Hehe.... actually you were on the right track... it creates a floating selection but if you are working on a layer mask, anchoring the selection puts it in the mask. So it's actually quite simple

I have made a minor revision of the script to better handle text layers. If the above layer is a text layer and it has a layermask then there is no change in the behavior; that layermask is added to the active layer.

However, if the above layer is a text layer without a layermask (a fairly common occurrence for text layers), then the layermask will be created from the text itself, regardless of the color of the text.

The reason for this change is that the transparent background of a layer gets converted to black when copied to a mask. For a text layer this generally is not how you want the mask to be created. For example, if you have black text then the resulting mask would be entirely black. Other colors except for pure white would be some shade of gray. The script now assumes that you want the text part of the mask to be white.

Here is the new link (I've also updated my previous post):
http://chiselapp.com/user/saulgoode/rep ... from-above

I usually paste the image as a layer, and then right click on the newly created layer and click "add layer mask."

I then initialize the layer mask to "grayscale copy of layer."

After that I right-click on the newly created layer mask and click "mask to selection"

I the right click on the layer I want my mask on and click "add layer mask"
I initialize the mask to selection.

Yes i imagine i should have mentioned "anchor the layer"

Did you download the updated version of the script mentioned in this post? It is possible I've made a mistake (I made one once before, back in 1993), so let me know if you have the updated version and are still seeing the behavior you describe.

Just redownloaded and installed, top layer is black text, selected bottom layer is gray background color, there is no mask on either, I run script bottom layer has all black mask. Script has not changed.

That it what i thought !
but no matter how much i tried the floating selection accepted only to be pasted on the layer below not on its mask (yes i click on the mask in the layer windows to be sure it was active)

PS this using gimp2.7.5 from partha i didn't try with the stable version

Hmmm, strange.


What version of GIMP are you using?

Aha! Although the graphics on your top layer are text, it is not a "text layer" in that the text information has been discarded (note the difference between the thumbnail of your "Gimp" layer and mine). Once the text attributes of a layer have been discarded, my script treats it as a normal layer wherein transparency gets converted to black in the resulting mask.

The script could be used by first creating a mask on your "Gimp" layer initialized to its alpha channel, but it is probably just as easy if not easier to use the stock GIMP approach of alpha-selecting the "Gimp" layer and then adding a mask to your base layer initialized to that selection.

Bump !

I think we should modify the topic title and move everything the script board !

I think so because contain useful script that as now would be hard to find !
i am sure would be hard to find because even if was a my request for me was hard to trace back this pages
(i searched well in the script board but i didn't think could be in this board for long...)

This is fantastic...absolutely fantastic.

Moved to Gimp Scripts and Plugins per request by PC.