Saving a mask selection

You can save any selection as a mask in a new or existing alpha channel.

To save a selection to a new channel with default options (Photoshop):

1. Select the area or areas of the image that you want to isolate.
2. Click the Save Selection button at the bottom of the Channels palette. A new channel appears, named according to the sequence in which it was created.

To save a selection to a new or existing channel:

1. Select the area or areas of the image that you want to isolate.
2. Choose Select > Save Selection.
3. Do the following in the Save Selection dialog box, and click OK:
• (Photoshop) Choose a destination image for the selection in the Document menu. By default, the selection is placed in a channel in your active image. You can choose to save the selection to a channel in another open image with the same pixel dimensions or to a new image.
• Choose a destination channel for the selection from the Channel pop-up menu. By default, the selection is saved in a new channel. You can choose to save the selection to any existing channel in the selected image or to a layer mask if the image contains layers.
• If you're saving the selection as a new channel, enter a name for the channel in the Name text box. In ImageReady, you can change the default channel name if desired.
• If you're saving the selection to an existing channel, select how to combine the selections: Replace Channel to replace the current selection in the channel; Add to Channel to add the selection to the current channel contents; Subtract from Channel to delete the selection from the channel contents; Intersect with Channel to keep the areas of the new selection that intersect with the channel contents.

In Photoshop, you can select the channel in the Channels palette to see the saved selection displayed in grayscale. A selection saved in ImageReady will appear in a new or existing channel in the Photoshop Channels palette.