Creating a Mask for Agisoft
Created by Jack A. Biggs
Maintained by LEADR under the direction of Alice Lynn McMichael
Last Updated: 4/9/2019
This is a quick guide to creating masks to use in photogrammetry model building.
Microsoft Paint Instructions
- Choose a photo for which to create the mask
- To ensure the best quality of the mask, choose a photo out of the set where the majority of the object can be seen – preferably from the eye-level rotation
- Right click on the desired photo
- On the dropdown menu choose Open with –> Paint
- Use eye dropper tool to select the color of the background
- With this new color in the ‘Color 1’ box, select ‘Edit colors’
- Click Add to Custom Colors then click Okay
- Select ‘Color 2’ then click on the new color you created - this will ensure that both the border and fill of the mask will be this same color
- Click on the ‘Select’ dropdown menu and choose Select All –> Delete
- This should get rid of the image and replace it with the solid color you selected using the eye dropper tool
- Saving the mask - DO NOT HIT ‘CTRL S’ OR CLICK ON THE SAVE BUTTON!!
- Doing the above will basically replace the photo of the object with just a black photo which eliminates it from the set
- This could mean that the model might not build properly since you don’t have that specific angled photo anymore
- To save properly, click File –> Save as
- Choose the location in which to save the mask - best not to save it into the Images folder, but to the overall folder
- Rename the photo as the model designation followed by the word ‘mask’
- E.g. puma_effigy_mask.jpg
- Doing the above will basically replace the photo of the object with just a black photo which eliminates it from the set
- With this new color in the ‘Color 1’ box, select ‘Edit colors’
- Check to make sure that the mask is now in the desire location
Photoshop Instructions
- Choose a photo for which to create the mask
- To ensure the best quality of the mask, choose a photo out of the set where the majority of the object can be seen
- Profile photos for skulls, whole-length photos of long bones, etc.
- To ensure the best quality of the mask, choose a photo out of the set where the majority of the object can be seen
- Open Adobe Photoshop
- Click File –> Open –> Choose the photo that you want to use
- Once the photo has loaded, choose Edit on the taskbar and then Fill from the dropdown menu
- A pop-up box should appear - make sure the following options are correct:
- Contents
- Use: Black (or whichever color your background is)
- Blending
- Mode: Normal
- Opacity: 100%
- Click Okay
- Contents
- The picture should automatically be completely filled in black
- Saving the mask - DO NOT HIT ‘COMMAND S’ OR CLICK ON THE SAVE BUTTON!!
- Doing the above will basically replace the photo of the object with just a black photo which eliminates it from the set
- This could mean that the model might not build properly since you don’t have that specific angled photo anymore
- To save properly, click File –> Save as
- Choose the location in which to save the mask - best not to save it into the Images folder, but to the overall folder
- Rename the photo as the model designation followed by the word ‘mask’
- E.g. puma_effigy_mask.jpg
- Doing the above will basically replace the photo of the object with just a black photo which eliminates it from the set
- Check to make sure that the mask is now in the desire location