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

Similar Messages

Is it possible to make clipping masks only selectable within their objects?

I sometimes work with files which have multiple objects which contain enormous clipping masks. This means whenever I go to drag-select multiple objects on a board it will always select multiple clipping masks, and essentially render this mode of selection useless.
Is there any way to ensure that clipping masks are only ever selected within the bounds of their containing object?
Thanks,
Felix

Sure.
So I'll have a page full of pushpoints, with clipping masks applied to each to provide a photographic backdrop:
But then if I try and select the adjacent pushpoint elements, it will also select the clipping masks, despite the fact that it doesn't actually touch its containing object.
This has lead to quite a bit of inconvenience in many circumstances. Any idea, apart from locking the layers? I need the clipping masks to also be selected when their container layer is selected, but not the rest.
Thanks in advance!

Clipping mask vs. selection?

I want to restrict my painting to only part of an image.
1. How is doing this with a clipping mask different from just making a selection and painting within a selection?
2. How can I make a clipping mask to do this?
Thanks.

Actually with anti-aliased or softened edges of a Selection multiple brush-strokes can produce a different result than if the Layer is clipping masked (or has a Layer Mask).
Good point! The effect would be the same as painting once each on multiple, stacked clipping masks? I think it would. My point was that selection = clipping mask = layer mask (something which interests me greatly). I wonder if there are any other ways in which they're not the same.

CS5 Disable Picture Content Select with Selection Tool

I'm not sure if this was added in CS4, because I skipped CS4, but I know it wasn't there in CS3. With my Selection Tool (solid cursor), I can grab the contents of a picture box represented by circle mark that appears in the center of an image on mouse rollover. If I come close to it, I grab the picture, not the frame (what I don't want). But if I keep my selection closer to the edge, I select box and contents (what I want). How can I disable this feature? I have looked through my preferences to no avail. I mean, I thought that's what the Direct Selection Tool was for? If I want the contents selected, I use the hollow cursor. Why mess with that? Please tell me this can be disabled. It would make my day.

I did a search, but was hitting nothing. And I was looking in the wrong spot for it in the app.
You... have made my day. Thank you, thank you.

Clipping masks from AI jumping all over the place in AE

I have a project I've been working on for a while, and have encountered an extremely annoying bug that only seems to have appeared since the latest update...
Basically, I have a bunch of layers from Illustrator which have clipping masks within them. When I bring these into After Effects and add any kind of movement (camera, masks etc), the images inside the clipping masks jump around all over the place. Not the masks themselves, or the layers - just the images inside them.
This has only started happening since the latest update to CC 2014 - it's something I've done a million times before and it's always been fine.
Really hoping someone can shed some light on this, as I don't have much hair left to pull out...
Thanks

one update - we had a look back at some of the previous projects we've produced using this technique, and it's still apparent there (so in CC & CC2014 projects) - it just seems to be much worse in this particular project.

Clipping mask wont work

hey everyone...
when in illustrator cs4...i try to put texture on my text and when i try add a clipping mask, i select it and it doesnt work...the text will become seee through and the texture is gone
please forgive my explanation as its hard to explain...i think im doing everything right?? what could be going wrong???

shepney wrote:
yeah i do, just dont know why it goes blank
No you don't Jacob has the right answer this is a question of semantics.
This is how it works
you have text and you have the texture art
OOOPs I posted that too soon
you place the text on top of the texture art that is the text is in the front
Then you hit the keys command 7 or control 7 or object>Clipping Mask>Make and you get this
I did not exactly use a texture but it is the same thing

Clipping mask VS. Selection for restricting area?

What is the advantage of making a clipping mask vs. selection for painting a selected area and making sure not to go out of it?
Thanks.

Painting on a layer clipping masked to another layer ascertains that the transparency of the underlying layer is maintained.
For example if a region/pixel of that layer has 50% transparency painting on a clipped layer will result in that region/pixel having the new color but the same transparency.
If on the other hand one were to paint on a separate layer with a Selection of the first layer’s transparency
• multiple Brush strokes in the 50% transparency region could push it much higher
• a single 100% Stroke (or Fill) would cause the resulting pixels to be a mixture of background, first layer and second layer (see attachment, middle clipped, right masked)

AS2 drag and drop a masked content from loadMovie clip

In the main content, when I have a movie clip like this   a1.a2.a3 while a3 inside a2 and a2 inside a1, and a2 is a masked layer movie clip.
I can drag and drop the masked content (while a1 stay still) with like this   a1.a2.onPress = function () { startDrag(this); } and a1.a2.onRelease = function () { stopDrag(); }
but then what i need is a1 stay in main content, while moved a2.a3 to an external .swf, and use loadMovie to put .swf(a2.a3) back into a1, and I can still drag/drop a2.a3 when a1 stay still.
I tried differetn methods they all not working. I've learned that you need to create another MC inside a1 like this a1.a4.a2.a3 ( while a2.a3 from loadMovie clip). it only work if I want to drag a1. but if I want to drag masked content a2.a3 it still doesn't.
I really need help it's a project for work.

if I apply drag to a1.a4 , it will still move the whole thing but not just masked content which is in a2.a3
I pretty much given up on this one at this point..   gonna just throw everything into just one big swf save the struggling time,
but thank you for your input.

ArcGIS 10.0 to Illustrator (CS5).... Edit, Save, Reopen, Clipping masks are all gone....

