Draw inside, clipping masks & Live paint

I made a drawing of a stone floor excavation and I used 'draw inside' to delimit the excavation borders as below:
and this is what it looks like with edit contents selected:
Sadly, I also wanted to carry on drawing in 'Live paint' mode to 'colour in' sections (the above is just a small section of a much larger drawing), but because 'draw inside' creates a clipping mask, this object is now incompatible with the 'Live paint' paradigm! So I thought I would 'expand appearance' to continue and this is what I get:
What's that about? Whatever it is, it's not very useful!
My question is, is there a way for me to successfully translate a 'draw inside' object to a 'Live paint group'? The above objects are just simple shapes with a single fill & stroke.
Thanks

Ahh, you're a gem Monika, thank you very much! I only had to modify your answer a little to achieve my desired result, and that was to (after releasing clipping mask) copy and paste in front (because I still needed a version of the boundary as part of the Live paint group).
Thanks again
Les

Similar Messages

Clipping Paths + live paint?

Hi all
I have a group of shapes that I am trying to use live paint on. However all attempts to apply the tool have given me the following error -
"the selection contains objects that cannot be converted. Live paint groups can only contain paths and compound paths. Clipping paths are not allowed."
i used the release clipping path command. Didn't work; it created a visual abomination that I screenshotted for your amusement. The second image below is the shape with the mask applied. So the second image is what I want it to look like, but is the one that I cannot edit with live paint.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d188/OphidianShenzi/shape-clippingmaskreleased.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d188/OphidianShenzi/shape-clippingmaskstillapplied.jpg
Hope I made that clear?
How do I get over this problem and convert these to a live paint group that looks like it's supposed to?
Many thanks in advance for your help, it is such a wonderful supportive community we have here.
-S

That does not look quite right, perhaps you have more than one clipping path and or an opacity mask.
Can you do a screen shot of the layers panel perhaps there is an order in which mask can be properly release by.

P.S.Elements. How do i use the clipping mask for painting? I can't quite apply it for anything.

I'm wondering if the clipping mask can be used for painting on layers. I can't get it to do anything. I'm rendering race car paint schemes. Elements doesn't have paths. I have Gimp but I want to stick with photoshop. Something about Gimp I just didn't feel it

Could you give an example of what you are trying to do ?
The concept of clipping mask is not intuitive at all. Besides 'normal' layer masks associated with their layer, the clipping mask is a 'normal' layer having transparency. It has a what was called a 'linked layer' in older version. The 'clipping mask' layer determines transparency of the linked layer (which is shown offset to the right in the layers panel) to show that the effect of the clipping mask is limited to the above linked layer(s). Instead of having one layer with a mask, you have a mask targetting the 'above' layer.
The difference is that the normal mask uses greyscale values to represent transparency while the clipping mask has real transparency.
So, the purpose being masking, I don't see how you could use it to paint ?

Working with clipping masks

I am unsure if this is a question regarding Photoshop or Illustrator but can anyone offer guidelines on how this image was created for the text to be behind part of an image but not all? Example image attached.

Gmez, you made a B&W layer on top, clipped to your text. So the B&W only shows up where the text is. I think it actually looks good, but it's not what you were intending to do. There are a couple of ways to do it. An easy way is to just rasterize your text layer, then put a mask on it (not a clipping mask) and paint out what you don't want. But this method is destructive, so if you want to change the type later you're SOL. For this, considering that you want the background desaturated anyway, I would just duplicate the base layer, put it on top, put a layer mask on it, and paint out the background so the text pops through where you want. It involves a little more masking, but if you do it that way then you can just put a desaturation layer below it, and now your foreground will be fully saturated and cover the text, while the background is desaturated.
Edit - scratch that, I guess you can put a layer mask on a text layer without rasterizing it. Learn something new every day. Just do that, paint out (with black) whatever you don't want on the text layer mask.
As to the desaturation. Try using an adjustment layer instead. It's non-destructive (you can reverse or alter it later) and takes less space in your final file (good practice for later when things get more complicated). Click on the bottom layer, then add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, and move the saturation down. Now on the mask on that layer, paint the foreground black to bring back the color. There are better ways to get black and white (that give you more control over your contrast and 'colors'), but hue/saturation is a good first step.
Edit: That magazine cover is hysterical.

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.

Is it possible to apply path styles to live paint objects or clipping paths?

