.1for creating app & document icon masks |
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Product Description:
Mask-R-Aid is a tool for creating application and document icon masks. An icon consists of an icon image and a mask that tells the system how to render the transparency of the icon. Normally the icon image is rendered with no transparency for most of the icon image (the interior pixels). Transparency comes into play when you want to do shadows or use a photo-realistic icon.
Mask-R-Aid is useful for creating masks in general, but is especially useful when creating photo-realistic icons. The problem with a photo-realistic icon is if you do not set the proper grayscale values for the edge pixels of the icon, you will see jagged edges. The problem with setting the grayscale pixels is that it is a tedious and error prone process. Mask-R-Aid makes this process hassle free.
Mask-R-Aid is useful for creating masks in general, but is especially useful when creating photo-realistic icons. The problem with a photo-realistic icon is if you do not set the proper grayscale values for the edge pixels of the icon, you will see jagged edges. The problem with setting the grayscale pixels is that it is a tedious and error prone process. Mask-R-Aid makes this process hassle free.
What's new in this version:
- Rearranged the main Mask-R-Aid window so that it fits on smaller screens.
- Added mouse scroll wheel support.
Operating System Requirements:
This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:
- Mac OS X 10.4 Intel
- Mac OS X 10.4 PPC
- Mac OS X 10.3.9
- Mac OS X 10.3
- Mac OS X 10.2
Additional Requirements:
- Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Screenshots:
Download Links:
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Featured Reviews
Makes a tedious job fast and effortless 
- Version: 3.1, 2/22/2006 05:41PM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Lars Jensen
Doesn't really work - Version: 1.0, 4/7/2005 09:16PM PST
(1 of 2 users found this comment useful)
jediknil
Sorry, everyone. Mask-R-Aid, while appearing promising, is not yet ready to be used for mainstream development (slight oxymoron there). I downloaded the program and opened it up, then spent a few fruitless moments trying to drag an image file into the "Icon" well. No such luck -- DND is not supported.
Next attempt: Copy/Paste. I went into one of my existing icns files, copied it, switched over to MRA, and pressed Command-V. No good. I looked in the Edit menu. Everything is disabled. There are two buttons on the bottom of the window: "Copy From" and "Paste To" in a box labeled "Clipboard". The correct action was to press "Copy From". Evidently True North didn't know that on every basically system created nowadays, "Copy" puts stuff on the clipboard and "Paste" takes stuff off.
So now I have my icon, but it certainly isn't working. An ugly black border surrounded it where the transparency used to be. This isn't actually a True North problem -- the clipboard actually didn't copy the transparency properly. Even so, this should not be this hard. I tried copying a TIFF, but it turned out even worse. Anything with transparency cannot be copied. And the image has to be square beforehand -- no dynamic resizing, no going ahead. And no feedback if you drag in an image that's too large or a non-square image -- just a beep, which tells you nothing about what you did wrong.
The only things that even began to work with MRA were square JPEGs and actual data copied out of an icon, with transparency already applied. And the result was not even close to what I would use.
Instead of going through all this trouble, just copy your icon in a photo editor, fill it all with black, and then blur the edges. It looks good enough to use in most cases.
Next attempt: Copy/Paste. I went into one of my existing icns files, copied it, switched over to MRA, and pressed Command-V. No good. I looked in the Edit menu. Everything is disabled. There are two buttons on the bottom of the window: "Copy From" and "Paste To" in a box labeled "Clipboard". The correct action was to press "Copy From". Evidently True North didn't know that on every basically system created nowadays, "Copy" puts stuff on the clipboard and "Paste" takes stuff off.
So now I have my icon, but it certainly isn't working. An ugly black border surrounded it where the transparency used to be. This isn't actually a True North problem -- the clipboard actually didn't copy the transparency properly. Even so, this should not be this hard. I tried copying a TIFF, but it turned out even worse. Anything with transparency cannot be copied. And the image has to be square beforehand -- no dynamic resizing, no going ahead. And no feedback if you drag in an image that's too large or a non-square image -- just a beep, which tells you nothing about what you did wrong.
The only things that even began to work with MRA were square JPEGs and actual data copied out of an icon, with transparency already applied. And the result was not even close to what I would use.
Instead of going through all this trouble, just copy your icon in a photo editor, fill it all with black, and then blur the edges. It looks good enough to use in most cases.
Most Recent Replies: View All 1 Replies
- Doesn't really work
Mask-R-Aid greatly eases the task of creating good-looking masks for images that are surrounded by whitespace. The masks can then be used (via copy/paste or saving to a file) in other applications that create icons or perform other graphic operations.
Its basic operation could scarcely be simpler: drag your image to the application icon or window, and typical icon sizes with masks are created automatically for you, using white as the transparency indicator color. The program isolates the silhouette of the input image and creates the mask from this, blending its edge using one of three different edge-handling techniques that you can set within the program. You also have the option to mask interior white pixels, or not.
The best refinements of 3.1 have to do with workflow: you can set preferences to bypass a scaling dialog, and you can see previews of all icon sizes, against two background images of your choice, simultaneously. This means that with one drag and drop operation, you can instantly see how your icon or image will look, and play with edge settings at your leisure.
Pros:
- Can generate a complete set of icons and masks with one drag & drop (once you've set preferences appropriately)
- Can create masks for images that aren't icons
- A thorough set of previews is available without user interaction
Cons:
- Only white is supported as a transparency indicator color
- Can't mask some interior areas and not others
- No feature to help you get rid of "fuzzy" off-white pixels or complicated backgrounds
- No drop-shadowing, halos, or other mask-intensive effects
Mask-R-Aid is a great example of a tool that addresses one task well. Its feature set is not super-deluxe (see the cons), and there are some minor UI deficiencies (lack of ellipses on some button titles, non-live sliders, etc.).
But for what it does attempt, it's a solid workhorse that has saved me countless hours of tedious pixel twiddling. The documentation is clear and complete.
If you've got an image with clean whitespace around it, and you want a nice crisp mask without becoming a Photoshop expert, you should try out this tool.