Masking or just REALLY good steady erasing?

[vectorterrorist]

So I have been designing in illustrator and I have conquered making a clipping mask on templates I have (mx graphics) and I have been admiring other peoples work and when I look at their stuff everything is ALWAYS smooth and dead on with the template outline.

when I place a shape that hangs over the edge of the template and I go to erase the excess...I'm always left with a jagged or line or a bumpy looking end result (which is fine for when I print and cut because the cutter will follow the contour of the template)

but for displaying I want to get those "erased" lines looking smooth and in sync with the template-

is there a tool to do this or do all these people just have very accurate and steady erasing hands?

 

[iSign]

...I want to get those "erased" lines looking smooth...

is there a tool to do this...

I use the delete button!

If you have rastor graphics to "trim" or erase the edges of, the quality of your selection equals the quality of line you can end up with. If you have a vector shape you will be using for your cut, you can bring that vector into photoshop to make a selection...


...but what I often do, since I bring my rastor graphic into illustrator anyway, is to mask the edges & export as a .tif file.

I'm not sure if the jagged lines are all from not having a steady hand, or also from a resolution issue. I don't trust my hane with the eraser tool, so I would also opt for using the selection tool(s) because you can continue to go back and add to, or subtract from a selection before deleting the excess pixels. (I think you want to have anti alias off as well... I was getting some fuzzy edges at random occasions, and I believe that was the culprit)

 

[Bill Modzel]

I don't understand what your problem is I guess. If you've mastered the clipping mask than there should be a clean crisp edge after the mask is made. There should be no need to "erase" anything unless your talking about PhotoShop.
If you are doing this in Photoshop don't mess with masking there. Place your graphic in Illustrator and use your own template for a clipping mask in Illy.

 

[Techman]

when I place a shape that hangs over the edge of the template and I go to erase the excess...I'm always left with a jagged or line or a bumpy looking end result (which is fine for when I print and cut because the cutter will follow the contour of the template)

Right as bill says. Clipping masks... They only way to fly..

Clipping mask. no need to erase anything. Production layout houses do not erase anything. They place the photo into clipping mask. Done. All of 3 seconds. Photo is not ruined or lost.

 

[vectorterrorist]

ok maybe I am confusing you guys- lets say I have a square...I want to put a print over square so I make a clipping mask with e print I have and it conforms to the square...that I get...now lets say I want to put a red cirlcle halfway on the square and halfway off...do I need to erase half the cirlce thats sticking halfway off OR is there a way to do another clipping mask on top of the one I have already done?

 

[vectorterrorist]

I thought I did- I was able to mask a shape on top of another but when I went to do another it got all funky and turned my work transparent.

 

[m.hafenbrack]

I'm a little confused. Maybe if you posted a picture. I've never had an image get all funky and transparent when doing a mask. Is your clipping mask is on top of all the objects you're masking.

 

[Graphics2u]

Not sure because I don't do alot of that kind of thing with clipping masks, but can you layer all the images and then apply one mask to them all at the same time? Just a guess.

 

[vectorterrorist]

heres a pic- when I get to this step I get lost and when I try to do clipping mask again the black circle dissapears and makes the triangle white/transparent- I want to learn how to keep doing clipping mask on top of clipping mask if that makes sense

 

[m.hafenbrack]

I see what you're doing. I don't quite understand why you're making multiple clipping masks over each other. Just put the square and circles all down, then the clipping mask (triangle) over them, select all and make a clipping mask.

 

[rjpjr]

1. Release the clipping mask on your last circle and delete the mask vector as it is not needed.

2. Select and Cut the circle.

3. Double click the red object. This will take you into ''Isolation Mode''. If the red background is grouped with the other dots, the entire group will be selected. Double click the red background again and this will select the background layer. From your description, I believe you will only need to double click once to select only the red background graphic

4. Leaving the red graphic selected in Isolation mode, go to edit and ''Paste In Front'' (or use appropriate keyboard shortcut).

5. Double click an open area on the canvas. This will take Illustrator out of Isolation mode and your circle is now included in the original clipping mask.

6. The same procedure can be done with the smaller circles as well. Just as posted above, you really only need one clipping mask.

 

[synergy_jim]

when we do mx graphics, we use the divide command in pathfinder a ton.

that way we can overlap multiple paths and use the edges of the paths as a trimming point for other paths without the need more masks.

JD