Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Masking with shadows for soft transitions.
In order to create the illusion that a critter's
head was inside the tendril's tube, Leavens attached a feathered oval for the area of
the neck that would gradually disappear into the gradient that creates the hole in the
tendril. To do this he drew a black oval on top of the neck and feathered it (Effect>
Stylize> Feather). Because the head consisted of several objects contained within a
<Clip Group>, to attach an opacity mask to the head, Leavens targeted the <Clip
Group> in the Layers panel, held down Shift, and also selected the feathered oval.
Opening the Transparency panel, he disabled “New opacity masks are clipping” from
the panel menu so all new masks would be solid white (reveal all). Then he clicked
the Make Mask button, turning the top object (the black feathered oval) into an opac-
ity mask for the critter head clip group.
1
The head overlapping the hollow tendril (left); adding an oval with
a Feather effect (middle); Shift-selecting the
head <Clip Group> and oval; clicking on
the Make Mask button (right/below)
