How to apply masks within appearances?

[Sven Stone]

I'm trying to create a simple mask to hide parts of a fill gradient within the appearances panel, but I can't figure out how to actually apply it without it effecting the entire object. Am I missing something painfully obvious here?

[Monika Gause]

You want to mask just one of the fills?

Can you post the complete object and the complete appearance stack and then tell us what this is supposed to look like?

Or better: upload the file somewhere.

[meganchi]

What happens if you select "clip" beneath the "Release" button on your transparency panel?

[Sven Stone]

         

[SJRiegel]

I can see a couple of ways to do with - one would be the quick-and-easy way of duplicating your object (unmasked) above with just the stroke, not the fill. 

Another would be to duplicate your shape and use it as a clipping mask on your gradient - then add a white stroke equal to the size of the dark stroke on your object. Line the clipped gradient up with your shape, and then make your transparency mask.

[Sven Stone]

I ended up duplicating the object, removing the mask from the original and just hiding everything other than the fill in the duplicate. It's a bit more of a hassle than I'd like but at least it works.

[SJRiegel]

I found another, easier way that does not require a duplicate object. 

After applying transparency to the object, select the object and Group it. It won't be actually grouped with anything, but that is OK. You can then use the Appearance panel to add a new stroke to the group that contains your one object.

Much cleaner than having to add a duplicate object.

 

[Sven Stone]

Sorry, but I don't fully understand what this is meant to achieve or how it helps here. I followed your instructions and it's still excluding the rest of the object rather than just masking the gradient itself. 
 

[Monika Gause]

Can you perhaps show what this looks like now and what exactly you want to achieve?

[SJRiegel]

When you first apply the transparency mask, the stroke will also be masked. Then select the object and make it into a Group. Then, in the Appearance panel menu, add a new stroke to the group.

[SJRiegel]

If you are willing to share a link to a file containing your object, we could look at exactly what is happening. 

Here is a link to my sample file

[Sven Stone]

Sorry for the late reply!

I've provided both an example of how it should look using a duplicate of the gradient with its own mask and the original with just its appearances. I've also moved the gradient fill in question to the top of the stack within the appearance panel so you'll hopefully have an easier time finding it. Sample 

P.S. Feel free to let me know if there's anything else in the project that's being done in a roundabout way and could be done better!

[Sven Stone]

Thanks for the file, unfortunately I still couldn't crack how to make it work for my project.