Appearances and opacity masks

this is a little something I've been trying to work out. under each fill or stroke in the appearance panel you've got your opacity options that appear to be exactly the same as you'd get for an individual object, like so:
this includes being able to (ostensibly) make an opacity mask. but what exactly does this do? i thought it might make that appearance act as a mask for the ones below it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. checking it seems to act as if i'd just checked it for the whole object, with nothing else selected. it appears to be a mirror of the option for the object itself. but you can alter other opacity options for individual appearances, so why not this? if i wanted one appearance to act as an opacity mask for the rest, is this even possible?

yeah I know how they work normally. what i'm asking is why it appears as if you can check it for individual appearances when you can't.

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Clipping Masks and Opacity Masks leaving slight hairline

I'm running into a problem when using a clipping mask or opacity mask in Illustrator CC 17.1. Either type of mask leaves a slight outline around the masking object, creating a noticeable break in what should be a uniform background. Some details:
I've created a ring in 4 quadrants. Each quadrant contains patterns/objects that need to be isolated from one another. Over top of the artwork of each quadrant, I Paste In Place a copy of the quadrant's shape whose colours for background and stroke are both set to none, the stroke value field is blank, not set to 0. Where the same colour in the adjacent areas of each quadrant meet there is a faint hairline. These are meant to be seamless and I don't know why this is happening. When viewing as Outlines, all vectors are overlapping perfectly to my eye.
I've tried the same thing with simpler shapes as a test and get the same results. In this example of 3 stacked objects, I built the shapes using the (top) Shape Builder tool, (middle) clipping mask and (bottom) opacity mask:
As you can see, the results are inconsistent but there are definitely faint lines in each case. The Shape Builder does not have a line between the black shapes for some reason yet there's one between the cyan colours where the stacked masked objects meet. Meanwhile it's the reverse situation for the 2 following blocks.
I've read posts in this forum and others about this being an anti-aliasing issue, that it won't print with the faint outlines, but not every application of this graphic will be going to print. I've exported EPS files, PDFs and various other formats. I didn't notice any hairlines in a TIFF but the library of files I will be providing to my client will consist of vector and other raster files like PNGs and JPGs that do show the faint outlines. When I place a PDF or EPS into an Illustrator or InDesign layout, the hairlines remain so that documents sent electronically, not printed, have these noticeable lines. They also remain when I place an EPS into Photoshop which is unacceptable for building graphics for the web.
Can anyone tell me if there's a solution for making seamless transitions between masked objects in Illustrator? Or this just an inherent flaw with Illustrator (or perhaps my approach to building these graphics)?

Well it's good to know I'm not approaching building my graphics in the wrong way, haha. I'm working in picas actually, I didn't think the type of units would make any difference.
I'm not quite sure I follow what you're suggesting (perhaps too much BBQ on the brain right now) but some points are on whole values and some aren't. I'm not sure how I could change those to whole values and maintain proper geometric proportions, though.
Some additional info:
1. Just saved PDF and EPS copies. Both show the hairlines in the following: QuickLook, Reader, Preview, when placed into Illustrator / InDesign / Photoshop, and when opened directly in Photoshop (with the exception of the EPS). Only the EPS opened directly with Photoshop was free of the hairlines.
2. When exporting to JPG and PNG, using the Type Optimized setting retains hairlines but they disappear if Art Optimized is chosen. So that's one little trick I just learned.
So there are ways that I can save them without hairlines, that's great. But once I distribute PDFs and EPS files for the client/third parties to place into publications for electronic distribution the hairlines will appear in those documents. I could ask them to place hi-res raster files instead but it doesn't give them the flexibility that vector graphics afford.
Is there a similar option to 'Art Optimized' I'm overlooking when exporting PDFs and EPS files? As a test, under EPS Options > Transparency I tried both the High Resolution and For Complex Art presets and it didn't make any difference.

