Mask opacity edit

[Centaurus]

Hello guys,

I can't find a way to edit the shape of Opacity Mask in version 9. There is a way to open masked objects in a different window, or to open a masking objects in a different window, but what if I want to edit masking object in the drawing willing to see what it actually masks?

This feature was available in version 6... but since I skipped v7 and 8, I don't know if it was disabled for quite some time or is it a bug?
I mean I can't consider it to be a bug, because there's nothing actually wrong here.. just not very convinient in some situations.

So does anybody know a way to edit masking shape on the fly? Maybe I just couldn't find it.

Thanks!

[angelize]

In Designer Pro X you can select the opacity mask group then ctrl+alt+click to select the masking shape for editing. I would assume this would be the same in P&GD9

[PhilM]

Yes, Frances is right.

Ctrl+click now only selects things you can see and by definition you can't see objects in the mask. So Ctrl+Alt+click, the "step inside" click, has been adapted to allow it to step through the mask objects.

The page& layer gallery will show you the objects in the mask and allow you to select them.

Also, the Shape Builder and Shape Eraser tools work directly on Opacity Mask groups, adding or removing to objects in the mask rather than the masked object.

Phil

[Centaurus]

Thank you! Ctrl Alt Click works perfectly!

Oh God, you've introduced Shape Builder Tool which is exactly what I needed for so long.. now I'm really happy I finally upgraded from v6!

[Centaurus]

And two more questions arose..

How can I apply the opacity mask to objects? In v6 I could use Convert to Editable Shapes, and it made hidden parts of objects to be cut out. In v9 I don't seem to be able to do that.

Also is there a way to detach a mask with a hotkey? In v6 I was able to ungroup mask from the masked object with Ctrl-U.. now it doesn't seem to work either.

Thanks!

[angelize]

to apply an opacity mask cut the masking object to the clipboard and right click the object to be masked select paste opacity mask.

I've asked support about the ctrl+u shortcut not working anymore but in the mean time you can right click an opacity mask group and in the opacity mask submenu choose detach opacity mask from selection. you can also choose open opacity mask from the right click menu to edit the object or group being masked, and of course you can also use the page and layer gallery to select any part of an opacity mask group for editing.

Edit: Alt+O will also detach an Opacity mask from the selection.

[Big Frank]

i just dont get the whole opacity mask concept, never did
i first came across it in photoshop 3 i think
didn't get it then, still don't now
still, i seem to get by ok without it
thats why i had such trouble recently when i wanted to use content aware photo resize
theres no way i could use the opacity mask in my drawing
so i opened the photo in another new file where it worked fine as explained in various posts
i stretched it (finally got my head around mask mode)
created a bitmap copy
drag and dropped it into my drawing
wonder if anybody else has had that

[Centaurus]

Angelize, Alt-O works for me, thanks!

About applying the opacty mask to the objects: I wasn't very clear about that. I meant in version 6, I could select the masked object, make it "Convert to editable shapes" and got a cut object. Please see the attached picture.



Now I can only get to stage 2 (masked object). But I can't get to stage 3 (object cut with the mask object). Is it somehow possible?

PS: I tried to do that "Past opacity mask" thing but it didn't do any result at all for me.
Thanks!