Alignment of Clipping masks broken

I have attached an example of the problem I've come across when aligning grouped clipping masks. The 2 sets are exactly the same, only the grouping order seems to be different, yet the bottom objects DO NOT ALIGN CORRECTLY. Why doesn't it and why hasn't this been addressed yet?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!? So they can charge another $2 000 to fix it in CS5?!?!?!!? It took me DAYS of troubleshooting and HOURS lost on workarounds before I got as far as having an understanding of why this sometimes happens and not other times. One of my printjobs ended up printed WRONG with alignment mistakes because of this, at first i thought it was my sloppyness and couldn't understand how i'd overlook such a basic alignment mistake, now i know it's the software I depend on for a living that let me down once more. Having state of the art software DOESN'T HELP IF I LOSE HOURS OF MY LIFE TO BUGGY BEHAVIOUR. I'm getting more and more frustrated with Adobe with every passing day, I wish Macromedia was still around.... :-(

Well, who told you that this particular bug will be fix on CS5. Maybe is scheduled to be fix on CS7, or CS8. How much money you have left?
My predictions are that CS5 will be free of any new bugs! (just like I predicted that CS3 was a winning version, Dang it!).
I am sure Adobe is reading this forum with great concern that you are loosing money trying to make this lousy version to work for you. I am sure your client will understand excuses. Isn't funny that your are working for the program instead the program working for you?
Adobe does not care, nor has provided a single update for the last 4 years. What assurance do you have that CS5 will be better or worse? If we stop buying its lousy versions, maybe, just maybe Adobe will change.... not!

Similar Messages

Is my clipping mask broken?

Hi all, I've followed like 5 tutorials and all I get is this annoying thing;
I started from this, I want to remove the lines that is out of the outline of the car
then I get this after highlighting both of them and make a clipping mask:
anyone knows what steps I should make to prevent this?

Watch this:

How to align layers without clipping masks?

Hi,
I would like to (left) align some layers that are made up of placed photos with clipping masks applied. When invoking the "left" align command Adobe Illustrator CS3 aligns everything bases on the invisible boundaries of the clipping masks instead of the desired results of the clipping masks themselves. See screenshot here: http://badtastic.com/temp/Picture%203.png
Is there a "smart" way to align these layers without Adobe Illustrator CS3 taking into consideration the invisible boundaries of the clipping masks?
Input appreciated.
Kind Regards / Alex

Hi Steve,
Hey, thanks for your tip :)
I managed to solve the problem by drilling down into the nested hierarchy and selecting only the clipping masks and successfully aligning those irrespective of their parent layers. Its also a bit laborious which makes one wish that there were the possibility / feature to not only select artwork based on "same" stroke / fills etc but even by similar layer names. If that had been possible, I could have easily selected one Clipping Mask and then selected all the others based on name similarity without having to unfold all the nested hierarchies to get to all the others one by one.
Anyway, thanks again.
Cheers / Alex

Illustrator clipping mask creating white fill?!!!

Hi all,
So basically i have designed the top of a paper plane and have completed the top design which i now want to clip into the template using the clipping mask tool. I have used it exactly how it is supposed to'
1. firstly getting my shape that i want to use to clip exactly how i want it
2. then getting my image which i want to place under my first shape to use the clipping mask with
3. align it in place and bring my "shape" to the front and image to the back
then using the selection tool i select all objects then click
objects> clipping mask> make
and for some reason it clips it but the image that i wastring to clip just becomes a white fill...
i have no idea how to fix this and its driving me crazy,, i cant find a soloution no matter how long i try to fix it or research it..
i have included some screenshots below

Hi thanks so much for that! yes i did as you asked and it seems to work if i complete a rectangle clipping mask! but as soon as i copy it over and try it with my original shape, it doesnt work.... i think there is something wrong with what i have created as i showed in my last screen shot, even when i try to create a fill for my shape that i have made and am trying to use for the clipping mask it doesnt fill,, even though t says it is "filled" pink however when i completed the rectangle it had a fill of white so i knew it was ontop and that it would work,,, which isnt really happening with my shape, as it doesnt have a fill even when it says it does

