Other Masks

1: Saturation Cancel Mask

When two complementary colors are layered, their saturation completely cancels out, resulting in a monochromatic gray. For example, red (255, 0, 0) and cyan (0, 255, 255) combine to make white, a fully unsaturated color.

In order to make two objects with complementary colors, set them to the same color channel, then adjust the HSV of the second object by ±180. This method guarantees that the colors are completely opposite, rather than using the more imprecise color selector.

Setup#

1. Create a pattern consisting of a blending color at around .50 to .65x opacity. Put this on layer B3. For best results, make sure this color is fully saturated.
2. Copy this pattern and make the color of this block hue ±180. Put this on B1. The end result should be a gray color, completely devoid of saturation.

Only when you put a block in between the designs - preferably gray - is when you can see the mask.

Here’s an example of how this looks in action.

This mask can make colors look a bit pale, so make sure your background colors and details compensate for that.

Pros:#

• Insane range of colors
• Very versatile, can allow for multiple masks
• Widely increasing in popularity

Cons:#

• Background colors may look a bit faded
• Masked patterns cannot feature any overlapping
• Can be object heavy

Examples#

• Invinciwolf 2 by WerewolfGD (blocks)

• Key by ilrell and Swirl

• Onward Refresh by MrKoolTrix (blocks)

2: Color Pair Mask (Blending)

This masking technique is similar to the normal color pair mask, however it uses the addition of blending colors to perform its goal. To do this, it sandwiches a gray block between a layer of non-blending colors and another of blending colors.

Setup#

1. Choose a primary color and a secondary color. White is the easiest secondary color to work with due to its useful properties regarding blending.

2. Now create blending versions of these colors. This can be easily done using “Color Copy” in a color channel. Make sure to switch their positions so both colors can show correctly.
3. Layer these at least one layer above the base objects.

4. Overlay the layers. Place a gray block in between these two layers, and if done correctly, both colors will show on the block. Tweak the colors if the background color does not match with the mask color, using the HSV slider.

• This is not an exact science. If using a secondary color that isn’t white, the colors will not match 100% correctly. However, given the mask color and base color only connect at corners, it is very difficult to notice.

Here’s how this mask looks in action.

Using the same method, you can create a large array of color combinations, like here.

Note that the colors are slightly off, as previously stated.

Pros#

• Large range of colors
• Blocks can include overlapping

Cons#

• Block designs usually look simplistic
• Tricky to incorporate other colors

Examples#

• ChargeleSS by Optical

• Bifurcate by RNBW

• Zeotrix’s part in Teslawolf

3: Color Pair Mask (Lightened)

This masking method is similar to the color pair mask, but instead of darkening overlapping blocks, the end result becomes lighter.

Once again, it uses multiple layers to do this.

Setup#

1. Take a black block and put it on a low layer.
2. Copy-paste it and make the copy blending white at around 0.65 opacity. Put it on a higher layer and the end result should be gray.

• You’ll notice when two of these blocks intersect it produces a light gray.

3. Make your structures. Similar to a Background Mask, make a cutout of the gameplay, filling in everything except the block structures.

• Make this around the same dark gray as the color combination, and put it between the two layers.
• Behind this, put a light gray background which should be as identical to the light gray from before as possible.
• The layering is tricky, so make sure to use the labeled layers in the images while learning the effect.

4. Add details to the blocks using the black and blending objects. These can be whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t overlap.

You can add color to the effect, by overlaying gradients and low opacity colors. Here, I used a blending cyan gradient and a reddish-pink low opacity overlay, but this can be made much more complex.

Pros#

• Interesting visuals

Cons#

• Hard to use
• Colors are difficult to manage

Examples#

• Curl Up by ilrell and Millepatte

Summary#

• This guide explains some miscellaneous masks, which we didn’t cover in the prior guides.

Credits