Clipping Mask

The following mask that we apply is a clipping mask in Illustrator.

With a clipping mask we can make an object fit perfectly into another object.

I’ll give an example.

In the picture below I have two objects, a T-shirt and some lines.

Now, when you want the line to fit into the T-shirt, you should be able to do it with the towing blocks at the edge of the line, but this would not only take a long time, it would never turn out well.

It is easier and faster when you use the “Clipping Mask”.

The first thing you do is to make a copy of the T-shirt.
So select the T-shirt and press Ctrl C on your keyboard.

Then you bring the shirt to the foreground. Right click above the T-shirt, choose “Arrange” from the pop-up menu and click “Bring to Front”. This brings the T-shirt to the foreground (1).

Then select the line with the Shift key on your keyboard pressed.

This will select both objects (2).

Then click the “Object” button in the menu bar, choose “Clipping Mask” in the drop-down menu and click “Make”. This removes the T-shirt from the image (1).

Then click “Edit” in the menu bar and select “Paste in back”.
This will bring the T-shirt, that we had previously copied back, to the front of our document.

 

Remove Clipping Mask

If you wish to remove the clipping mask, select everything in the document.
You click “Object” in the menu bar, choose “Clipping Mask” in the drop-down menu and click “Release”.

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