Crop Bitmaps with Masks


Bitmap images ”either placed from other sources (such as Photoshop) or created in Illustrator ”can be cropped with masks. A photo or any bitmap illustration can be cropped using a vector object as a mask.

The basic routine for creating a mask for a bitmap is to first place a bitmap on your artboard and then place a vector image on top of the bitmap.

With both the masking vector object and the underlying bitmap selected, choose Object Clipping Mask Make to generate a mask, as shown in Figure 13-9.

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Figure 13-9: Using a bitmap image (the onions) as a clipping mask fill for text

The resulting masked object will have some of the combined strengths and weaknesses of bitmaps and vectors. You can edit the vector image you used to define the clipping mask. If that image is type, you can even edit the type, as shown in Figure 13-10. On the downside, the fill will be a bitmap and so will not be scalable.

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Figure 13-10: Editing type filled with a clipped bitmap
Note  

For more on working with bitmaps, see Chapter 19.




How to Do Everything with Illustrator CS
How to Do Everything with Adobe Illustrator CS
ISBN: 0072230924
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 175
Authors: David Karlins

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