Maskerade can open most any RGB file format supported by QuickTime 3.0 or later.
If you can't open a file:
If you know that the file is in a format that QuickTime supports, it is possible that the file does not have a proper file type signature or filename extension. This commonly happens when files are moved from one platform to another, such as from Windows to the Mac, or when files are sent as attachments to emails. QuickTime determines which files can be opened by first checking the file type signature which is an invisible, four character code that identifies a file's graphic format such as 'TIFF', 'PICT' or 'EPSF'. If the file type signature does not specify a recognizable graphic file format, but the file type is set to 'TEXT', QuickTime will then look at the filename's extension and try to determine its correct format from it.
If the file has a generic icon in the Finder, it is quite possible that the file type signature has been set incorrectly by the receiver of the file. In this case, you have several options. If you know the correct 'dot + three' filename extension commonly used by Windows applications, you may add the extension to the filename and try opening the file again. If this doesn't work and you are sure that you know the correct graphic format of the file, you can use a file utility such as File Buddy to change the file type and creator signatures. If you do not know the correct signatures, utilities such as File Buddy usually allow you to select a similar file and match the first file's codes to it.To make the job opening of two source files easier for the user, Maskerade has the capability of looking for a matching, or 'sibling' file immediately after the user opens the first source image. The filename of the first image is used to construct a second filename, which Maskerade looks for in the same directory as the first image. The following filename rules apply when searching for sibling files:
- Because Mac OS X is somewhat dependent on file name extensions, an attempt is made to split the file name into component parts consisting of a prefix and an extension delimited by the last "." character (if present) in order to determine the "real" file name.
If no "." character is found, the entire file name is subsequently used for the search.
If a "." character is found, the characters after the last "." character are treated as an extension which is then further tested for validity in the following sequence:
- If any characters other than digits and alpha characters are found in the extension, the test is ended, the extension is left alone and the entire file name is used for the search. These characters include spaces and punctuation that are not considered valid characters in a file extension.
- If the extension consists of only digits, the test is ended, the extension is left alone and the entire file name is used for the search.
- If the extension is less than three characters, the test is ended, the extension is left alone and the entire file name is used for the search.
- At this point, the extension is considered a valid combination of three or more alpha characters and digits, so it is stripped from the file name and the prefix alone is used for the search.
- When searching for a sibling file, the sibling file name is created by incrementing the file name resulting from the tests above.
- If the file name ends in a letter, the sibling file name is created by incrementing the letter to the next alphabetical letter, for example "a" to "b". If a sibling file with this new name does not exist, the new name is continually incremented until a file is found or the end of the alphabet is reached. If the file name ends in the letter 'z' or 'Z', the name can no longer be incremented and the search ends. Examples:
File Name Extension Before After Sibling Name image a none image a image b image b image z none image z end of alphabet none image.a < 3 characters image.a image.b image.b image.aa < 3 characters image.aa image.ab image.ab image.jpg .jpg image.jpg imagf.jpg imagf.jpg image a.jpg .jpg image a.jpg image b.jpg image b.jpg image 1.0 a invalid characters image 1.0 a image 1.0 b image 1.0 b
- If the search name name ends in a number, the sibling file name is created by incrementing the number by '1'. If a sibling file with this new name does not exist, the new name is continually incremented for a maximum of 100 times until a file is found. However, if the name is 31 characters in length and the increment will cause the name to exceed the 31 character limit, the name cannot be incremented any further. Examples:
File Name Extension Before After Sibling Name image 1 none image 1 image 2 image 2 image 009 none image 009 image 010 image 010 image 99 none image 99 image 100 image 100 image.a1 < 3 characters image.a1 image.a2 image.a2 image.100 all digits image.100 image.101 image.101 image 1.0 10 invalid characters image 1.0 10 image 1.0 11 image 1.0 11 image.1.jpg .jpg image.1.jpg image.2.jpg image.2.jpg image_1.jpg .jpg image_1.jpg image_2.jpg image_2.jpg The two source images must have the same dimensions in pixels, but they do not need to have the same resolution. For example, if Image 1 is 640x480 pixels @ 72 dpi and Image 2 is 640x480 pixels @ 305 dpi, both can be opened for the same session because their pixel dimensions match.
Note:
The resolution of the Final Image is determined by a setting in the preferences and may be affected by the resolution of the source images. For more information, see the 'Output Resolution' setting in the 'Preferences' section.