Clipping mask fail

Hi there, I have just received a poster back from the printer and have noticed the edge of the clipping mask of the artwork has printed. The graphics consisted of an image (placed as a CMYK tiff) and plain vector graphics over the top in some parts. I had a white rectangle (brought to the front) running from left to right (to edge of page) over the image, then I grouped the all the elements (white rectange still at front) and created a clipping mask (a rounded corner rectangle) about 1cm within the borders of the page to keep it all tidy. Where the white rectangle running over the image and the border of the poster come together there is a hairline of colour of the image. From the full view of the page I could see the line but when I zoomed in uber close it disappeared (same in the PDF). I have seen things appear a bit skewed in high res PDFs before even when you know they are aligned correctly so I didn't worry about it sure it was just previewing incorrectly. Anyhoo! hope I have explained this Ok... can anyone suggest why it happened or how to create the artwork correctly. Cheers, Sarah

I think I know what you're talking about. A little of the image leaked past the white box.
Shouldn't have caused a problem, but it did. Sorry about that.
I simulated your problem. When I did the following, none of the image showed past the white box, in Illustrator or in Acrobat:
1. Draw a big box surrounding the artwork
2. Select this and the white box, make a compound path
3. Select this and the image, make clipping mask.
4. Now bring your round corner rectangle to the front.
5. Select all, make clipping mask.
Hope this helps

Plea from technical artist: CS5 clipping mask content selection as a preference...

I just have to weigh in on this.
I've been trying to adjust to CS5, from CS3, since November. It's now March.
My job involves taking apart and editing complex art created by other people... who have all different ways of working. The inability to see what a clipping mask contains when I click on it, AND the inability to edit the contents unless I first locate the perimeter of the mask and/or switch tools, has me working "blind". It's become a real battle to figure out how the previous artist set things up.
I've found workaround methods, but they're just that. I seem to be doing a lot more clicking, double clicking and tool switching, all of which are that much harder on hands that do this for 10 hours a day.
I need to be able to click on an element and know if it is part of a mask, what other additional elements that mask contains, whether the perimeter of the mask is aligned correctly, etc.
PLEASE make it a preference setting to handle masks and mask content selection the old way. When I'm building new art, I'll be happy to work the CS5 way. When I'm trying to figure out what someone else has done... please don't make me work harder than I already do...
Thanks.

Larry (et al),
[Please be assured...I've invested HOURS trying to get this clipping mask to work before requesting help on this forum.]
The exact same image as per my prior post appears when the file is saved:
Illustrator --> Save As --> PDF
Illustrator --> Export --> JPEG (with and without Artboards)
Illustrator --> Export --> PNG(with and without Artboards)EXCEPT: One PNG trial with "Transparency" selected (turned ON) did not have a white background but did have the unwanted 90-degree corners.
Illustrator --> Save for Web --> PNG
Illustrator --> Save for Web --> JPEG
And a few other trials whose details I omitted to record.
After ~dozen trials...with many permutations & combinations of Adobe Illustrator's parameters...all I can generate is the image in my prior post--with the unwanted 90-degree corners.
Let me fully acknowledge, no doubt I'm doing something wrong...yet I just can't figure out what.
@Larry: Would you please clarify the reference to the Avery labels? Regrets, I looked at the site you provided...yet don't understand how it relates to clipping masks.
Here's hoping someone can throw a life-line.
Many thanks to everyone,
Plane Wryter

How to undo permanent applying clipping mask,

Hello,
I hope somebody can help me.
I'm having some trouble with the adjustment layers.
I've made a selection that I want to brighten a bit, and then I make a selection in the wanted area, and choose "curves" in the adjustmenlayers to brighten the selected area.
Then I also want to remove a little red, from only that selected area, and then i choose "colorbalance" and I "alt-click" between to two layers to adjust only the wanted area and not the whole picture, and it shows by a little "broken arrow" that it uses the previous layer to create the clipping mask.
And that just works so great!
But not any more!
Because now it suddently applies this clippingmask permannetly - without me "alt-clicking". So, now when i choose "curves" the little broken arrow is there! And that annoys me big time, because I can't figure out how to make it stop. I know that I can "right-click" and click "release clippingmask" but my point is, I don't wanna do that, I want to make it stop doing that, unless I tell it to, by "alt-clicking" betwwen the layers.
I've browes severeal forums, and the only thing I can find is how to make the clippingmask, not how to undo it (Undo it permanently, that is...)
It must me some kind of settings... But I can't figure it out. Can somebode please help me?
Thank you
/Hanne