PDF and Illustrator CC opacity mask. The opacity mask displays perfectly in the print preview, and in the pdf document when viewed on my computer, but when printed the gradient opacity mask doesn't work. Any suggestions? Have not had this problem in ot

Never had this issues in previous versions. This IS a black/white gradient opacity mask over a black and white photo, but still don't think that is the problem.

You may try the forum LiveCycle Designer.

Move and/or Re-Size Opacity Mask with AppleScript

apologies if this is regarded as a dual post. I saw a thread about this but it only related to JavaScript.
Anyway, I cannot seem to re-scale or move the Opacity Mask of an object with Applescript. The vector item will behave just as it should, but the Opacity Mask will remain in place. As you can imagine, I have tried all manner of solutions, from trying to select raster items to move with transforming, etc. and nothing has worked. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I see...it seems to be a bug, the actual mask gets ignored. Probably to be consistent with the user interface, you can not select the mask with the mouse either.
maybe someone else has found a way to work with Opacity Masks, I haven't.
as a side note, there's no need to select the objects in order to size them or move them, you can just reference them. Also, there's no "Selected" object, change that to "selection".

How do I import an image with an opacity mask from AI into FW

I have created a graphic in AI which contains several images with associated opacity masks. The mask use a radial gradient to achieve the desired effect. I am unable to import these images into FW with the mask effects intact even though the layers appear to be there. What am I doing wrong? I don't see away to do it in FW directly. If there's a work-around that would be appreciated too.

Fireworks' masking is pretty good. If you have your object and your mask in FW, arrange the objects so that the mask is above the object, select both, then click on
Modify > Mask > Group as Mask
Where the mask is white, your object will be fully opaque. Where the mask is black or 100% transparent, your object will be fully transparent. Where the mask is grey or partially transparent, your object will be, as well, proportionally to the grey level/transparency level in the mask.
Fireworks also has some built-in masks to fade objects radially or linearly. In CS3, these are under
Commands > Creative > Fade Image
but they got moved someplace else for CS4. I can't find the info on that in the help, though, sorry. Oh wait. It might be the Auto Vector Masks:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Fireworks/10.0_Using/WS29D46793-C43E-4941-960E-F238FB1977C8.ht ml
Mask info here:
CS3: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Fireworks/9.0/help.html?content=frw_layers_la_19.html
CS4: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Fireworks/10.0_Using/WS4c25cfbb1410b0021e63e3d1152b00d169-8000 .html

Trouble with mass amount of text and clipping mask - please help!

I have a curvy vector image that I want text to appear in, then create a clipping mask. When I try this I get a message saying that the text object is extremely complex and might not print. The file is impossible to move around and sometimes crashes my machine.
Here is a screen cap of what I'm doing:
http://www.aaronpenton.net/mask.html
I blocked all the text so there's just a ton of it.
This is for a large graphic (22') that will be placed on glass.
Is there a better way to do this? Or a way of making the file more manageable ?
Any help is much appreciated.

>I have a curvy vector image that I want text to appear in, then create a clipping mask.
Inaccurate description. You are using the text as a clipping mask for the image. That's a lot of text, which means a very complex compound path with tens of thousands of points. No wonder this is slowing things down.
Try using the text as an opacity mask instead, then flatten transparency. Keep a copy of the text and a copy of the wave on hidden layers so you can go back and edit the text or modify the path.

Opacity Mask vs. Clipping Mask?

What is the difference between making a mask as an Opacity Mask vs. a Clipping Mask? Using both techniques in CS6 seem to end in the same result.
Thanks.

Stan,
You may get quite different, or should I say opposite, results with an Opacity Mask.
You may try this:
Create a black or white path on top of something and toggle between ticking and unticking Invert Mask and between ticking and unticking Clip, and see how they are opposite, with black and white.
The ability to use the Opacity Mask to get get the appearance of a Clipping Mask or a Compound Path is quite different.

Artifacts when using opacity mask

I get artifacts or outlines of the objects I want to mask when using opacity masks. They can be seen when in AI format but saving to png they are not visible.
Example:
If I mask a colored rectangle to fit within a circle I see the outline of the rectangle outside of the cirle. It does get maksed within the circle it just leaves those artifacts outside.
Help?

