4 Replies Latest reply: Aug 3, 2011 4:01 PM by Monika Gause RSS

    Clipping Masks and Grouping

    Rodieck Community Member

      I'm trying to created a merry-go-round.  I'm creating each animal separately and then combining them.  By far the most complex animal is the zebra.  I've created the stripes by drawing lines which go outside the zebra, adjusing them using the Widths tool, and then -- with the wonderful help of the forum, created a clipping mask of the zebra shape.  All well and good.  Now I'd like to group al the elements so I can treat the zebra as one object among others.  First, I make a group of the clipping mask and the stripes.  All well and good so far.

      before grouping, but stripes and clipping mask are grouped.JPG

       

      But now when I group all the elements, the clipping effect goes away, and the stripes extend past the zebra.  I can see that the clipping mask is still there, but the effect of the clipping mask is gone.

       

      zebra after grouping.JPG

      Not so good.

       

      (Note: the same thing happens if I I don't make a group of the clipping mask and the stripes first.)

       

      Frustrated (72-year) old-dog fearing she is too getting too old to learn all the new tricks.

        • 1. Re: Clipping Masks and Grouping
          Mike Gondek2 Community Member

          Illustrator in CS4 changed how masks works, and this type of problem has begun to surface. An aggravating part I find is that an undo often does not put the file back to the previous state, when it comes to masks.

           

          Hard to pinpoint exactly what is causing this to happen. Hope this advice will be useful:

          • After making a mask the result automatically creates a group. When you want to your masked grouped with other elements, make sure to use the solid arrow tool so you are selecting entire group, and watch the layers palette, as the colored dots will tell you waht layers your selections are coming from.
          • When running into a problem, you can often fix them br dragging the mask above the items you want inside the mask in the layers palette, by dragging the colored dots at the right of the layer name.
          • When you want to edit the contents of a mask, there is a edit contents button you want to become familiar with. That is the second button after the word group in the screenshot below. Keep an eye on what you have selected, that word group in this case confirms that I had an entire masked group selected, and not just the contents.
          • I also use the hide command to hide exactly what I need, then I unhide all, and make a group or mask from the recently unhidden elements. 

          Picture 3.png

           

          Sorry my reply could not be more concise, but you bring a good question that is not an easy answer.

          • 2. Re: Clipping Masks and Grouping
            Monika Gause CommunityMVP

            There are two types of clipping masks. One is object based, it automatically creates a group. The second one is a layer based mask. This one isn't a group, but instead clips all objects on a particular layer.

             

            That second one is the type you created. But it cannot be contained in another group.

             

            What you need to do is create an object based clipping mask instead (don't worry you can use the same objects you already have. You only need to use the command Object > Clipping mask > Make instead of the button in the layer panel.

            • 3. Re: Clipping Masks and Grouping
              Rodieck Community Member

              Thank you very much, Monica -- your approach has fixed my problem.  It may have also given me a clue as to "when to use a menu instead of a panel?" question which has been eluding me for some time.

               

              Mike, you have given me a lot of useful info as well, and I have saved it to ponder further.

               

              Regards,

              Lyell

              • 4. Re: Clipping Masks and Grouping
                Monika Gause CommunityMVP

                You're welcome. Nice zebra btw.