Clipping masks

You can use one path to clip (or "mask") the shape of another object by grouping the objects together into a clipping mask group. For example, if you want a picture of a forest to appear inside the word "TREES," you could use the text as a clipping mask, grouping it together with the image. Note that in this example, you would first have to convert the text to outlines, because only paths and shapes can be clipping masks.

A clipping mask path in Expression Design retains its original fill and stroke attributes. However, the fill appears behind the object being masked and the stroke appears on top of the object being masked. You can think of the other objects in the clipping mask group as being sandwiched between the filled background and the stroked outline. Note that live effects applied to the clipping mask are removed when you create a clipping mask group.

To create a clipping mask:

  1. Place the path you want to use as a clipping mask on top of the objects you want to be clipped.
  2. Select the path and the other objects.
  3. Click Clipping Path on the Object menu, and then click Make with Top Path (or press CTRL+7).

Alternately, you can place the path below the other objects and click Clipping Path on the Object menu, and then click Make with Bottom Path. In this case, Expression Design first moves the path to the top of the object stack and then creates the clipping mask group.

Here, text has been converted to outlines, combined as a compound path, and placed on top of an image (top). Next the path and image are combined into a clipping mask group (bottom).

Editing and removing clipping mask groups

You can edit the paths, shapes, and objects within a clipping mask group at any time, as though they were objects within a regular group. To select just the clipping mask or one or more objects within a clipping mask group, use the Group Select tool, the  Direct Selection tool, or the Lasso Selection tool.

If you no longer want the clipping mask path to mask the other objects, you can select the group with the Selection tool, click Clipping Path on the Object menu, and then click Release (or press CTRL+SHIFT+7).