Hey everybody! I tried searching for the answer online, but couldn't find what I was looking for...
I want to create an illustration with black outlines. Within these outlines I want to have some spots without outlines that stay clean within the lines. I have tried 3 options so far and have found a solution but it's far from ideal.
1. Create clipping masks for each element that has a spot on it and assign a stroke to the clipping path again after. However by creating the clipping path, the path styles dissapear. In this case I want to keep the pointed ends to the open path outlines (see top image).
2. Draw in the lines where the spots are and create a live paint object of the entire illustration. Then paint in the spots and other areas. However when I create this live paint object the lines again lose their applied styles and even 'end' at each intersection, creating nasty edges where the lines should go 'underneath' smoothly (see bottom image).
3. The option Im using now. Duplicate the path outlines and create clipping masks for the spots without strokes. Then put the stroked outline with the desired styles on top. The problem with this is that I have almost twice as much elements in my illustration now than I actually 'need'. And the styled outlines are not connected with the color underneath, so its very easy to accidentally move something around...
Does anybody know of an easier way to create this effect without all the hassle? Thanks in advance for you time!

I drew the dark beige shape by pasting a copy in front of the black stroke with light ebige fill. Used the pencil tool to redraw the bottom edge. Then fixed the leaks byusng a blending mode of darken.
I try to keep my illustrations simple using the fewest paths possible, to make future edits easy. Live paint creates a mess, so never use it as I like to control my compound paths and masks.

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.

Live type as clipping mask is inaccurate

The clipping mask made from editable type seems to be inaccurate. When I either paste and object inside live type or use Clipping Mask > Make the paths don't match up (see screenshot).
When I convert the type to outlines, the paths are accurate.
Is there a way around this?
[Illustrator CS5 15.0.2, Mac OS X 10.6.2]

Happens to me in CS4
Assign Effect >> Path >> Outline Object as per jacob's suggestion, make sure outline object is under type in the appearance palette, so it is assigned to the entire type object and not just the fill.

How do you connect lines for a drawing in order to use the live paint bucket tool?

Hello! Im fairly new (okay not really) to using adobe illustrator
I used the Image trace tool to outline this drawing of Captain America but unfortunately the lines arent connected and therefore
messes up my colouring completely when I use the Live Paint Bucket tool.
Is there a way to connect the lines so they are closed when I colour it? Or is there another way to color this drawing?
Help would be greatly appreciated!

Those gaps are very wide. Draw some paths and apply no fill, no stroke to them.
Then make the live paint. In case the live paint already exists, you can go into isolation mode and then draw the paths. Or draw them and use Object > Live paint > Merge

Is it possible to make a transparent section inside an existing clipping mask?

Hi,
I would like to make the words 'heather hall' transparent knocking through the clipping mask it sits upon.
Is this possible please?
Many thanks,
Ben

Ben,
A very simple way is to change the colour of heather hall to black, then select everything and in the Transparency Palette flyout click Make Opacity Mask with Clip and Invert mask unticked.
heather hall may be live Type or a Group of paths or a Compound Path made of the individual letter paths/groups/compound paths.

Please help! - Illustrator CC - editing path messes up entire live paint drawing

Example of problem in this image:
http://ccteardrop.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/dana-solomon-adobe-cc-problem.png
Basically, whenever I have a finished illustration, I go back and make a few tweaks to different paths. In previous versions of illustrator, this had never been a problem. If anything it would cause a small error I could quickly repair. In Illustrator CC, however, whenever I make a small change with the direct selection tool, it basically disrupts my entire live paint drawing. Any help would be great! Thanks so much!!!

Hi Mylenium, Thanks for responding. I was just reading this forum in an attempt to answer my own question:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5762116
Changing gap detection to "small gaps" helps slightly but the problem is still new in CC and has not been present in previous versions. Wondering if it is some kind of bug as the other forum suggests, or if there is some new setting/preference I'm missing or configuring incorrectly in CC.

How to Create a Clipping Mask with LIVE TEXT?

Please, please, pease...there's has to be a way to do this.
I'm currently working on a project in which I have a background that has a large text layer above it. What I want to do is create a sort of "dynamic" clipping mask that essentially subtracts the shape of the text from the background yet remains editable as text in case I need to change the word or font.
However every way I've tried so far as been met with the backgrouns instead being constrained inside of the shape of the text...which is NOT what I want.
How can I do this while still having the text able to be edited?

An Opacity mask will work, but it will also move artwork from various layers to one layer.
You can get the same effect with a Layer Clipping mask and keep objects on their layers.
In this example only one layer is clipped, but you can drag as may as you want below the clipping layer.

