User Guide

Canvas 12 User Guide
A rectangle and text are
blocked by an opaque paint
object in front
A transparent background
lets objects show through it
Rendering objects and images
Rendering converts objects into paint objects; e.g., you can use the Render command to create a
paint object from text, and then use the Airbrush tool to paint highlights on the image of the text.
You can create paint objects by rendering selected vector objects, text objects, and group objects.
You can render a paint object to create a new paint object that has different characteristics than the
original.
Rendering is also referred to as “rasterizing” because the process produces a raster image -
an image composed of pixels arranged in a grid. All paint objects in Canvas contain raster,
or pixel-based, images.
When you use the Render command, you can create a transparency mask or visibility mask for the
resulting paint object.
When you render a vector object, it’s a good idea to select a visibility mask if you want to isolate an
object against a clear background.
To render objects:
1. Select one or more objects and choose Image | Area | Render. If you select multiple objects,
they will be rendered as one paint object.
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