I get artifacts (very thin red line on bottom of eyeball shape in stat fat) when I put for example 100% black Multiplied over 100 pms red. They are in perfect register, and the the thin line does not appear in the final printed piece.
Your situation may be different, but if the artifact does not come up in a png, then you should be safe. You can also view single color channels by using window >> separations preview >> check overprint >> turn off eyeballs for all but one channel, to proof your work.

Opacity mask shape shows in EPS file

Hi guys, this might be a stupid question but for example: say I have text in illustrator and I put a white elipse over the text and then put an opacity mask on the elipse and paste the text onto the opacity mask so that the white elipse only shows up on the text, I then take the opacity down to create a glass effect so to speak. Well, when I save this as a PNG, it is all ok as all you can is the text with the glass effect, however, when I save it as a EPS file (which I need) it shows the WHOLE elipse in the background, as well as the text, how do I delete this white background that shows the elipse when saving as an EPS.
Thanks

There's a few ways you can do what you are doing. You have not mentioned what color the text is. But, yes you can do it by clipping. Here's what I would do ( to bypass the Flattening issues ). Copy the text and move it off the artboard. Convert the copied text to outlines. Position the ellipse over the text where you want it. Select both the outlined text and the ellipse. Go to the Pathfinder menu and select "Divide". Now, select the elements inside the ellipse you want to appear transparent. Set the new color in the Color menu. I'm thinking the text is 100% K ( Black ), where the ellipse appears inside the text, set the color to whatever transparency percentage you had used in the previous file ( er, let's say 40% K ). As an option, you can delete any unwanted ellipse segments left behind.

Problem Saving PDF with Opacity Masks in Illustrator CS3

I'm having trouble exporting an Illlustrator CS3 file to PDF. I have two layers in the the .ai file that have opacity masks applied. When I save the file as a PDF, the two layers with opacity masks seem to disappear (or they are flattened down to white/100% transparency.) They do not show on screen nor when printing. I've tried opening the saved PDF in Illustrator to investigate, and the layers are still there, but with no opacity mask. Where am I going wrong? I've tried a new file with a simple shape and a simple opacity mask, and it exports fine to PDF. So something is wrong with my file set up, but I can't pinpoint what! I have also tried exporting to various versions of PDF, and nothing works. Help!
Screen cap from Illustrator:
Screen cap of PDF:
Correct (Illustrator) with subtle starburst effect:
Wrong (Acrobat PDf), no starburst!
Thanks for looking!

Not sure what's going on in your file, but it's definately having a problem with the Steaks layer. Trying to release the clipping mask and ungrouping all the layers is having a problem so it might have something to do with the way the streaks layer was built.
Using your file I replaced the streaks layer and put a starburst that's clipped to the icon shape. I've attached two files. One is for Illustrator CC so you can retain the gradient fill on the stroke which is only available in newer versions of Illustrator. The other has the starburst I created expanded so that you can open the file and retain the startburst look.
CC
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37256756/Go-IconCC.ai
CS3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37256756/Go-IconCS3.ai

Cropping Images with Opacity Masks | Learn Illustrator CS6 | Adobe TV

In this video you will learn a versatile method for cropping images in Adobe Illustrator CS6 and CS5. Using opacity masks allows you to retain the area of the image you cropped out, modify the clipping path later, and use complex blending modes, transparencies, and knockout groups.
http://adobe.ly/V8tTZD

Firstly great tutorial.
Anyway I initially started a thread in the forums which lead me here regarding the use of opacity masks, I'm having real problems finding a solution to my specific problem.
I've got 2 issues I'm trying to solve, the first is how do I show just a portion an object above another even though it sits in a layer behind.
The second is I have an object with a linear gradient applied and I want to add yet another gradient just to a certain part of that object in order to make it fade out in a certain way.
I've spent hours pouring through the help topics but nothing seems to fit my exact problem, sorry for asking questions here but I'm really stumped and I think an opacity mask would do the trick, I'm just not sure how to execute it.
Thanks heaps.
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5125695#5125695

Opacity Masks in cs4 can't find layers with main objects on it.

