Section 32. Isolating Selections with Lock and Hide

#32. Isolating Selections with Lock and Hide

Two of the most useful tools for isolating selections are the Lock and Hide commands. Both commands have been available in a form much like their present form since the earliest incarnations of Illustrator. In fact, it would be tough to find an long-time Illustrator user who doesn't rely on these two commands just as much as the Pen tool. Their convenience is found in the sheer simplicity of what they accomplish.

Isolating Groups within Groups

Illustrator CS2 introduces a handy way to navigate through a set of nested grouped objects. With the Selection tool, double-click a group. The group is selected and a thick-thin gray border appears around it. You can then move the objects within the isolated group selection, add objects into the current group level, or double-click nested groups to dive further into the group structure. Double-click anywhere outside the group to exit this isolated mode.

The Lock command keeps objects visible but unselectable. To lock an object or set of objects, select the objects and then choose Object > Lock > Selection. (That's Command+2 (Mac) or Control+2 (Windows) for you keyboard-shortcut fans.) The Lock command is a great, on-the-fly method to quickly get objects out of your way, but an even more powerful option lurks just a little-known keyboard shortcut away: Select the object you want to focus on and press Shift+Option+Command+2 (Mac) or Shift+Alt+Control+2 (Windows). All other objects within your document are locked, in effect isolating your selection. This allows you to concentrate your efforts on the object selected. When you're ready to work with all the locked object again, choose Object > Unlock All.

The Hide command works in a similar fashion to Lock but instead makes the objects invisible and unselectable. To hide selected objects, choose Object > Hide > Selection. There's also a companion command to the above-mentioned locking command: Choose Shift+Option+Command-3 (Mac) or Shift+Alt+Control+3 (Windows) to hide all deselected artwork ( Figure 32 ).

Figure 32. Attempting to edit a path within a complex document can be quite difficult. Using the secret Hide All Deselected command temporarily hides all artwork not selected, making it easy to edit the desired path .

#33. Creating Clipping Masks

If you've ever needed a fast way to crop or hide a portion of your artwork, you'll be happy to learn about clipping masks. A clipping mask is a special type of object whose shape masks out (or clips) artwork so that only the artwork within the confines of the mask are visible ( Figure 33 ). Clipping masks can be made up of two or more objects. The masked objects can be vector or raster, but the mask itself must be a vector object.

Figure 33. Clipping masks make it effortless to use an object as a uniquely shaped frame for other objects. Here I've used the outside box as a clipping mask to clip the cylinder and bottom portion of the people.

Clipping Mask for a Layer or Group

You can apply clipping masks on a layer or group level as well. Create your clipping path and then move it along with the objects you want to mask into a layer or group within the Layers palette. Next, bring the clipping path to the very top of the layer or group by dragging it up in the palette. Click on the layer or group name and then click the Make/Release Clipping Mask button at the bottom of the palette.

Selecting All Clipping Paths in a Document

If you're having trouble locating the clipping masks you've created in your document, you can quickly select them all by choosing Select > Object > Clipping Masks.

To make a clipping mask, create the object you want to use as a mask. This is known as the clipping path. Remember that the clipping path must be vector based. Move the clipping path so it's above all the objects you want to mask in the stacking order. Use the Bring to Front command or the Layers palette to accomplish this. Next, select the clipping path and the objects you want to mask and then choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make. Feel free to commit the handy keyboard shortcut to memory: Command+7 (Mac) or Control+7 (Windows). Once the clipping mask is created, the clipping path is automatically assigned a fill and stroke value of None. This is something to be aware of if you decide to release the clipping mask back to a normal path (Object > Clipping Mask > Release) and wonder where your clipping path went. And although a clipping path reverts to no fill and stroke when made into a mask, that doesn't stop you from applying a new fill and stroke to it.