Styles not working on masked layers

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2022-10-30 03:30:56

Currently you can't add styles to a layer with a mask. the style doesn't use the transparency that is provided by the mask.
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2022-10-30 12:11:25

I believe this is when the "Opacity"-Blend modes come into play:
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2022-11-03 23:34:29

@EllenM what are you talking about? This has nothing to with blend modes and has all to do with orders of operations. Styles are being applied before the layer mask.

Masked out the background
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Added a stroke style to the layer that's being masked. note there is no stroke visible
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Turning the mask off shows that the stroke style is being applied before the mask
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Styles should be applied after image mask is resolved.
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2022-11-04 09:54:19

I don't understand why you apply a style to the image layer after masking it, or why you expect the stroke not to be masked in this case:
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My example above shows an inverted mask and the Opacity Blend modes have effect from my experience.
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2022-11-04 21:04:35

because that’s the standard way masks should work based on majority of editing apps, such as Photoshop & Illustrator & After Effects, Affinity Designer & Photo, Final Cut & Motion. a mask should only affect the layer’s transparency and the style goes on top of that. a clipping path would be used if you want to “mask” out styles.

Having the style applied after the mask is resolved allows for a non-destructive workflow, otherwise you’re forced to merge the layer and mask together. so instead of duping the layer, merging the duped layer with it’s mask, and then applying a style, you just just apply a style. this cuts down on file size, allows simple adjustments to the mask without having to then dupe the layer again and merge it with it’s mask. Also having the mask applied after the styles negates the point of clipping paths.

Expected order of operations
- Layers
- Masks
- Styles/LayerFX
- Clipping Paths
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2022-12-08 17:38:12

I applied a simple rectangle mask to an image and wanted to add a stroke and drop shadow... only to find out that in Pixelmator the styles are applied behind the mask! This is completely wrong. Please fix it!

I had to add three layers to create a simple photo with a white border and a shadow... one for the image, one for the stroke, and one for the shadow... this is crazy.