Unmasking

1) Both Flmask and Gmask allow you to automatically select a mask by double-clicking on the masked area.

• If this doesn't work, you can also drag your mouse over the area, but be careful to highlight the mask correctly or else unmasking won't work.

2) There are several advantages of double-clicking over dragging the mouse to highlight the mask.

• Double-clicking is fast.
• It allows you to handle masks that are not made of standard blocks.
• It allows you to handle masks that are out of alignment with the frame grid.

3) Occasionally, you might see a mask that was not made using the standard 8 x 8 pixel block sizes.

• This usually happens because of a resize to the image.
• It could also be because the masker had a strange sense of humor. ;)
• In either case, when you drag the mouse to highlight an area, both Flmask and Gmask will usually assume that you are selecting everything in 8 x 8 blocks.
• So, this means that if the mask area is for some reason not made up of 8 x 8 chunks, highlighting will probably not select the area correctly.
• Fortunately, double-clicking usually prevents this problem, though you could also manually highlight the area.
• If double-clicking does not work, see #6.

4) Occasionally, you might see a mask that is out of alignment with the frame grid.

• This normally happens only when an image may be cropped/cut after the image has been masked.
• Double-clicking also avoids this problem, though you could also manually highlight the area.

5) There is one significant disadvantages of double-clicking.

• Double-clicking occasionally won't select the correct area.

6) If double-clicking doesn't correctly select the area and the mask was not made using the standard 8x8 grid, then you'll have to manually select the area using a 1x1 grid.

• If this doesn't work or is too dificult to do, I would personally try to find the original of the picture elsewhere.
• This is because if you ever see an image masked on the web, there's a very good chance that you can find it unmasked in news (often at a higher quality).
• The disadvantage is of course that you'll have to be patient and wait for someone to post it.

For blue masks, use the Q0 mask button. If the image ends up flipped, both Flmask and Gmask have specials button which will flip the highlighted portion either vertically or horizontally.

Four cases when the Q0 button won't work for blue masks

1) Only a horiz. or vert. pixellation was applied.

2) More than one mask was applied.

3) The mask is a Fl mask, not a Q0 mask.

4) It is not a standard mask.

Purple masks require a password known as a "CP" (abbreviation for Code Pattern).

1) If you use Flmask, you can determine the password by using CPpopup.

• A link to download this software is provided later in this FAQ.

2) If you use Gmask, then Gmask will automatically provide you with the CP if possible when you press the CP button.

• Just like Cppopup, Gmask won't always be able to determine the CP (see notes later in this FAQ)
• In such a case, you can often ask around and find out the CP code.

3) If you have a Macintosh, then I'm not too sure what you're supposed to use yet. You can try out Uchinokiller or Mozkiller and see if that helps.

• If you do try this out, please tell me how it works out so I can inform future users.

In summary, there are three general ways to determine a CP for a page:

• The way is to use a program like CPpopup or Gmask. I've heard that other programs like Neko and Purple Panties work as well, but I haven't tested them out much.
• The second way is to guess. Very often the CP is part of the website's name or url.
• The third way is to ask around. Webmasters don't usually put masks on an image unless they intend for other people to unmask them. So, someone out there will probably know if all else fails. ;)

Unfortunately, Gmask and CPpopup will not always be able to provide you with the CP (or it might only give you only part of the CP). Personally, I suggest looking for that image elsewhere (like in the newsgroups). However, if you are persistent, you'll probably be most sucessful by asking around. I make another note of this later on in this FAQ.

As I understand it, when Gmask or CPpopup attempts to determine the CP for a CP mask, all they do is look in the header of the jpeg file for the information. If this information is not in the header, Gmask and CPpopup will not be able to determine the CP.

For this reason, if someone approaches you with a magical program that will determine any CP better than Gmask or CPopup, they are probably lying. It has happened before (it was really a virus).

Sometimes if they are able to provide a portion of the CP, you can piece together the CP by repeating the process on other images from the same source. Slick Ron managed to do this for one particular set of images.

