Re: mask: luminance or alpha

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 7:51 PM, Dirk Schulze <dschulze@adobe.com> wrote:

>
> On Jul 30, 2012, at 7:31 PM, Rik Cabanier <cabanier@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Any vector artwork created from any Adobe application, InkScape,
> CorelDraw and XAML.
> No, I meant content. All these products can create alpha masks as well.
> That doesn't count, otherwise I could say 99.99% of the vector artwork use
> alpha masking :).


I'm not talking about the products, but what they create.
My original 99.99% was for SVG/PDF content, but I think it applies to other
vector content as well (Flash excluded).



> No seriously, most people I spoke with thought that masking would operate
> on the alpha channel initially. It just seems to be more intuitive.
> However, in SVG we will actually support both!
>

Did you talk to graphic designers, or people that design web pages or
browsers?
My issue is not with having both; it's with having them being inconsistent
+ having a default that is rarely used for vector data


>
>
> > My number does not include Flash since it doesn't have luminosity masks
> (only alpha) so people didn't have choice but I've seen workaround using
> pixel bender.
> Sounds like authors are already more familiar with alpha masks.
>

No, some advanced flash designers are familiar with working around alpha
mask's limitations because they want luminosity.


>
>
> >
> > For some operations that look like they could use alpha masks (like
> gradient shadows), our products still use luminosity. I can't remember the
> details but I can ask.
> >
> > Rik
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 5:16 PM, Dirk Schulze <dschulze@adobe.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > On Jul 30, 2012, at 4:57 PM, "Rik Cabanier" <cabanier@adobe.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Looking at current vector artwork, 99.99% is using luminosity.
> > That is an interesting number, where did you get this number and which
> vector artwork are you referring?
> >
> > Dirk
> >
> > > It's much easier to manipulate for a designer than alpha (since it's
> easier to visualize and since overlapping elements with alpha interact with
> each other)
> > >
> > > Rik
> > >
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: Tab Atkins Jr. [mailto:jackalmage@gmail.com]
> > >> Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 4:48 PM
> > >> To: Rik Cabanier
> > >> Cc: www-svg@w3.org
> > >> Subject: Re: mask: luminance or alpha
> > >>
> > >> On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Rik Cabanier <cabanier@adobe.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>> Last week, there was a decision to have the id-less mask have ‘alpha’
> > >>> as the default instead of ‘luminance’
> > >>>
> > >>> Can someone explain the rational for doing this again?
> > >>>
> > >>> It changes existing default behavior, is not what people want or what
> > >>> products like Illustrator and InkScape currently support.
> > >>
> > >> The idea is that this *is* what people want.  We just can't change
> <mask>'s
> > >> default behavior due to legacy compat.
> > >>
> > >> ~TJ
> >
>
>