The HUD panels

Each panel is summoned by holding its shortcut and is applied on release. All panels appear centered on the mouse cursor and share a unified look and sizing.

Panel	Default shortcut	What it does
Opacity	Alt+A	Sets Brush or Eraser opacity (depends which tool is active) It can also change the active layer’s opacity when the Move tool is active.
Flow	Alt+Z	Sets Brush or Eraser flow (depends which tool is active)
Multi-mode color slider	Alt+B	Adjust the foreground color along RGB, HSB or LAB channels.
Color wheel	Alt+C	Pick a hue and shade from a color wheel + value/saturation square.
Color variation	Alt+V	Opens the per-stroke color jitter panel. Set the amount per channel and the color space (RGB / HSB / LAB), and switch the feature ON/OFF.
Variation on/off	Alt+X	Toggles color variation without opening the panel. A small toast at the cursor (e.g. LABv ON) confirms the new state, blue for ON, gray for OFF.

Color variation

Blask uses it’s own color variation system, that runs independently of Photoshop. It is advised to turn off Photoshop Color Dynamics in the Brush Settings panel. ON/OFF button in the Color variation sliders as well as Variation on/off shortcut toggles Blask internal system. It’s does not affect Color Dynamics state in Photoshop panel.

Notes on individual panels:

• Opacity & Flow - with the Brush or Eraser tool active, they set tool’s opacity and flow. In addition, when the Move tool is active, the Opacity panel adjusts the active layer’s opacity instead. These sliders can be adjusted without any pointer clicks, just by dragging mouse left or right.
• Color wheel - when you open it, the currently selected color sits directly under the cursor so you start from where you are. Right-click and hold after opening lets you sample a shade from the hue wheel.
• Color variation - Turn it on (the panel’s ON switch, or Alt+C from anywhere) and every stroke is painted with a slightly varied color (configurable amount and color space: HSB, RGB, or LAB) for organic, non-flat coverage. (See Known limitations for more details.)

Plugin not running?

If you press a panel shortcut while the Photoshop plugin isn’t connected, a small warning appears at the cursor instead: “Blask Photoshop plugin is not running”, with a help link. Open Plugins → Blask Plugin in Photoshop and make sure its banner says Connected. See Troubleshooting.