Converting the art beneath a clipping mask to grayscale?

[SDB-NashvilleJason]

So I have a logo that I need to create a white version and a black version of.

The original logo designer used pieces of art that had cool gradients in them as the base of clipping masks for the text of the design.

So I have:

>Layer

  >Clipping Mask

     >Mask

     >Art

https://www.screencast.com/t/02CAXPJ8F

I have been unable to convert this to grayscale for some reason. Does anyone have a tip for this or should I just recreate the whole thing to get the B&W version?

Thanks in advance!

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

Jason,

As I (mis)understand it you can obtain it as follows:

0) Release the Mask,

1) Reverse the stacking order so the former Mask is at the bottom,

2) Change the former Mask to have a white fill, then Ctrl/Cmd+C+F to copy it right on top of itself, then change the fill colour of the copy to full black;

3) Select the former Art and the copy of the former Mask and Make (Opacity) Mask using the Transparency panel; you can switch between ticking and unticking Invert Mask to get the desired appearance,

4) Group everything.

The white former Mask at the bottom is there (beneath the mask) to give the final artwork full Opacity.

[SDB-NashvilleJason]

WOW! That's a serious work around, but it works! Now if I can just remember this is how it's done next time I have to do it. LOL.

Thank You sir!

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, Jason.

I always bookmark important threads, or save entries with links to them in a collection of suggestions.

[Jacob Bugge]

Jason,

You could also consider it a workaround to convert the underlying artwork to greyscale so you have two sets of artwork (and the need to convert again if you ever make any changes) rather than just keeping the original artwork and use it for both purposes.

The reason for its working is that whichever colours/colour transistions occur in the masking object(s), their grayscale values form the very basis of Opacity Masks which simply turn them into equivalent transparency/opacity values which (can be made to) appear exactly like those greyscale values.

I hope this was sufficiently silly, woolly, and unintelligible.