Green masks are not common but are worth mention. Usually it is a combination of two or more masks.

Actual example: a CP mask, then FL mask, and then Negative mask.

Another example: Q0 and then color rotation.

Note: It's possible for a mask that isn't green to fall into this category, but green is usually the most common.

Win masks are even less common than green masks. The reason why is because without practice, they are difficult to select correctly. So, be sure to experiment around if you intend on unmasking Win masks.

This is another very rare type of mask. Be careful about highlighting this correctly. If you have difficulty, try practicing by making Win masks yourself.

Fuzzy edges result from heavily modifying an image after masking.

• If after unmasking you see blue or purple 'fuzz' along the edges of the mask, it is for one of several reasons.
• One common reason is that the image was reduced (the image's quality was lowered in order to decrease the file size).
• Unless the pic is exceptionally rare, you can probably find it somewhere else.
• If it really was rare, the source would probably not fool around with jpg quality anyways.

Weaved lines result from masks that do not use the standard 8x8 pixel grid.

• If the unmasking leaves weaved lines on the image, the image was either resized or you did not select the area to mask properly.
• While you can sometimes remedy this manually, it's not always an easy thing to do (especially when it's a CP mask), and it's probably better to find another version of same pic if you do not succeed in a reasonable amount of time.

I would appreciate help from Mac users.

I haven't had a chance to test out the Mac versions of the programs presented here. So, I don't want to mislead anyone by providing incorrect information.
• I'm only putting in this FAQ what I'm fairly sure of, since I always test the information presented in the FAQs.
• I'm hoping that someone out there will be able to test out what Mac info I have and tell me the details so I can write them down.
• Specifically, I would like to know about the important differences between the Mac and PC versions of masking tools (as well as confirmation that the programs work for Mac).

Some marks are irreversable.

• A mark on an image that is one solid color is irreversable
• Another irreversable mark is a mark that is clearly blurred (an oxymoron?) =).

Be sure to highlight correctly.

• I should stress again the importance of highlighting the mask properly.
• On occasion the image will be cropped/cut so that the grid is out of alignment with the mask. In such a case, if you can't get it by double clicking, be very careful when you highlight it (using a 1x1 grid). When dragging the mouse to highlight, the top left corner is the most important point. The bottom right point of the mouse should end a single pixel *past* the bottom right of the mask itself (FLmask allows you to see pixels well).

CPpopup and Gmask will not always work.

• If CPpopup says "undecodable", then there isn't much you can do but ask around.
• In any case, if an image is masked, you will almost always be able to find an unmasked version of the same image elsewhere, usually at an even higher quality. This is because masked images are almost always found in websites, and when found in websites, the images tend to be reduced versions of the originals.
• In my experience, CPpopup and Gmask work the vast majority of the time (even though it might not seem like it psychologically).
• As mentioned before, if CPpopup tells you a CP that doesn't work, you might be able to figure out the CP still. 'Slick Ron' showed one way in archive 6. =)

Flmask supports jpeg and bmp file formats.

• If you have another format, you can often copy the image from another application and paste it into Flmask.
• Many people who save images as .art format have problems using Flmask. The problem is that you must save the image as a .jpg or .bmp format, because Flmask cannot open .art files.

Most Blue masks fall into this category and are known as Q0 masks. Usually a Q0 mask is a combination of a Negation, a hgl (horiz. glassy effect), and a vgl. If you ever find an image you cannot unmask, fool around with all the effects, including FL. That's how I learned all that I have written here.

This is a very rare type of mask. You can recognize it by the fact that its masking blocks appear much larger than the usual 8x8.

Sometimes new versions come out or links get broken, so if a link here doesn't work, see if you can search for it using a search engine like http://www.excite.com.

