Making a simple mask

The first step to screening back an area of an image, is to create a mask of the area we wish to screen back. In this example, we will draw a simple rectangular text box around our text as illustrated.

In this example, the background color of the text box was set to white so that we can accurately draw our mask.

Fill mask item with a color

In order to create a shadow of this item, we need to fill the background of the text box with a color. Any color can be used except White.

Create a mask shadow

Select the mask item created in Step #2 if not already selected. In the Create Tab, enter these attributes and click Create.

Resolution should be set to the resolution of the background image. Blur Radius can be increased or decreased depending on the amount of feathering into the background you desire. Offset should be set to Zero, since we created the mask item exactly where the image is to be screened. Shading specifies the percentage to shade the background image by.

Delete text box

After the shadow is created, delete the original item added in Step #1. We now have a 50 percent grayscale shadow over of our background image.

This shadow image will now serve as the mask to screen back the background image with.

Burning the shadow into the background

Select both the shadow mask image and your background image in your document.

In the Burn Tab, enter the following attributes, then click Burn.

Save the newly created .brn file to your hard drive.

Delete original shadow mask

After the burn process is complete, delete the shadow mask created in Step #3 and set the background of the text box to None. You will now see the result of the burn.

To increase or decrease the shading amount, change the shading value in Step #3.

Entering a shading value of 75 percent will screen back the area by 75 percent while entering a shading value of 25 percent will screen back the area by 25 percent.