7.0

Masks
A number of operations can take a mask to indicate which parts of a photo or drawing are to be
operated on. The Content Aware photo scaling is one example where you can mark an area of a photo
that is to be protected from the stretching operation.
Another example is the photo enhance tool. You can mark part of a
photo using a mask shape and then apply the enhance tool only to that
part of the photo.
Operations that can use a mask include;

Content Aware photo scaling

Cut / Copy / Delete operations

Duplicate and Clone

Clipview

Combine Shapes (Arrange menu)
Terminology ? masks versus opacity masks
In Web Designer Premium the term "mask" when used on its own refers to the practice of temporarily
marking part of a photo or design, such that a subsequent operation makes use of that mask in some
way, as described in this chapter. Xara Web Designer 7 Premium also includes the "opacity mask"
feature, which should not be confused with masks as described here. An opacity mask is a way of
applying transparent effects to objects and is described in the Transparency chapter.
Appearance of masks
The mask is shown as a pink semi-transparent layer. You can draw shapes onto the mask to mark areas
of interest - either to indicate an area you want to work on, or an area that is to be protected, depending
on the operation to be applied.
You can use any of the drawing tools to operate on the mask layer. So for instance it's easy using the
Freehand tool to draw around any part of a photo. All masks in Web Designer Premium are vector
shapes and you can use the normal vector editing tool such as the Shape Editor
to edit the shape outline.
Think of a mask like a transparent pink film overlaid on your drawing or photo. You can cut holes in the
mask, or cut out shapes to overlay areas you want to protect.
Not all operations take account of the mask, if you are applying a color fill or transparency to a shape,
this will affect the whole shape as usual, irrespective of any mask. However using the mask system it's
very quick to make a copy of only part of a shape and then adjust that copied part.
In this chapter
To Create A Mask
Operating On The Mask Shapes
Operations That Use The Mask
Copying Shapes To The Mask Layer
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