• Official download page
• ftp://ftp.vector.co.jp/pack/win95/art/graphics/edit/flmk301e.exe
• ftp://ftp.igat.com/pub/program/flmk301e.exe
• http://www.martec.net/isg/flmask/bin/flmk301e.exe
• http://www.igat.com/flmask/bin/flmk301e.exe
• http://www.vectro.com/viper/toolz/flmsk30e.exe (This is version 3.0 for those of you that want it...not that it would be easier to get a crack for this version or anything ;)

Win 3.1 English

Official download page
• ftp://ftp.vector.co.jp/pack/win31/art/graphics/edit/flmsk27e.exe
• ftp://ftp.igat.com/pub/program/flmsk27e.exe
• http://www.martec.net/isg/flmask/bin/flmsk27e.exe
• http://www.igat.com/flmask/bin/flmsk27e.exe

Win95 Japanese

• Official download page
• ftp://ftp.vector.co.jp/pack/win95/art/graphics/edit/flmk301j.exe
• ftp://ftp.igat.com/pub/program/flmk301j.exe

Win 3.1 Japanese

• Official download page
• ftp://ftp.vector.co.jp/pack/win31/art/graphics/edit/flmsk27j.exe

As always, these links were found through search engines, so if they don't work anymore, you should be able to find an updated link by searching (please also notify me of dead links so I can update them myself).

• http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~fwga3304/gmaskd.htm

Download

• Gmask Japanese (181 kb .lzh format)
• Gmask Japanese (209 kb self-extracting format)
• Gmask English (232 kb .lzh format)
• Gmask English (260 kb self-extracting format)
• Italian
• Chinese Add-on?
• http://www.vectro.com/viper/toolz/GMask.zip

Note: While the .lzh version requires the LHA extractor, the .exe is self-extracting.

The first two links are lzh files, so pkunzip won't open unless you get the lha addon. The reason I don't link to self-extracting executables is not that they aren't necessarily reliable links, just that I don't want to encourage people to run .exe files that they download since they can easily be viruses. If you're smart enough to know when a download is safe and when it isn't, then I assume you are knowledgeable enough to also know how to unzip .lzh files in the first place. ;)

As always, these links were found through search engines, so if they don't work anymore, you should be able to find an updated link by searching (please also notify me of dead links so I can update them myself).

• http://www.rr.iij4u.or.jp/~cosack/archive/cppopup102e.exe

A program similar to CPpopup

• http://www1.t3.rim.or.jp/~p-lolita/___/neko.zip (This link is scheduled for deactivation)

The thanks goes to the professor for putting this up. Unfortunately, I have not gotten it to work, and the instructions are in Japanese. ;)

Win 3.1 decoders

• ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/compress/zr7.zip
• ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win3/

Note: I have not yet tested this out myself, as this was posted by someone else, so if it works or does not work, please tell me so I can make a note of it here.

MS DOS decoder

• http://www.vector.co.jp/pack/dos/util/disk/image/dcpcp310.lzh

Note: I have not yet tested this out myself, as this was posted by someone else, so if it works or does not work, please tell me so I can make a note of it here.

Related page

I'm not sure, but Picpic and De-cp might also perform the same functions as Mozkiller.

• If one of these urls does not work, notify me so that I can update this FAQ. Usually the reason why links die out is because new versions of the programs come out.
• All URLs were found using the excite search engine and tested out. If you want to search for things yourself but have trouble with search engines, try FAQ 4. If I can do it, you can too. =)

The rest you'll have to do yourself. ;)

Most people I know rarely unmask images anymore. Often it is not worth the trouble. This is because you can often find better quality as well as higher quantity on newsgroups (even of the same images). In fact, Bluebird images are considered of such high quality that they are rarely ever masked, and so they typically appear either in newsgroups or on quality webpages (Bluebirds are scans of Japanese models, typically of the same quality and content as Playboy is in the US).

Then again, many casual surfers who do not use news will probably find unmasking to be very useful. ;)

-Ramses

I write these FAQs in hopes it will benefit and educate you, so as always, feel free to correct me and add your own suggestions. You may remain anonymous or allow me to credit you with the suggestion. Also feel free to add any short jokes or comments you want.