Reference opacity mask items

Hi,
How do I reference opacity mask items in Illustrator CS5 (on Windows 7) Javascript. I need to reference a path in an opacityMask and move that...

I don't see anything about opacity masks in the reference, and the typename reads "PathItem", so there's probably no access to them.

Similar Messages

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".

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".

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...

Opacity mask is also knocking out drop shadow. Grrr.

Hi everyone,
I'm having a problem with Illustrator CS6 that's really bugging me and there must be a simple fix that I'm missing.
I have editable text with a linked opacity mask. The opacity mask contains strokes with an art brush applied to 'scratch' out parts of the text.
See below for example:
I don't want the opacity mask to knock out the drop shadow (much like how "Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow" works in Photoshop), but just knock out the text only. See below for an example of what I want the end result to be:
BUT, and here's the problem, I want the text to remain editable.
I know one workaround is that I could convert the text to outlines, make it a compound path, expand the strokes on the opacity mask, make those a compound path too, and then Subtract/Minus Front the scratches from the text object and then reapply the drop shadow, BUT, this renders the text uneditable.
I've tried playing with the options in the Transparency panel, ie: Opacity & Mask Define Knockout Shape but nothing has worked.
What am I missing??
Thanks so much in advance for your help!!
Cheryl

Hi Jacob,
Thanks so much for the detailed instructions. I get through step 4 no problems but I run into problems with the way I try to select the items for step 5.
Let's say I have completed step 4 and am ready to begin step 5. When I am in my Layers panel, I select the scratches that are now masked by the non-drop shadowed text:
I then click into the the Opacity Mask editing mode [per your instructions "5) Select the Opacity Mask from 4)"] and now the mask is selected:
The problem begins when I have to effectively shift-select the mask and the live text from 1 (the original text with the drop shadow).
To begin, I still have the opacity mask selected (as shown above) and then when I click the left object preview box (as circled below)
to get back into the full Layers panel (to select the live text), now the mask becomes DEselected and the object becomes selected. How do I keep a mask selected and yet go back to in the Layers panel to select other items from there?
Thanks!
Cheryl

Copying an opacity mask

I have a script that cuts a group of objects and pastes it multiple times on a page and then updates text within each group from a db. It works great until an opacity mask is contained in the group. The masking object isn't copied and remains in it's original position and therefore the new copies of the group are incorrect.
Code used to do the cut is:
myApp.Documents(1).GroupItems("MyTemplate").Cut
and to paste:
myApp.Documents(1).Paste
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Good evening,
I'm not sure that you select correctly the mask when you use groupItems.
I think that the mask is not a item of the groupItems.
Please try the kind of selection.
Sub graf()
Set myai = CreateObject("illustrator.application.CS4")
Set myDocAi = myai.ActiveDocument
Set myLayer = myDocAi.Layers("graphlayer")
myLayer.HasSelectedArtwork = True
myai.Cut
myai.Paste
myai.Paste
myai.Paste
myai.Paste
End Sub
Patrice

Opacity Masks removed?

I am working with Adobe Illustrator CC - I created an opacity mask two weeks ago and went back to edit the file and the options panel for transparency isn't showing any of the options?
Anyone else come across this?
How to use Opacity masks | Adobe Illustrator CC tutorials

terrimac,
If the options are simply gone, you may try the list (skipping 5) if you get that far).
The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file (you may have tried/done some of them already); 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
If possible/applicable, you should save curent artwork first, of course.
1) Close down Illy and open again;
2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to 3 times);
3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);
4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible);
5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);
Even more seriously, you may:
6) Uninstall, run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and reinstall.
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

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

CS4 problems copying and pasting masked items

The problem: Copying and pasting a placed image combined with other Illustrator art with multiple gausian blurs that have been masked/grouped. Placed image type does not matter. PDF, JPG, TIFF, etc placed in Illustrator CS4 (or 3). Some images are complex and others are not.
What happens: After copying and pasting, the masked (grouped) image breaks apart into separate components that are no longer masked/grouped. Happens with different files with different images on different computers. WIth or without text in document. Sometimes image pastes correctly but most times it does not.
Hardware/OS: 3 separate iMacs (20" and two 23") all with intel chips but different processing speeds. All running latest and most updated version of Leopard. All with 4 MB Ram and more than a 100 GB of free hard drive space.
Software: Illustrator CS4 (latest update) and CS3 on one of the 23" iMacs.
Solutions tried so far: Ran Onyx, repaired permissions, scripts, cleaned caches, zapped PRAM and on one iMac, ran Disk Warrior. Tried in Safe boot mode and tired with a new user account. Created new files with new images and tried old files. Tried opening files from the server and from the desktop. Threw out illustrator prefs and emptied trash.
Thought it may have to do with font conflicts but some files don't have fonts. Turned off font management programs (Suitcase on one iMac, Font Explorer Pro on others, all updated to latest version) and restarted so only system fonts loaded. No luck. Turned on fonts used in various documents, still no luck.
Thought it may have to do with memory issues after copying masked items. Sometimes the copied image would paste correctly and then the next time I pasted it, it would not. Before pasting a second time I would copy a small item (to clear the memory) and then paste it and then recopy the masked item and paste that. Still no luck.
Checked activity monitor but nothing looks to be a memory hog or out of place. Happens on all three iMacs and while the OS and Illustrator are common to all three, Fonts and font management tools are not. No weird plug-ins or third party extensions installed. Plus it happened in safe boot mode so all extraneous fonts and such should have been deactivated.
Curiously, if I drag copy the masked item using the option key, the masked item copies fine. I know this can be used as a work-around but I would like to resolve this as sometimes the designers need/want to use command-c/command-v.
Not sure what else to try. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks you.

This might work, this might not. I have copy paste problems
on a regular basis and all that works for me is closing Captivate
down and then re open and continue. At worst, a reboot tends to
solve this glitch in my experience.
Good Luck

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

How to Create a Cross Reference of an item in an E-Business Suite

Hi ,
I need Help ,how to Create a cross reference of an item in an E-Business Suite
Regards
Srini

Hello Srini,
Prerequisite to create a cross reference for an item in eBusiness suite is that the item should be created in the master organization and assigned to your organization.
Navigate to screen Inventory > Items > Cross references. Enter a name for your cross reference.
Then, click on Assign : a screen is opened. In this screen, you can enter Item and Cross reference value. Note that a cross reference can be defined for an organization or common to all organizations.
Another kind of cross reference you can create is Customer item (it defines how a customer designates your item). It can be defined through screen
Inventory > Customer item > Customer Item and Customer item cross references.
Please refer to Inventory user guide for more detail about this functionalities.

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

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.

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

Problems saving/exporting with Opacity Mask in Illustrator CS6

Hi, I'm very new to illustrator and self taught. I'm having issues exporting a file with opacity masks to PDF. I have a file with three layers, each with a opacity mask. When I save the file as a PDF, the opacity masks seem to disappear (or they are flattened). I've tried creating a new document and creating it again with no luck. Where am I going wrong? I just want it to look like it does in Illustrator when its exported! Heres the file: Dropbox - BB Logo.ai
Ideally I'd like to export it to a JPEG or PNG whilst maintaining the opacity masks to give the logo texture. Any suggestions?
I appreciate any help! Thanks
Its a little hard to see but heres an Illustrator screenshot:
PDF screenshot:
Thanks for looking!!

You'll need to outline the text and provide the mask image.
Apart from that: looks to me like a problem with resolution. There's a structure in your exported file, but it's smoothed.
Without knowing what exactly you did step by step it's difficult to solve this problem.

Reference opacity mask items

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