Fancy Corners with Masks

I wanted more control over the corners of the shapes I use without having to rely on the Xara Smart Shapes, like OCC > Components > Print & Web Components > Shapes > Shape 7.

The method is simple to apply but does require a bit of thought.
If you place one shape over another, select both and press O, the top shape will punch through the bottom shape.
If the top shape is all Black, you get a totally transparent cut-out.
If all White, the cut-out is still there, just not visible.
In-between is a level of transparency from opaque to clear.

Extending the approach.
Create a curved corner square and four smaller ones centred over the larger's corners.
Rotate these 45 degrees. This make it quick to select angled or circular cut-outs.
Name each in the Page and Layer gallery, if you care to.
Select all the shapes and press O or pick Arrange > Apply opacity mask.

In the Page & Layer Gallery, open the Opacity mask group and select each corner mask in turn and rotate, it change the curvature or scale in place by Shift-dragging a corner.
If you change a mask Fill to White it disappears and the underlying shape can have its corners adjusted as normal.

Attachment 130824

The design file shows the steps taken to work up a variable corner design.

Acorn

P.S. I added edging and as you can see, it is removed by the masks.
I leave how you get a complete stroke to another day.
You suggestions will be of assistance.

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and press O

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for anyone not sure that is 'apply opacity mask' - in classic keys that is alt+O

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Originally Posted by handrawn

for anyone not sure that is 'apply opacity mask' - in classic keys that is alt+O

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Surely Arrange > Apply opacity mask was a good indicator?

Acorn

I never used opacity maskes (might be because I have my roots in pure vector programs like Freehand and Illustrator) but tried it due to your post. INterseting and opening a lot of possibilities! Thanks for sharing!

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Originally Posted by Acorn

Surely Arrange > Apply opacity mask was a good indicator?

Acorn

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true.. must have skipped that sorry... although it might be easier to follow if you had said that in the first instance of your post...

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Originally Posted by handrawn

true.. must have skipped that sorry... although it might be easier to follow if you had said that in the first instance of your post...

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handrawn, I did what I did for a reason. The purpose was to establish the concept as a hook. I took the big O as a visual metaphor for a hole so it would have a resonance. I then went onto the minutia and described the step-by-step actions, which is where most would then knuckle down and try things out.

It is useful to mention Alt+O for Classic Key configuration. The Classic Keys set-up has been a Xara option since at least 2015 and XDPXv10. The point is Xara loads in Standard Keys by default so if any user elects to chose Classic Keys and saw a Quickey reference in a Post, they have the onus of validating that keypress against their changed configuration.

It is probably more remiss not to have mention this Opacity Masking approach does not appear to be not part of XWD(P). If you open my XAR file in XWDP (not checked in XWD) then Opacity Masks are editable, it is just you cannot create them.
Where to stop though?

I would prefer more comment on the technique, good or bad.

Acorn

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I took the big O as a visual metaphor for a hole so it would have a resonance

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in your case definately not an empty vessel :D

where to stop indeed....

like michael I hardly ever use opacity masks so I was thrown at first not recognising the s/c; I like what you have done, I will bear them in mind for the future

Why not go for the arrange/combine shapes/subtract shapes.... approach Acorn? The outlines are still retained which your method destroys.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Why not go for the arrange/combine shapes/subtract shapes.... approach Acorn? The outlines are still retained which your method destroys.

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Egg, your approach destroys subsequent editing. I was trying to show mine could emulate the Xara Smart Shape for changing corners on the fly..

With mine, you can also change Line widths, position, individual mask colour/transparency/fill, squishy/squashy, none of which the Smart Shape can achieve.
It is a hankering back to the original Xara functions without the Smart Shape straitjacket Xara imposes.
Yours could with a lot of back and forth.

Horses for courses.

Acorn

Good stuff, Acorn.

Looking forward to how you'll apply the lost outlines. I tried a number of things with 'Shapes' but didn't succeed.

Thanks for the explanation Acorn. It's probably that as a Xara user of many years (as yourself), long before rounded corners and smart shapes when we had to create them on our own. So this is my method of choice.

I admit I've never dabbled with, nor understood opacity masks and having followed your instructions to the letter did get the exact same result as yourself. I just couldn't understand what I could do with it beyond that.

I always keep a copy of my constructions on the pasteboard should I require further adjustments.

I enjoy looking at your inventive alternatives, thanks.

so opacity masks are rather like intersections with some editable features afterwards such as level of transparency, positioning and size..... useful; I learnt something :D

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Originally Posted by Boy

Good stuff, Acorn.
Looking forward to how you'll apply the lost outlines. I tried a number of things with 'Shapes' but didn't succeed.

