Please carefully study and learn their advantages and disadvantages in order to select the proper mask method to best meet your needs.

Summary of Mask Types
Comparison Chart



Mask Type	256-Color Image	JPEG Format	Multiplex Masking	Concealing Ability	Disadvantages
Q0	NG	Good	NG	Poor	Too many options, no uniformity
WIN	Good	Poor	NG	Poor	Mask Noise occurs with JPEG file
MEKO	NG	Good	Good	Poor	Difficult to mask small area
FL	Good	Good	Good	Good	Difficult to mask small area
CP	NG	Good	Good	Excellent	cannot treat 256-color
NIJIIRO FLMac Only	Good	Good	NG	Excellent	none
Bx3 FLMac Only	Good	Good	NG	Poor	Poor concealment

* Multiplex Mask (Multi-mask) is masking over part or all of an area already masked.
* Q0 MASK in this case is with Negative-Positive exchange plus Glassy Effects.

Examples of each mask treatment

	Original Image Following are examples of different mask treatments as applied to original JPEG image at left.
	Q0 MASK "Q0 Mask" is a well-known full-color image masking method developed by Mr."Kurakura" and used in his masking tool "Q0MASK". So called "Glassy Effects" and "negative-positive exchange" are characteristic. Q0 Mask has several options, and combination of these options make a variety of effects possible. However, because of this variety, it is difficult to maintain uniformity. Full-Color Image ONLY
	WIN MASK "WIN Mask" is a well known 256-color image masking method employed in Mr. Takaaki Tomura's "WinMask". This mask is characterized by vertical stripes. Since WIN Mask has no options, it is very easy to mask 256-color images. Please note that an unmasked image will have Mask Noise if an image processed with WIN Mask is saved as JPEG file.
	MEKO MASK "MEKO Mask" is a well-known full-color image masking method employed in Mr. Yoji Igarashi's "MekoMask". This mask exchanges blocked areas randomly. This mask has no options, and has a uniform masking method. Full-Color Image ONLY
	FL MASK This is a newly developed masking method especially designed for FLMASK. Its characteristic is that of masked areas with a whirlpool pattern. This mask has no options. A uniform masking method makes this process user friendly. (There are, however, some options to make it compatible with older FLMASK versions.) FL Mask supports both full- and 256-color images. The old version does not have Negative-Positive exchange function.
	CP MASK This mask process originated with Mr.Uchino, and was developed jointly with the author of FLMASK. In the masking process, a string named "Coded Pattern(CP)" is used for various masking patterns. In other words, Coded Patterns and masking patterns have a one-to-one correspondence. This mask has no options, and a uniform masking method makes this process user friendly. Full-Color Image Only.
	NIJIIRO MASK NIJIIRO mask is developed by an author of masking software for Macintosh. NIJIIRO means rainbow color in Japanese. This mask produces rainbow colors in the masked area using unit pixel of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32. Multiplex masing is not recommended. If combined with FL mask, the two masks have to be removed in reverse order to regenerate the picture.
	Bx3 MASK This mask makes skin color to pink. Because of the poor concealment ability, this mask should be used as a "Effect" rather than to hide something. Multiplex masing is not recommended. If combined with FL mask, the two masks have to be removed in reverse order to regenerate the picture.