I'm not sure if this is the right place for asking questions,
but I figured it's better than asking in the developer mailing
list.
1. Is there a "show quick mask" feature for showing masks?
I know Gimp has a "Show quick mask" feature which
shows what you have (and haven't) selected by displaying a red
overlay over your image, allowing you to add to or subtract
from a selection by using the paintbrush, but I haven't found
a similar feature for showing masks.
Photoshop has this feature (it's called 'reveal mask' I
think) and it basically just shows a red overlay of your mask
on your image so that, similar to the quick mask feature in
Gimp, you can see where you have and haven't masked through.
(I don't own Photoshop so I'm not sure if the red overlay
shows the opacity with which you've masked through or whether
or not you can edit the mask when it's being shown as a red
overlay.)
2. Is there a command for showing the layer underneath the
current layer I'm working on?
This is another feature that I've seen Photoshop has that
is helpful for blending multiple exposures (and lots of
things, really).
Basically it's just a keyboard shortcut for showing the
layer underneath your current when you hold down a certain
keyboard command (it's not something you toggle since it's
meant for quickly viewing what's on the layer underneath your
current one).
I know I can press space bar to show or hide the layer I'm
currently working on, but I can't do that unless I focus into
the layers dialogue first. It'd be nice if I could activate
that functionality from anywhere, regardless of whether I'm
focused on the layers dialogue.
* * *
Do either of these features exist in
Gimp?
If not, where can I make suggestions about them?
Disclosure: neither of these are original ideas
from me. I saw these features when watching a video of someone
using Photoshop and then wondered if I could do the same thing
in Gimp.