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Boy, this is the best I have managed:

Attachment 130836

Add back a Complete Stroke
1.Clone Masked Shape - Ctrl+K
2.Set Line Width to None
3.Detach Opacity Mask - Alt+O
4.Ungroup - Ctrl+U
5.Delete any White Mask Objects
6.Select all and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Intersect All Shapes
7.Delete all Black Mask Objects
8.Add in Line Width


The result is destructive so you need to keep the original.

Acorn

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Originally Posted by Acorn

Attachment 130836

Add back a Complete Stroke
1.Clone Masked Shape - Ctrl+K
2.Set Line Width to None
3.Detach Opacity Mask - Alt+O
4.Ungroup - Ctrl+U
5.Delete any White Mask Objects
6.Select all and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Intersect All Shapes
7.Delete all Black Mask Objects
8.Add in Line Width

The result is destructive so you need to keep the original.

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Even if the final result is destructive, masking is a good method to let you see real-time the desired result (minus the outline) as you can move around/change the cutout shapes.

As per Egg, steps 6 to 8 can be replaced with Select all and Substract shapes (Ctrl+2).

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Originally Posted by Boy

Even if the final result is destructive, masking is a good method to let you see real-time the desired result (minus the outline) as you can move around/change the cutout shapes.
As per Egg, steps 6 to 8 can be replaced with Select all and Substract shapes (Ctrl+2).

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Boy that is useful.

Add back a Complete Stroke
1. Clone Masked Shape - Ctrl+K
2. Set Line Width to None
3. Detach Opacity Mask - Alt+O
4. Ctrl+Select and Delete any White Mask Objects
5. Select all and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes - Ctrl+2
6. Ungroup
7. Add in Line Width

Acorn

Going through it once more, steps 2, 6 and 7 are actually not necessary.

in my workflow i can see a real use for opacity msks as a means of quickly repostioning/reorienting a 'visibility window' that is punching through an object; pity that to actually edit the mask shape you need to go 'inside' [like clipview] which means you lose sight of the context and so the usefulness

I never went much for the non-destructive aspect of xara and could quite happily live without it... 'ctrl+z' is usaually all I need; like egg I save out asset though in my case i export rather than pasteboard if it is specific; indeed having to make bitmap copies to fix before applying trace or effect is a nuisence to me

the one area where it is useful though is erase/shapebuild which I now see as a form of opacity masking...

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Originally Posted by handrawn

in my workflow i can see a real use for opacity msks as a means of quickly repostioning/reorienting a 'visibility window' that is punching through an object; pity that to actually edit the mask shape you need to go 'inside' [like clipview] which means you lose sight of the context and so the usefulness
I never went much for the non-destructive aspect of xara and could quite happily live without it... 'ctrl+z' is usaually all I need; like egg I save out asset though in my case i export rather than pasteboard if it is specific; indeed having to make bitmap copies to fix before applying trace or effect is a nuisence to me
the one area where it is useful though is erase/shapebuild which I now see as a form of opacity masking...

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handrawn, have you tried to just Detach Opacity Mask, adjust and re-apply? The Mask objects are then visible and grouped but you can isolate any one with Ctrl+Select.

Acorn

thanks acorn

up to a point... thing is, correct me if wrong but:

if you edit inside you only see the object[s] that has the mask[s] applied
if you open the opacity mask you only see the masking object[s]
if you detach the mask you can no longer see through the masked area

which ever way you are doing it you cannot edit the masking shape whilst being able to see what is being revealed/hidden in real time

there is a way round this by detaching the mask and temp given the mask[s] and masked objects[s] transparency, but that in itself can introduce visibility issues and become a tad unwieldly

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Originally Posted by handrawn

thanks acorn
up to a point... thing is, correct me if wrong but:

if you edit inside you only see the object[s] that has the mask[s] applied
if you open the opacity mask you only see the masking object[s]
if you detach the mask you can no longer see through the masked area

which ever way you are doing it you cannot edit the masking shape whilst being able to see what is being revealed/hidden in real time
there is a way round this by detaching the mask and temp given the mask[s] and masked objects[s] transparency, but that in itself can introduce visibility issues and become a tad unwieldly

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handrawn, I think you have overlooked a step.

In the Page & Layer Gallery, expand the Opacity Mask.
In my example, these were named tl, tr, bl & br (in full).
You can select any of these and move it around, rotate or scale or skew - all in interactive mode.

Acorn

gotcha - thanks I am grateful as ever for your expertise

going that route i can use the shape tool too which is what I would need as well