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STYLE

Masks and clipping

A mask shows the layers under it only where the mask is. Select the mask shape and what it should show, choose Create mask, and the top layer becomes the mask. It stays a layer you can move, edit and animate.

Do it in the editor: guided tour4 steps · about 3 minutes · opens a practice scene

Step by step

  1. Select the window and the view

    Drag a box on the canvas from the wall's top-left corner across the window. It selects every layer it touches: the window and the sea view behind it.

  2. Create the mask

    Click Create mask in the Layers panel's top bar, second from the right. The top layer, the window, goes into a Masks folder inside a new Mask group, and the view now shows only through it.

  3. Select the mask

    Click Window in the Layers panel, inside the Masks folder. A mask isn't drawn itself, but it is still a layer: its box shows where it is.

  4. Move it

    Drag inside the window's box on the canvas, to the right. The window moves over the view, which stays where it is: give the window's Position a track with and it pans across the view.

Good to know. A mask works by opacity, so a soft or see-through mask shows its layers partly. Mask by, in the mask group's Group section, switches to Brightness: white shows, black hides. A clipping path (right-click › Create clipping path) uses only the mask's shape. Release mask, beside Create mask, puts the layers back.