Note: In Canvas 5, a channel mask was defined as a 1-bit (black-and-
white) channel. This type of channel produces either 100% transpar-
ent or 100% opaque areas. A channel mask in a Canvas 5 document
will be converted to the current channel mask format if you open the
document in the current version of Canvas.
Creating channel masks
You can create a blank channel mask, or create a channel mask from
a paint object. You create a channel mask when you render objects,
you can use the Render command; see Rendering objects and
images on page 31.593.
You can use the Transparency palette or the Channels palette to cre-
ate blank channel masks. In the Channels palette, an objects channel
mask is selected in the channel mask slot when the object is in chan-
nel mask edit mode. In the Transparency palette, the Mask menu
shows Channel when a selected object has a channel mask.
To create a channel mask
This procedure creates a blank channel mask for an object.
1
Select a text, paint, vector, or group object to mask.
2
Press Option (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) and double-click the
object. Or, choose Object > SpriteLayers > New Channel Mask.
If the object to be masked is not a paint object, a dialog box
asks you to set the resolution of the mask. Enter a resolution
from 1 to 2,540 ppi and click OK.
If the object is a paint object, the channel masks resolution
will be the same as the paint objects resolution.
3
The object appears in channel mask edit mode, with the object
visible and the channel mask selected. You can edit the channel
mask with painting tools. See Editing channel masks on
page 20.365.
4
When you finish, press Esc to leave edit mode.
When you create a new channel mask, the channel is filled with white
pixels. At this point, the channel mask produces no transparency
because white pixels in the channel mask produce 0% transparency
in the masked object. As you edit the channel, painting with gray pro-
duces partial transparency, and painting with black produces 100%
transparency.