I created image with flag and did clipping mask with some text. Now when I do a opacity mask my other layers disappear and i can't seem to bring them back. I use the transparency to mask and clip. After that my layers with the first original items I can't find them or get back to them. Can someone tell how I can resolve this problem.
Thank you!

Once you start editing your opacity mask, you have to go back into normal editing mode by clicking on the object on the left side in the transparency panel. Click on the right to edit the mask, click on the left to get back out of that to editing the rest of your document. It's a bit confusing the way it's set up - there's no obvious indication that you're editing your mask and are isolated from the rest of your document...

Resizing or moving an opacity mask along with the items inside it

I'm trying to resize a opacity mask by doing
transMaskItem.resize(
10, //scaleX,
10, //scaleY,
true, //[,changePositions]
true, //[,changeFillPatterns]
true, //[,changeFillGradients]
true, //[,changeStrokePattern]
0.1, //[,changeLineWidths]
This resizes the item, but it does not resize the item inside it. I tried similar command with the translation command
transMaskItem.translate(
100, //([deltaX]
100. //[,deltaY]
True, //[,transformObjects]
True, //[,transformFillPatterns]
True, //[,transformFillGradients]
True, //[,transformStrokePatterns])
and similar thing happened. The item gets moved, but the object inside it doesn't.
How do I resize or translate an opacity mask along with the items inside it?

I see...it seems to be a bug, the actual mask gets ignored. Probably to be consistent with the user interface, you can not select the mask with the mouse either.
maybe someone else has found a way to work with Opacity Masks, I haven't.
as a side note, there's no need to select the objects in order to size them or move them, you can just reference them. Also, there's no "Selected" object, change that to "selection".

How to configure the eth1 port of NIcRIO 9024 to another IP address and subnet mask

Hi ,
I am using cRIO 9024 and am planning to configure it to be an MMS server that interacts with a client which is in another network with different IP and subnetmask. I want to run the server VIs from the host computer via the eth0 port and want to communicate the MMS messages through the eth1 port. the eth0 port is configured as a static IP as shown in the screenshot attached and would like to assign a separate IP and subnet mask to the other port . But when I try to save the configuration I get the error "Could not save your changes tot he target.The subnet mask for eth1 is invalid" .
I have already directly cross connected the Crio and have disabled the firewalls and still am not able to configure it.
1) is it possible to configure the ethernet ports to have separate IPs corresponding to different networks and thus the subnet masks?
2) If its possible then what is the mistake i am doing while configuring it ?
I would be extremaly grateful to have a reply on this as its pretty desperate to spend a lot of time just to set up the IP configurations..!!!!!
Regards
Abhinav

Dear Abhinav,
I'm sorry but what you are tryining to do is not suported by the Second Ethrnet Port on any cRIO and so you getting this error meeage.
Here a abstract out ouf the KnowledgeBase How do I Configure the Dual Ethernet Ports on Real-Time Controllers?:
Ethernet port 2 is currently not supported to communicate outside its own subnet. There is no capability of configuring the Default Gateway for Ethernet port 2 and therefore cannot connect to a large isolated intranet. However, there appears to be a common misconception that this port can only be used for communication between NI products: this is not the case, though any communication through the secondary port must be within the same subnet.
Kind Regards,
SG3 | Applications Engineering | National Instruments | NIG |

Adding layers with opacity masks

I wanna use a opacity mask for multiple layers and different designes, but everytime I make a mask with the transparency panel it locks my layers to one layer and does not let me add any new ones or go back to my other stroke designes on other layers, so I do a mask in new artbourds on a new tab for each designe to get the textures I want, how do I combine them for one big design?

Before I make the mask
and After

Appearances and opacity masks

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