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EliasMBank1975
Participant
June 13, 2013
Question

Clipping mask making everything just disappear

  • June 13, 2013
  • 2 replies
  • 126360 views

I am trying to make a gear have that nice mettalic shine using the clipping mask, but everytime I make the command the whole thing just dissapears.  I am using the pen tool to make 4 triangles with different shades of grey. I then group the triangles, put a radial blur on them and place them under the gear that I created.  I select them all and do the clipping mask command, but instead of it being a gear with that radial shine, the whole thing disappears except for the outline of the triangle.  HELP!!!  I'M STUCK AND I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING (except the right thing)!!!

    2 replies

    Mike_Gondek10189183
    Community Expert
    Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 13, 2013

    Usually when everything dispaears then what you intended to use for a clipping mask, is not what happened. Your top most object in the selection is used for the clipping mask.

    I fill my clipping mask with a dummy color, to confirm I have my layering correct, the color goes away after the mask command. You can also clean up your document by putting only what you wnat to mask, along with the clipping mask on a new layer, then hit the round button after the layer name to select all in the layer, and mask.

      Jacob Bugge
      Community Expert
      Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 13, 2013

      Elias,

      To keep the fill etc of the top object, you need to use a copy of it as the Clipping path for the Clipping Mask.

      Do you have more than one object on top, such as a Group?

      What happens if you create the copy as a Compound Path (of objects with no overlap) or a single path made with Pathfinder>Unite?

        E
        EliasMBank1975Author
        Participant
        June 13, 2013

        ok, when you say a copy, you mean "control c" and erase the gear I already have?  (I'm sorry, I'm pretty new at this)  Yes, I grouped the triangles, but they are on the bottom.

          Kris Hunt
          Kris Hunt
          Legend
          February 4, 2016

          THAT WORKED! I duplicated the Grunge Streak and made it a compound Path. Then I put my Fish layer under the Compound Path and created a clipping mask. It worked!

          Thank You Kris


          Not sure why you duplicated it first, but okay. Glad it helped.

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