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Masking shapes or text using shapes.

Quick reference

Masking Basics

Masking shapes or text using shapes.

When to use

Masks in Illustrator can be used to reveal or hide certain parts of a shape or an object. You could use a mask if you wanted to create a shape that is only visible inside of some text or another shape.

Instructions

  • Begin by opening the Masking Basics - Exercise.ai file
  • Grab your Rectangle Tool (M) and draw out a rectangle that covers the top half of the word 'Mask' in the Illustrator document.
  • Use your Selection Tool (V) to select both the rectangle and the text simultaneously.
  • With both objects selected, go to the Object Menu and select Clipping Mask>Make from the list.
  • You will now see that your text is only visible inside of the area of the rectangle that we had just created.
  • Release the mask by returning to the Object Menu and choosing Clipping Mask>Release. 
  • Upon releasing a Clipping Mask, the original shape will now by invisible, although you can still select it with either of your selection tools to apply a fill or a stroke so that it can be seen.
  • Grab your text again, and now place it on top of the geometric square pattern below in the exercise file. 
  • Use your Selection Tool (V) to select both the text and the square group below.
  • Return to the Object Menu and choose Clipping Mask>Make from the list.
  • You will now see that your text has been used as a mask for the shapes below. 

Hints

  • The keyboard shortcut for applying a Clipping Mask is Command/Ctrl+7 on the keyboard.
  • You can use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to modify a part of the mask or the whole mask to reveal either more or less of the text.
  • You can also use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move or edit the contents inside of the Clipping Mask.
  • If you want to group several shapes together to use them as a mask you can do so by selecting them and then pressing Command/Ctrl+G or by going to the Object Menu and choosing the 'Group' option.

 

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  • 00:04 Now I've shown you guys kind of how the Pathfinder works,
  • 00:07 along with the Shapebuilder tool.
  • 00:09 And I mentioned that in the Pathfinder that one of the options called the Crop
  • 00:13 tool, kinda has a similar effect as a mask, but
  • 00:15 that brings us to our next point here.
  • 00:17 And that tool doesn't exactly take the place of the mask,
  • 00:21 even though it kinda works in a similar way.
  • 00:24 We do still actually have the ability to use masks in Adobe Illustrator, even
  • 00:27 though they're different from the way that masks work in a program like Photoshop.
  • 00:32 So the way that they work in Illustrator is basically the same idea, but
  • 00:37 we use them a little bit differently.
  • 00:40 So in this example, let´s say that I wanted to mask just part of this text.
  • 00:44 Well, I would need to first create the shape that I wanted to use as a mask.
  • 00:48 And to do that, I've just drawn out a quick rectangle.
  • 00:51 Now I´m going to place it on the top of my text.
  • 00:54 From there I can hold down the Shift key and
  • 00:56 click on my text, and now we're gonna come up to the Object menu, and
  • 01:00 come all the way to the bottom where it says Clipping Mask, and then choose Make.
  • 01:04 And now when I do that, I'm basically just masking a text inside of my rectangle.
  • 01:10 And if I wanted to release the mask, I could press Cmd + Option 7, or I
  • 01:15 can come back up to the Object menu, come to Clipping Mask, then choose Release.
  • 01:20 So that's a basic idea of how a clipping mask works.
  • 01:24 And if I had a shape, for
  • 01:25 example, that I wanted to use as a mask, it'd work in the same way.
  • 01:29 The short cut is Cmd + 7 and
  • 01:31 that will basically allow me to use whichever shape is on top as the mask.
  • 01:36 So you could see how easy it is to just kind of use clipping masks.
  • 01:40 Now, once you've created a mask, you can still go in and
  • 01:43 kind of edit the contents if you're masking something like type.
  • 01:47 So you can change it.
  • 01:49 Or you can actually change the shape of the mask itself
  • 01:51 by using the Direct Selection Tool, and selecting the points.
  • 01:55 It'll still allow you to manipulate those paths, okay?
  • 02:00 And if I just delete it, then I can just get rid of that mask all together.
  • 02:04 So the masks work in a similar way, but they are called clipping masks, and
  • 02:09 you do have to create a shape first.
  • 02:11 Now if I wanted to actually use this text as a mask, I can do that too.
  • 02:17 So let's say that I had a couple of shapes here.
  • 02:19 I'm just gonna create some boxes in different sizes and different weights and
  • 02:24 things like that, just so that I can show this to you guys really quick.
  • 02:29 Okay, and maybe I'll change the weight of a few of them just for the heck of it,
  • 02:34 all right, just because I have a little bit of variety there.
  • 02:41 Okay, so let's say I take these shapes, duplicate it,
  • 02:45 all good, and now I can group them together by pressing Cmd+G.
  • 02:50 Now if I put my text layer on top of these shapes, I can select the shapes and
  • 02:55 press Cmd+7, and that way I'll be able to actually use my text as a mask itself.
  • 03:01 So it really doesn't matter whether you have text or a shape,
  • 03:04 you can use either one as a clipping mask in Adobe Illustrator.

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