From the adjustments panel flyout menu uncheck Clip to Layer:
MTSTUNER

Trying to make clipping mask - HELP!

So I'm trying to make a clipping mask for this graphic in picture 34, I want it to look like picture 35.
I've got the contruction guy on layer 1, and the two cut outs on layer 2 above, I've grouped them all and click on clipping mask/make and nothing happens. I want the two cuts to cut out those sections on the contruction object.
Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Dan, hold on,
Here's what I did:
1. bring the two white shapes to the front
2. send the black construction guy to the back
3. select everything
4. Effect/Pathfinder>Minus Front/Subtract
Do not use Effect, use the Pathfinder palette, bundled with the Transform and Align palettes.
Then it should work.
Minus Front is the name of the option in the newest version(s), Subtract from Shape Area in older ones.

Working with old PDF files - Release Clipping Masks

Hi Everyone....Please Help Me!
I am regularly required to work with old pdf files for my company, which I have to open in Illustrator to amend and update (we don't have access to the original .ai files).
Whenever I start to work on these files I have to spend ages just unconnecting the elements of the artwork, usually by right clicking and choosing "release clipping mask"
Is there a way to just disconnect everything when you open up an old pdf document in Illustrator?
Tá mo chroi bhríste
(it has my heart broken - in Irish!)

Always keeping a careful eye on the effects of released clipping masks, the process can be accelerated using the keyboard shortcuts rather than hunt-and-click.
Open the PDF.
Ctrl/Cmd+A (Select All)
Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/Opt+7 (Object > Clipping Mask > Release) Hold down Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/Opt and tap the 7 key repeatedly to initially release all top-level masks, then continue through the levels of nesting that may be present. With Show Bounding Box and Show Edges active it's easy to see when the releasing has stopped...usually only a few levels.
Deselect, then find one of the orphaned mask objects, which will have a fill and stroke of None. Select it, then choose Object > Select > Same > Fill & Stroke to select all the orphaned mask objects.
Delete.

Is it possible to add an inside/outside stroke to a clipping mask?

I'm pretty new to Illustrator so there's a chance this is a stupid question, but I'm pretty stumped on this. If I have a path with a stroke that is set to either inside or outside, it disappears if I draw something inside of it to convert it into a clipping mask. The stroke shows up again if I align it to center, but even this seems to have some quirks as it won't display multiple strokes. After searching the web for a bit this is the best description/example I've been able to find for this problem: http://blog.rockymountaintraining.com/?p=2186.
Does anyone know if there's a work around to get inside/outside strokes or multiple strokes to work correctly in this scenario? If not, is there a logical reason for this or is there a bug?
Thanks for your help!

Seems to be a long-term bug that I hadn’t noticed before.
You can of course rectify it by copying the masking path, deselecting and pasting to front.
Then you can give the path any stroke you like.

Clipping mask on an image

I have used an pen outline to sharpen the edges of a product photo. Now I want to move the photo but the mask stays in place and i can not access it from the transparency window.
I am using CS3.
Help.

Unless you made an opacity mask instead of a clipping mask...
Which is what it sounds like you've done. For most cases, a clipping mask is a better idea, unless you need some variation in the opacity. As long as that's not the case, I would release the opacity mask and re-apply it as a clipping mask.
If you need it as an opacity mask and it's not moving with the object you've applied it to, make sure that the mask is linked to the object. you can tell it is when there is a little "chain" button between them in the transparency panel. Oh and theres a bug with opacity masks used the align tool. The masks won't move. I think they fixed that in CS3, but maybe it wasn't until cs4...

