Mask Like a Pro in Photoshop... with KNOCKOUT LAYERS! 

As a self-taught professional Photoshop user, I very rarely saw educational material online that would teach you both new technique with a good explaination AND practical application thereof. After 10 years of going back and forth through uninspired tutorials just in case someone offhandedly brings something interesting to the table, your channel is an absolute breath of fresh air; highly technical, innovative, concise and to the point. I love the work you do, your channel is easily the best thing for a more experienced user.

The amount this one channel, this one PERSON, has pushed and changed and inspired my workflow.... its crazy. That last bit when you scaled it up-- freaking amazing. Such a powerful way to iterate without creating monstrous files and bogging down your computer, but still preserving the ability to make the full scale thing for print! I love it.

In all these years watching Photoshop tutorials on RU-vid, I have never seen a channel teach so much new stuff and different techniques at the same time. Your work is impressive, I always have my mind blown!

I'm a Patreon for a year now and I can't emphasize enough how much I've used your tutorials and how well they are edited. Straight to the point, no beginner explanations, love it!

This is brilliant!

And he comes up with yet another unique way of doing things in Photoshop I never even heard of. And every time it isn't just clever, it also looks gorgeous. Not sure if you're the Einstein or the Mozart of Photoshop. You're both. You're the Einart of Photoshop. Scary.

I'm excited like a kid in front of his Christmas tree at every tutorial!

Finally, a mostly non-destructive masking method for PS. Amazing, as always, Brady!

I can't believe how much I'm learning from your channel...and I've been using Photoshop for 15 years! Just...amazing.

I have been using PS for over a decade. Your videos get me excited to learn again and see the 90% of the tool I am not using. Thank you for your content.

My favorite thing about this channel is that every time I get some unexpected ways to develop creativity. Despite the fact that I have been using Photoshop for many years now, I can always find something new here. Thank you!

Been using photoshop for 5 years now and I’ve never heard of a knockout layer before this has actually exploded my mind

I’ve been using photoshop since the early 90s and I’m not really one for tutorials. I thought I knew everything, but then I stumbled on to your videos. Truly a wizard! I wish I had the time to experiment and find things like this myself, but staying busy is its own blessing, I guess!

Brady's out here doing God's work. Thanks for the tutorial, this is gonna change the hell out of my workflow.

I can think of so many uses for live text as a mask - this is a revelation

Wow, blending options keeps surprising me! Excellent tutorial!

Best tutorials ever. I'm not even talikng about the content itself which is mindblowing, I'm talking about how you explain not only *how* you do stuff but exactly *why*. I've learnt a lot from this channel, Thank you so much Brady, you're a demigod.

This video opened my eyes to many more interesting possibilities. Once I master the steps involved I can see this being useful again and again and again.

My heart rate rises with every video. I've been on youtube for many years now. But there is nothing like this. The tutorials are great. Very high-end and so practical. But overall what you do on your own is a very inspiring man! You have changed my life step by step over the years with other wonderful people like you. Thanks for this! I looked for your portfolio but couldn't find it anywhere. Seeing your previous work probably helps many people to imagine where this thing could go. On the other hand, how cool it is not to be found🤘

I’ve used photoshop for 20 years. This is new to me. Thanks!

I can not stress how I am so far ahead of my design peers because of this channel, YOU ARE MY FAVORITE

Even as a Photoshop veteran, i'm always learning something new and valuable on this channel. Thank you for your incredible content!

You have literally took the most mundane and overlooked features in PS and made it interesting and technical game changer. When I was getting started in my design career I remember this photocopy/distressed print style was super popular, c2006. My creative director at the time used this plugin to get this look but the results were seemingly millions of masks and a complete nightmare to work from.

I am a professional photo retoucher and I have been working in commercial photography post production for 10+ years and i never... NEVER heard of this technique. I have to say my work is very much raster based so I never really had a feeling there is nothing groups and layer masks can't do... but this Knockout layer technique opens up for an amazing range of possibilities... thank you so much for sharing this... I discovered your channel yesterday, you are an amazing teacher and your knowledge really inspires me. RESPECT!

Jaw-droppingly effective and controllable. Thank you for posting this outstanding tutorial. Not only are the conceptual tools you show us life changing for workflow and creativity : the videos are crafted superbly, create maximum clarity as to what we need to be doing/focusing on in the Photoshop workspace.

