Adobe 65011817 User Guide - Page 134

Masking, About vector masks, About bitmap masks

Page 134 highlights

USING FIREWORKS CS4 128 Layers, masking, and blending Masking Masks hide or show parts of an object or image. You can use several masking techniques to achieve many kinds of creative effects with objects. A mask can act as a cookie cutter, cropping or clipping underlying objects or images. Others give the effect of a foggy window, revealing or hiding portions of the objects beneath it. You can create a mask object from either a vector object (a vector mask) or a bitmap object (a bitmap mask). You can also use multiple objects or grouped objects to create a mask, and you can use text (which creates a vector mask). After you create a mask, you can adjust the position of the masked selection on the canvas or modify the appearance of the mask. You can also apply transformations to the mask as a whole or to the components of a mask individually. About vector masks Vector masks, which are sometimes called clipping paths or paste insides, are used in vector-illustration applications such as Adobe FreeHand®. The vector mask object crops or clips the underlying objects to the shape of its path, creating a cookie-cutter effect. A vector mask applied using its path outline When you create a vector mask, a mask thumbnail with a pen icon appears in the Layers panel. A vector mask thumbnail in the Layers panel When a vector mask is selected, the Property inspector displays information about how the mask is applied. The bottom half of the Property inspector displays additional properties that allow you to edit stroke and fill of the mask object. By default, vector masks are applied using their path outline, but you can also apply them in other ways. About bitmap masks Fireworks bitmap masks are like Photoshop layer masks in that the pixels of the mask object affect the visibility of underlying objects. Last updated 3/8/2011

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128
USING FIREWORKS CS4
Layers, masking, and blending
La
s
t updated 3/8/2011
Masking
Masks hide or show parts of an object or image. You can use several masking techniques to achieve many kinds of
creative effects with objects.
A mask can act as a cookie cutter, cropping or clipping underlying objects or images. Others give the effect of a foggy
window, revealing or hiding portions of the objects beneath it.
You can create a mask object from either a vector object (a vector mask) or a bitmap object (a bitmap mask). You can
also use multiple objects or grouped objects to create a mask, and you can use text (which creates a vector mask). After
you create a mask, you can adjust the position of the masked selection on the canvas or modify the appearance of the
mask. You can also apply transformations to the mask as a whole or to the components of a mask individually.
About vector masks
Vector masks
, which are sometimes called clipping paths or paste insides, are used in vector-illustration applications
such as Adobe FreeHandĀ®. The vector mask object crops or clips the underlying objects to the shape of its path, creating
a cookie-cutter effect.
A vector mask applied using its path outline
When you create a vector mask, a mask thumbnail with a pen icon appears in the Layers panel.
A vector mask thumbnail in the Layers panel
When a vector mask is selected, the Property inspector displays information about how the mask is applied. The
bottom half of the Property inspector displays additional properties that allow you to edit stroke and fill of the mask
object.
By default, vector masks are applied using their path outline, but you can also apply them in other ways.
About bitmap masks
Fireworks bitmap masks are like Photoshop layer masks in that the pixels of the mask object affect the visibility of
underlying objects.