Yikes! I should do a search more often.

Yesterday's post will clear some of this up because the new tutorials explain it (for P6). Painter 5.x worked somewhat differently.

Anytime you paint in a tranparent layer, the mask is "built-in". That makes it very easy to use because there's no selection tools involved.

The only thing you have to plan for is halos or those pesky white fringes. They happen because the layer actually has a background color you don't see. With Photoshop and PSP, it's the secondary or background color on the Colors palette. With Painter, it's the default "Paper Color ." So long as those colors are made to match the layer image, you avoid fringes.

As for saving P6 layer masks, you have two options. First, you can use Drop and Select from the Layers menu, then use Save Selection to save the mask.

The other option is to select the layer mask on the Mask palette and choose Copy Mask from the Mask menu. Oddly, Painter 6 won't let you save the existing layer mask like PS will. So, you have to Copy Mask and choose New. Painter will let you load and save that one.

Let me know if you need more info. Hope this is helpful.