I am so amazed about your commitment and professionalism of all the tutorials you present on your channel. Impecable, and despite of how fast your tutorials might be on video, they are very easy to understand, but still you take time to write all the instructions on your webpage just in case people need to go slower...and all for free!!!. Thanks soooooo much for your great work Brady

I’ve been using knockout masks for a while (mostly for live text mask), but this video has taken it to another level. Also love the high pass nugget at the end. Thank you!

Awesome tutorial!! Once again, you amaze us with your in depth knowledge of Photoshop! Thank you Sensei, always learning!

OMG! Each of your tutorials feels like learning photoshop again!! after 10+ years in design, feels great discovering new techniques as this one!!, I'm a selftaught designer and by that I mean I'm always trying to search for better ways to create and to improve my work by being like a curious kid with a new electronic pushing buttons, turning knobs and wondering what ifs on the multiple combinations of variables that photoshop gives, and I've never knew this setting. Thanks a lot for your videos, each one is a masterclass!!

I've used PS since the original Beta and never saw these techniques. I need to rewatch this. Thanks!

Seriously your channel has really helped me grow VASTLY in such a short amount of time because of how well you explain them. Sure it may take me several tries step by step, but ultimately end up executing the design and adding my own flare to them. Has really helped with my designs with clients for my business. I very much appreciate you!

This video felt like a Magician showing how he hides his cards o_o ... I can't believe how many things I learned within 10 minutes. Great job!!

Can't think of anything to add that hasn't already been said about this tutorial and everything Brady and his team has provided. Absolutely top notch content. Thanks guys you just earnt another Patreon supporter.

Oh my God, I love you! I only had a small understanding of what a Knockout layer is and how it works, but I never thought of it as a mask layer the same way I do with masks themselves and this was a legitimate mind blowing moment because it solves a issue I was having with Photoshop for some time now! Thank you so much!

Super useful!!! Thank you.

Once again, brilliant...What I love about Texturelabs/Brady's Ps video tutorials are that you are learning techniques and methods that you can actually use on a regular basis in you work, not things that are basically just a gimmick/fad..No, these are the things you can use in your regular workflow, that do have an intrinsic value..great stuff!

I've always thought there should be a way to have smart objects as masks, and now I've learned that there is. Brady, thank you so much for all the amazing material you put out.

Mind blown!! 😮 I can't believe that after using Photoshop for over 20 years there are still handy features I hadn't understood the usefulness of. Thank you so much Brady for bringing all these awesome features to light! 🤩👍👍

Yess another texturelabs video!

Thank you, Brady. I have been working recently with complicated layer masks and have been frustrated with the limitations. In the back of my mind I had hoped Adobe would come up with some updates to make things easier. This tutorial has solved the problems.

More than 20 years using Photoshop and I´m always learning a lot with tutorials like this. Awesome. Thank you!

I've been using photoshop for over 20 years, and continuously learn new stuff from the videos you put out. Thank you!

I’ve been using PS for 20yrs and this has just blown my mind. Absolutely amazing! 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

I've been using Photoshop since version 3 and I never knew this was an option, yet was something I always wished I could do. Smart object masks will change my workflow forever.

Its been a while since I have an OMG moment with a Photoshop tutorial. This technique opened up so many possibilities for me. Thank you so much.

This is one of the few channels i'm subscribed with the notification bell turned on! Everytime a texturelabs thumbnail appears on my phone its one of the best feelings ever ... like a brief surprise on your day.

Dude. What! I've been using Photoshop professionally since 2000 and I always learn something useful in these videos.

As a Designer Myself i may have watched like a ton of Ps tutorials by now but the Quality Content this guy provides is something else.!!! Thank u soo much man. This is really inspiring.

I can't describe how amazingly useful your tutorials are. It doesn't make sense, you can't be that amazing we don't deserve you

This is mindblowing! Thank you! ♥

You continue to blow my mind!

This is perfect, I can see this simplicity of work flow that this allows when compared to masking. One of my pet peeves about masking, is exactly what you were saying, the limitations of quality and freedom to change it to something else. Thank you for making this video

I know, you've taught . It ans so much to so many people, you are helping us pursue our dreams! Love from Sweden

This just opened the door to so many creative ideas, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

AMAZING! I'm going to start using knockouts!

I am consistently amazed by the things you teach me, having already been using photoshop for more than a decade. I don't even need to know the topic any more, Texturelabs has a new video? I am going to watch it. My hat is off to you sir.

