Will add a layer mask to the currently active layer. A layer mask is a way to control transparency of the current layer . The mask it self is a grayscale "image" where black pixels will make the layer totally transparent and white pixels will make it opaque.

The fill dialog enables you to choose the initial fill of the layer mask. Black which will make the layer totally transparent, white which will make the layer totally opace or the alpha channel of the layer. When you choose the alpha channel the transparency of each pixels will be mapped to a grayscale value in the mask. If you want to further manipulate the transparency in a layer this can be a very good option (e.g maybe you have softly erased some parts of the image and want to continue to manipulate the transparency).

To work with the layer mask you have to active it, you do that by clicking on the thumbnail image of the mask. However you will not see the mask you will just see the result of your mask operations. To see the mask you have to <ZZZZ> click on the thumbnail. If you want to see you layer without the mask you have to <ZZZZ> click on the thumbnail. Remember to to click one again with the same modification key to exit the current "preview" state.

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