diff --git a/SessionCreator.cpp b/SessionCreator.cpp
index 8817894..b2fe67c 100644
--- a/SessionCreator.cpp
+++ b/SessionCreator.cpp
@@ -544,6 +544,40 @@ void SessionLoader::XMLToSourcecore( tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml, SourceCore &s)
 
 }
 
+FrameBufferImage *SessionLoader::XMLToImage(tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml)
+{
+    FrameBufferImage *i = nullptr;
+
+    if (xml != nullptr){
+        // if there is an Image mask stored
+        XMLElement* imageNode = xml->FirstChildElement("Image");
+        if (imageNode) {
+            // if there is an internal array of data
+            XMLElement* array = imageNode->FirstChildElement("array");
+            if (array) {
+                // create a temporary jpeg with size of the array
+                FrameBufferImage::jpegBuffer jpgimg;
+                array->QueryUnsignedAttribute("len", &jpgimg.len);
+                // ok, we got a size of data to load
+                if (jpgimg.len>0) {
+                    // allocate jpeg buffer
+                    jpgimg.buffer = (unsigned char*) malloc(jpgimg.len);
+                    // actual decoding of array
+                    if (XMLElementDecodeArray(array, jpgimg.buffer, jpgimg.len) ) {
+                        // create and set the image from jpeg
+                        i = new FrameBufferImage(jpgimg);
+                    }
+                    // free temporary buffer
+                    if (jpgimg.buffer)
+                        free(jpgimg.buffer);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    return i;
+}
+
 void SessionLoader::visit(Node &n)
 {
     XMLToNode(xmlCurrent_, n);
@@ -713,29 +747,8 @@ void SessionLoader::visit (Source& s)
     if (xmlCurrent_)  {
         // read the mask shader attributes
         s.maskShader()->accept(*this);
-        // if there is an Image mask stored
-        XMLElement* imageNode = xmlCurrent_->FirstChildElement("Image");
-        if (imageNode) {
-            // if there is an internal array of data
-            XMLElement* array = imageNode->FirstChildElement("array");
-            if (array) {
-                // create a temporary jpeg with size of the array
-                FrameBufferImage::jpegBuffer jpgimg;
-                array->QueryUnsignedAttribute("len", &jpgimg.len);
-                // ok, we got a size of data to load
-                if (jpgimg.len>0) {
-                    // allocate jpeg buffer
-                    jpgimg.buffer = (unsigned char*) malloc(jpgimg.len);
-                    // actual decoding of array
-                    if (XMLElementDecodeArray(array, jpgimg.buffer, jpgimg.len) )
-                        // create and set the image from jpeg
-                        s.setMask(new FrameBufferImage(jpgimg));
-                    // free temporary buffer
-                    if (jpgimg.buffer)
-                        free(jpgimg.buffer);
-                }
-            }
-        }
+        // set the mask from jpeg
+        s.setMask( SessionLoader::XMLToImage(xmlCurrent_) );
     }
 
     xmlCurrent_ = sourceNode->FirstChildElement("ImageProcessing");
diff --git a/SessionCreator.h b/SessionCreator.h
index db36b08..81154e8 100644
--- a/SessionCreator.h
+++ b/SessionCreator.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #include "SourceList.h"
 
 class Session;
-
+class FrameBufferImage;
 
 class SessionLoader : public Visitor {
 
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ public:
     void visit (NetworkSource& s) override;
 
     static void XMLToNode(tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml, Node &n);    
-    static void XMLToSourcecore( tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml, SourceCore &s);
+    static void XMLToSourcecore(tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml, SourceCore &s);
+    static FrameBufferImage *XMLToImage(tinyxml2::XMLElement *xml);
 
 protected:
     // result created session
diff --git a/SessionVisitor.cpp b/SessionVisitor.cpp
index c735b33..70f8eb4 100644
--- a/SessionVisitor.cpp
+++ b/SessionVisitor.cpp
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ SessionVisitor::SessionVisitor(tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc,
         xmlDoc_ = doc;
 }
 
-tinyxml2::XMLElement *SessionVisitor::NodeToXML(Node &n, tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc)
+XMLElement *SessionVisitor::NodeToXML(Node &n, XMLDocument *doc)
 {
     XMLElement *newelement = doc->NewElement("Node");
     newelement->SetAttribute("visible", n.visible_);
@@ -145,6 +145,29 @@ tinyxml2::XMLElement *SessionVisitor::NodeToXML(Node &n, tinyxml2::XMLDocument *
     return newelement;
 }
 
+
+XMLElement *SessionVisitor::ImageToXML(FrameBufferImage *img, XMLDocument *doc)
+{
+    XMLElement *imageelement = nullptr;
+    if (img != nullptr) {
+        // get the jpeg encoded buffer
+        FrameBufferImage::jpegBuffer jpgimg = img->getJpeg();
+        if (jpgimg.buffer != nullptr) {
+            // fill the xml array with jpeg buffer
+            XMLElement *array = XMLElementEncodeArray(doc, jpgimg.buffer, jpgimg.len);
+            // free the buffer
+            free(jpgimg.buffer);
+            // if we could create the array
+            if (array) {
+                // create an Image node to store the mask image
+                imageelement = doc->NewElement("Image");
+                imageelement->InsertEndChild(array);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return imageelement;
+}
+
 void SessionVisitor::visit(Node &n)
 {
     XMLElement *newelement = NodeToXML(n, xmlDoc_);
@@ -449,24 +472,9 @@ void SessionVisitor::visit (Source& s)
     // if we are saving a pain mask
     if (s.maskShader()->mode == MaskShader::PAINT) {
         // get the mask previously stored
-        FrameBufferImage *img = s.getMask();
-        if (img != nullptr) {
-            // get the jpeg encoded buffer
-            FrameBufferImage::jpegBuffer jpgimg = img->getJpeg();
-            if (jpgimg.buffer != nullptr) {
-                // fill the xml array with jpeg buffer
-                XMLElement *array = XMLElementEncodeArray(xmlDoc_, jpgimg.buffer, jpgimg.len);
-                // free the buffer
-                free(jpgimg.buffer);
-                // if we could create the array
-                if (array) {
-                    // create an Image node to store the mask image
-                    XMLElement *imageelement = xmlDoc_->NewElement("Image");
-                    imageelement->InsertEndChild(array);
-                    xmlCurrent_->InsertEndChild(imageelement);
-                }
-            }
-        }
+        XMLElement *imageelement = SessionVisitor::ImageToXML(s.getMask(), xmlDoc_);
+        if (imageelement)
+            xmlCurrent_->InsertEndChild(imageelement);
     }
 
     xmlCurrent_ = xmlDoc_->NewElement( "ImageProcessing" );
diff --git a/SessionVisitor.h b/SessionVisitor.h
index e4653e1..9dc249a 100644
--- a/SessionVisitor.h
+++ b/SessionVisitor.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "SourceList.h"
 
 class Session;
+class FrameBufferImage;
 
 class SessionVisitor : public Visitor {
 
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ public:
 
 protected:
     static tinyxml2::XMLElement *NodeToXML(Node &n, tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc);
+    static tinyxml2::XMLElement *ImageToXML(FrameBufferImage *img, tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc);
 };
 
 #endif // XMLVISITOR_H