You are a legend! I watched all of your tutorials and never did I not learn a trick that I now use in my everyday workflows. Thanks!

soooooo helpful, thank you TextureLabs!!!

THIS VIDEO RIGHT HERE JUST BLEW MY FREAKING MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 months ago I did not understand what this video was... But now it all feels right... Thank you Brady

Immaculate presentation, and flawless techniques. This is why I always come back to this channel.

Awh man, if i had known this before .... It would have saved me so much time. What an awesome tutorial! Your channel inspire me to learn and do more photoshop, desing and image editing. Please keep up with the good content as always!

AMAZING ! A non stop learning here... Thank you Brady.

Just brilliant, yet again.

Absolutely Amazing! All the videos are a banger!

Love learning new stuff! Thank you!

Mind Blown! Completely different approach than what I'm used to, and after seeing it... Wow! Thank you so much for putting this together in such a concise and fantastic way!

I can't believe such an intuitive feature is hidden so unintuitively. When I started with Photoshop, I often wanted to cut out a shape from a one layer out of another layer, ideally while preserving that shape as a vector object so I can continue to reshape it if necessary. Naturally, I was directed to using masks, but they seemed so restrictive. Why can I only add one layer mask and one vector mask? Why can't i use a vector mask on a vector layer? I kind of hated it. But lo and behold, knockout layers - exactly the thing I was looking for with all the flexbility I was hoping for. You can add 35 knockout layers to a single target layer if you wanted to, easily toggle any of them while their content can be literally anything. My god, the QoL improvement. Thanks a lot!

I kid you not I used to use this technique back when I was a kid in the early 2000s and completely forgot about it. I mean adobe used to have it as literally "knock-out" layer. I used to use it on text with an image fill. The new versions I guess kind of made me forget this way and how it's properties worked this way as independent and not rasterized. DAMN!! Thank you soooo much, I'm glad I subscribed to you years ago ‼👍

After 25+ years of using Photoshop, it's really hard to learn something new... but you just made that happen. Nicely done, and thank you!!

OMG! This tutorial was so helpful that I can’t even find words to describe how much this is going to revolutionize my workflow.

Outstanding... as always... Like I say it before, many times in your channel, a complete different level of tutorials and techniques. Thanks...!

Great stuff, thank you! So glad I watched this on a whim.

I've been using this program for a while now and after any of your tutorial i feel like I just installed it. Great work man you really make me love and understand my work better.

can't stop learning things from you its crazy thank you !!

WOW - finally I understand this - I've been trying to get it to work for literally YEARS!!! Brilliant video

Just Brilliant! I was aware of knockout layers but sorta just messed around with them once,so they didn’t stick in my workflow. With your tutorial now, I’m eager to revisit them! Thanks again 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Just Incredible. Thanks.

WOW! Thank you! I can't wait to hear more about the high pass blending element that you referred to at 8:30 in the video.

Amazing! absolutely adding this to my everyday workflow.

Top notch! As usual. Excellent! Thanks!

Fascinating!

You are the gold standard when it comes to online tutorials 🙌

This is amazing, thank you so much for everything you publish!

That was incredible. Thank you!

So many excellent little tips in your videos. Thank you.

Sooo cool. Love it. This method just opened up a whole new world to me. Thanks for this super detailed explanation about knockout layers. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Wow I just learned so much in one video. Thank you! I will rewatch this a couple of times, but definitely adding this to my daily workflow.

wow, again a new door into a completely new galaxy of ps - endless possibilities! thanks for sharing, very well explained, too!

Thank you Brady for bringing new and creative ways to use Photoshop. Very much appreciated!

This is pretty cool! Opens up a whole new world of possibilities for me.

This is beyond Magic, like Groovy 🌴🌴

Thanks bro finally someone who isn't posting malware or fake stuff, you deserve my subscribe!

Amazing! Having been doing follow ups of the new features in Photoshop. So basically, this is quite be for me. Thank you for sharing.

GAME CHANGING! 🔥

You're a genius. I always learn new tricks in each of your videos.

This is crazy. I didn’t even know there was such powerful tool. It’s gonna make life so much easier. THANK YOU SO MUCH ❤️

just amazing ! thank you

Thank you very much Brady, for sharing these valuable techniques! Awesome indeed. ❤️

Man, I was just a few weeks ago trying to figure out how to use a smart object as a mask and couldn't get the result I wanted, without layer masks. Now with this explanation I understand the knockout option better. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!