Draw inside disabled, and clipping mask workaround loses information

I want to use my compound paths, with styles, fills and strokes applied to "draw inside", but that command is greyed out when I select them.
However, if I "cheat" and instead use the compound paths as clipping masks first, I accomplish something which looks exactly the same way in the layer palette as when I do manage to "draw inside" an object.
The trouble is that all my styles, fills and strokes get killed using that workaround, and I have to reapply them.
Am I missing a step somewhere, or doing this in the wrong order?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Also, any word on why "draw inside" is disabled for compound paths?
PS. Another problem using my poor workaround is that when the compound path becomes invisible, I can't find a way to drag appearances to it or apply swatches, even when I select it in the layer palette. I have to redo all styles, gradients, etc. manually, which is not efficient, nor desirable, at all.

Monika Gause wrote:
eobet wrote:
So, if I understand this correctly, two people replying here can draw inside compound paths, and two people can't. Is this a design premium feature, or why does there seem to be a difference?
Has nothing to do with Design Premium.
Maybe you'd like to show us your art. There might be other ways to achieve what you need to do.
Well my problem is that I can't do either of these:
Now, the stroke aligned to the outside, I apparently can never get around unless I choose to outline the path on that stroke, which means I loose flexibility (or add steps to my workflow).
And drawing on the inside... I guess I could make a clipping mask manually, but then I loose that really nice gradient I spent a lot of time to position just right... (either way, more steps in my workflow).
Actually, the whole point of my question is completely lost if I have to outline any path, because the reason I want to work with compound shapes and clipping masks at all, is that I want to easily be able to move one of the sub-shapes which creates the final outline, without having to redo neither the gradient fill or stroke.
And yeah, thinking again, my workflow is completely wrecked either way, since compound paths don't allow aligned strokes.

Releasing All Clipping Masks?

Hi Everyone....Please Help Me!
I am regularly required to work with old pdf files for my company, which I have to open in Illustrator to amend and update (we don't have access to the original .ai files).
Whenever I start to work on these files I have to spend ages just unconnecting the elements of the artwork, usually by right clicking and choosing "release clipping mask"
Is there a way to just disconnect everything when you open up an old pdf document in Illustrator?
Tá mo chroi bhríste
(it has my heart broken - in Irish!)
Kind Regards to all
Bryan

First, set your fill and stroke both to none. Make sure all of the layers, and the art is unlocked. Then go to Select>Same>Fill & Stroke. Clipping masks usually don't have a fill and stroke, so this should select all of them. Then you can just hit the delete key to remove and release everything.

Do clipping masks spoil transform commands?

Please tell me there's a better way of doing this:
I began with a picture and a box on the page. The box was centred. I then positioned the picture over the box so that the right hand side of picture covered the box. I then used the clipping mask command to paste the picture into the box. Then I rotated the box 180° using the 'Transform Each' Panel. Result: the upside down box box was no longer centred - but pushed over to the left.
Clearly its because the Transform command aligns to the picture in the clipping mask as well as the box. Align commands seem to work the same way.
Is there a way to tell these commands to ignore elements hidden behind the clipping mask?
Cheers
Nick

Regardless which version of Illustrator you are using, this is better done by using the Rotate tool setting the appropriate centre of rotation.
Turning on smart guides does help you to find the exact position of that centre.

Clipping mask/white stripes

Ok i find it best to explain/ask in the form an example.
First i use a clipping mask to make a diamond/shape.(like below)
Then to add some depth i use the same basic shape filled with a gradient/shadow. I use the align tools to make them perfectly fit above each other.
But heres the problem, As you can see in the final one on the right it leaves little white stripes.Does anyone see what i am doing wrong to get this? or how i can approach it differently to not get this.

simsallabim,
You may avoid the issue by doing everything in one step using an Opacity Mask.
If you create the clipping shape with a black/grey/white fill and no stroke, you may just:
In the Transparency palette flyout click Make New Mask with Clip ticked and Invert Mask ticked or unticked, depending on how you are using the colour range of the clipping shape to define the recolouring of the underlying object.

Alignment of Clipping masks broken

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