I am working from ArcGIS 10.0 to Illustrator CS5.
I make my map in ArcGIS. The layers are in four groups (VECTORS: top, middle, bottom + RASTER). I export the map from layout view to an .ai file. I open the .ai file in illustrator. Edit a couple things. Save the document. Seems simple enough... when I open it it should look just like it did when I just saved it two seconds ago, right?
Nope.
After saving, closing, and reopening all my clipping masks are gone. They have disappeared/ automatically released. I have tried this same process on my personal computer (this issue is happening on a work computer) and I am not having an issue (GIS layers are in groups, I export, open, edit, save, close, reopen... still all clipped and the way I want it). I'm not sure if it is the settings on the work computer that are causing the clipping masks to automatically release on their own or what. When I look through the layers in my .ai file (post save, reopened file) the former clipping masks are now just 'paths.' but if I reclip them they mess up my layers and it seems like a tedious and unnecessary process (especially if the whole thing is working out correctly on my personal computer).
Does anyone have any idea why illustrator is automatically releasing my clipping masks upon saving?
Is it a GIS issue? Or an Illustrator issue? Are my settings wrong? Help!

The first thing you must do when opening an Arc AI file is to do a Save As and overwrite the original file with a new copy of the file in whatever the version of AI you have. If you just do a Save of the Arc file, it will revert to an AI3 file. Everything will be placed on a single layer.

Help with clipping mask in illustrator cs5

In Illustrator CS5, is there any way to get rid of the white space around the artwork when exporting a jpg? I currently use the mask tool, but when you export the jpg, it still shows the white space where the clipped objects are. Is there any clipping mask? Or any way to just make the jpg the size of the artboard, that way any of the objects that fall off the edge of the artboard woldn't be included?

Yes but if I use the artboard, when I export it to a jpg it still has the white space around the outside. Some of my clipped images fall outside the clipping mask so there is white space where the physical images are even though the mask technically covers them up. Thanks

Rasterizing contents of a clipping mask

Is it possible to rasterize the contents of a clipping mask so that after applying the clipping mask, you can move the object and its contents around as if it were simply filled with a pattern?
For example, say I have a satellite photo and I make a clipping mask to crop around where my house is. Is it possible to take that small cropped image of my house (maybe with a circular clipping mask) and put it on its own layer?
Thanks!

Landdogger,
A photo is raster.
If you:
1. Create a mask in the form of a circle,
2. Select both and Object>Clipping Mask>Make,
3. Change Transparency from Normal to something else,
4. Object>Flatten Transparency,
you wil get what appears to be a circular image without the parts that are masked out, except for transparent parts to fill the corresponding square; and you can move it as desired.

Help Recreating Drop Shadow Effect from Clipping Mask

A few months ago I created the image attached. Today for the life of me I cannot create a similar effect, where the drop shadow of the text comes from the clipping mask. Everytime I try to follow the same steps and layer styles I keep getting a normal black drop shadow not a drop shadow that comes from the clipping mask like in my example. Help please I am driving myself crazy!!!

Thanks JJMack and PCTGraphic !
PCTGraphic converting the text layer to a smart object is what I seemed to be missing (and what I believe I did in the attached picture as well). Thanks for the reminder!
JJMack I really appreciate your answer as well (there's always more than way of doing things), but I know I didn't use a vector mask originally. Unfortunately, I do not know how to add text to a vector mask. I would like to learn how to do it your way, I will work on that (the screen shot will help, thank you)!

Illustrator files from Bridge creates Clipping mask.

I would like to use Bridge as a library for my Illustrator files. Only when I pressed shift key when dragging a illustrator file into my (illustrator) document, he translate my Artboard into a clipping mask. Does anyone have a solution?
I'm working in Adobe Illustrator CS5. Thnk you.

@ Kurt & Monika, thank you for your help. Indeed, I see more advantages in the use of Bridge mainly because I have my files used in Illustrator and Photoshop.
Action button is an option, same as the "Edit Clipping Path" button at the top of the control bar. Open a file is also an option.
I was just wondering if I overlooked an option for better storage of my files. Thnk for youre time.

How to solve illustrator cs6 save as cs5 problem about the stroke(when the stroke with clipping mask and color is gradient, save as cs5 will change to embed ).

how to solve illustrator cs6 save as cs5 problem about the stroke(when the stroke with clipping mask and color is gradient, save as cs5 will change to embed ).

Because it was not possible to apply a gradient to a stroke in CS5. When you open the file in CS5, it is reduced to something that can be rendered in CS5.

Copy object with clipping mask from illustrator to photoshop

I want to copy objects from illustrator to use in photoshop, but the eps file that i am working in has a clipping mask and when i attempt to copy objects in that file from illustrator 6 to photoshop 6, portions (in some cases) all of the object turns black or gray. I'm sure this is a simple noob error (hope my question is clear enough), and it's driving me nuts. I have searched for solutions using terms "clipping mask, black, copy, move, illustrator, photoshop, etc." and can't find any discussions on this topic. Can you please help?
Here are the print screens to show you what i get in ai and ps -
(see blue outlined oval object selected - opaque white gradient)
(when moved to ps, opaque whitish oval turns black)
I'm such a noob! Thanks in advance for your help!

You simply lose the blending modes and transparency settings because this stuff works differently in both programs. You will have to reinstate it manually e.g. if the white highlight is created usuing Add blending mode, you will ghave to use the same in PS...
Mylenium

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

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for