Drawing Inside Keeps Painting Behind Other Brush Strokes

I am currently using the draw inside feature on an object of mine. I find that when i come back to it, like if i save and close the program and then come back, whatever new stuff i paint vanishes behind rather than appearing on top. The main solid colored object I always have to send behind before i could paint over it every single time. But now that I have some details over top of that, they are cooperating the same way and need sent behind as well im assuming, with the main object being at the very back. I'd hate to try and select everything because everything around it would need locked and this and that to select what i need and its just allot of hassle, especially if i have to do it every time i re open the program. Shouldn't new brush strokes paint above everything rather than below? Any help would be highly appreciated.

I submitted something similar to this about two version back. I know
when I'm trying to draw a long line, it would be nice to be able to use
some sort of guide. I think I was imagining a tool that you could hold
with a second hand while drawing with the wacom pen. I think they really
could corner the market if they came up with something like this.
Unfortunately, I think they hold back...after all, if they give it all
away, they have nothing to upgrade to...right?
On a similar note, I vaguely remember back when ver 2or 3 of Illustrator
came out and one could fit graphics(text?) in an envelope. At the time,
it was a plugin that was subsequently removed.
For the next 50;) versions I whined about this. Finally, I think it was
version 9 or 10 that brought this feature back to Illustrator.
So given that track record, I think we might get it in version 17. Let's
cross our fingers. ;)

Clipping mask is clipping my lines and not the actual object.

Hi all,I'm using the latest CC Illustrator.
I'm so frustrated and hope someone can help me, I've already spent a few hours trying to figure this out and looked through a number of tutorials and troubleshoot forums and I cant find an answer.
How do I stop the clipping mask from clipping inside the line itself, instead of my within the object. I'm still a newbie and I know I've done something wrong somewhere. I just cant figure out what.
Here are a couple of screenshots of my problem.
The end result looks pretty cool, but since this is for an assignment, I need it to work properly.
Help!

You are welcome. No you don't need to undo, you are on the right track, you expanded the lines in order to clip mask with a lighter image, now you need to use PathFinder to fill the holes (the turtle's shells) and clipmask them with a darker image like two turtle I created a few years ago. To use pathfinder, place a large rectangle behind the turtle expanded lines (compound path), select the expanded artwork and the rectangle and click PathFinder Divide button, at this point you will have the holes filled with paths and grouped with the original paths, so ungroup them. Then you select the newly generated paths and clip mask with a different and darker image. This attach image was done with PathFinder, pen tool and live paint. The images I used are real wood species, that I scanned into .jpg files.

Does a Clipping Mask effect just one layer?

Hello everyone ... Level: Newbie OS: Win7 64bit Ia: Cs6
Once I use a Clipping Mask on a layer is the entire document covered in a mask?
And/or is all the artwork from then on inside the mask?
I've read about how to add and how to remove art from a mask. I've read about how to make and release and lots of other things.
So, then I went and found a lesson that contained the use of a Clipping Mask.
But I'm stuck... again.
I am suppose to Select the main shape and "just" copy it and move it down (doesn't say rather to Paste in front or back but I assumed in back ~ not that it has mattered thus far)
However, while making the main shape I used Gradient Mesh and used an Offset to create a "replica" and so when I go to Select the main shape the mesh is selected and so when I Paste (in back ~ seems most logical) and then move it down the details such as the colors of the Gradient and other such things are visible in front ~ ??
So, I have been trying to abate my problem in lots of different ways.
I have tried using the Pen tool to draw behind the main shape, I've tried making a New Layer and placing it above and below and inbetween the main shape layer, I've tried adding the artwork to the Mask ... I've tried everything I can think of and I've been through many an article in the manual and FAQ's to no avail.
I suppose, what I think I need to know ... is, how ... how on earth do I draw behind this main shape? Am I not able to do it becuase I am not getting behind the Mask?
(Let me apologise to those that HATE it when Newbies follow lessons/tuts and who HATE it when we come here to ask for help. I'm doing my best to learn and to find answers on my own before heading here for help)
Please lmk if you would be better able to help me with pictures of my layers and the art. Thanx so much for your time!!

Thanks as well for your patience with me! It can be difficult to communicate this way, but all we can do is try our best.
As for the issue regarding the author's "main shape"...
Here I have an object with a gradient mesh:
If you follow the directions in step 3 of the tutorial, the author creates a duplicate by going to Object > Path > Offset Path.
And then inputs "0" for the offset value.
I shifted my original gradient-meshed object down a little bit, and there you can see is the simple shape that you were seeing in the author's image. Then they just filled it with that gold gradient and scaled it down.
And as for clipping masks...
As I mentioned before, a clipping mask will only affect the objects and groups you had selected when you created it. For exhaustive information about clipping masks, see this link: http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/clipping-masks.html
I hope this was helpful! Good luck!

Draw inside, clipping masks & Live paint

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