Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 187)

180 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Painting
You can move masks between Photoshop and Illustrator. Opacity masks in Illustrator convert to layer masks in
Photoshop, and vice versa.
Note: You cannot enter isolation mode when working in mask-editing mode, or vice versa.
For a video on working with opacity masks, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0056 .
See also
“ Printing and saving transparent artwork ” on page 421
“ Targeting items for appearance attributes ” on page 350
Create an opacity mask
1 Select a single object or group, or target a layer in the Layers panel.
2 Open the Transparency panel and, if necessary, choose Show Options from the panel menu to see the thumbnail
images.
3 Double-click directly to the right of the thumbnail in the Transparency panel.
An empty mask is created and Illustrator automatically enters mask-editing mode
4 Use the drawing tools to draw a mask shape.
5 Click the masked artwork’s thumbnail (left thumbnail) in the Transparency panel to exit mask-editing mode.
Note: The Clip option sets the mask background to black. Therefore, black objects, such as black type, used to create an
opacity mask with the Clip option selected will not be visible. To see the objects, use a different color or deselect the Clip
option.
Convert an existing object into an opacity mask
❖ Select at least two objects or groups, and choose Make Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel menu. The
topmost selected object or group is used as the mask.
Edit a masking object
You can edit a masking object to change the shape or transparency of the mask.
1 Click the masking object’s thumbnail (right thumbnail) in the Transparency panel.
2 Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the mask thumbnail to hide all other artwork in the document
window. (If the thumbnails aren’t visible, choose Show Thumbnails from the panel menu.)
3 Use any of the Illustrator editing tools and techniques to edit the mask.
4 Click the masked artwork’s thumbnail (left thumbnail) in the Transparency panel to exit mask-editing mode.
Unlink or relink an opacity mask
• To unlink a mask, target the masked artwork in the Layers panel, and then click the link symbol between the
thumbnails in the Transparency panel. Alternatively, select Unlink Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel
menu.
The masking object is locked in position and size, and the masked objects can be moved and resized independently of
the mask.
• To relink a mask, target the masked artwork in the Layers panel, and then click the area between the thumbnails in
the Transparency panel. Alternatively, select Link Opacity Mask from the Transparency panel menu.