Masking content
You can easily hide portions of images or shapes (paths) using two different methods of masking in Adobe XD: mask with shape or image fill. Masks are nondestructive, which means that nothing that is hidden by the mask is deleted. In either case, you can adjust the mask, if required, to highlight another portion of the masked content.
Masking with a shape or path
The first method for masking you will learn is masking with a shape. This method of masking (hiding) portions of artwork or images is similar to masking in a program like Illustrator. The mask is either a closed path (shape) or an open path (like a path in the shape of an “s,” for instance). To mask content, the masking object is on top of the object to be masked. Next, you’ll mask a portion of artwork.
Click in the gray pasteboard area to deselect all.
In the Layers panel on the left, double-click the artboard icon (
) to the left of the Recording artboard to select it and zoom in to it.Click to select the map illustration artwork so you can see all of it.
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Pressing the R key will select the Rectangle tool.
Select the Rectangle tool (
) in the toolbar. Starting at the top edge of the artwork on the left edge of the artboard, drag down and to the right corner of the artboard.Press the V key to select the Select tool.
With the shape still selected, in the Layers panel, Shift-click the Path and Group objects to select the map artwork behind the shape.
Choose Object > Mask With Shape (macOS) or right-click and choose Mask With Shape from the menu that appears (Windows).
With the Layers panel open and the image still selected on the artboard, you’ll see Mask Group 1 in the Layers panel list. The mask shape and the object that is masked are now part of a group.
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Editing a mask
When you mask content, you may later want to crop it in a different way, revealing more or less of that content. When you mask with a shape, as you did in the previous section, you can easily edit both the mask and the object masked. Next, you’ll change how the content from the previous section is masked.
With the Select tool (
) selected and the image still selected, double-click the map artwork to enter mask editing mode. The mask (rectangle) will be selected.
Double-clicking a masked object will temporarily show the mask and the masked object (the map artwork, in this instance) in the window. That way, you can edit either the mask or the object that is masked.
NOTE
Any appearance property changes you make to the rectangle shape that is the mask, like fill or border, will not show when you exit the editing mode.
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In Path Edit mode, you can add, delete, and move anchor points as well as convert them between smooth and corner (and back) by double-clicking.
Click the Different Radius For Each Corner button (
) in the Property Inspector on the right. Change the first two values to 15, pressing Return or Enter after typing in the second value. Leave the last two values at 0.The top two corners of the mask are now slightly rounded. If you wanted to edit the mask shape further, you could double-click the edge of the mask and enter Path Editing mode to edit the anchor points.
In the Layers panel, click the Mask Group 1 icon (
) to reveal the content of the mask group, if you don’t already see it. Click the “path” object and then Shift-click the “group” object to select both. To keep them together, you will now group them. Right-click one of the selected objects in the Layers panel list and choose Group to group them.
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NOTE
The numbers you see in the names of objects in the Layers panel (“Path 154,” for example) may be different, and that’s okay.
Option+Shift-drag (macOS) or Alt+Shift-drag (Windows) the lower-right handle of the map artwork down a little to make it larger.
You could transform the masked content in different ways, or you could select the shape that is the mask (the rectangle, in this case) and reposition or resize it. You can also copy and paste other content into the mask.
Drag the selected artwork into the center of the artboard. Make sure that it fills the mask shape and covers the lower corners of the artboard.
Press the Esc key to exit the mask editing mode. The map artwork is once again masked.
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You can also stop editing the parts of a mask by clicking other artwork in the document.
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To remove a mask, you could select the mask group and choose Object > Ungroup Mask (macOS) or right-click the group and choose Ungroup Mask (Windows). You can also press Shift+Command+G (macOS) or Shift+Ctrl+G (Windows).
NOTE
Masked content is cropped like you see on the artboard when the asset is exported. You’ll learn about exporting in Lesson 11.
Press Command+0 (macOS) or Ctrl+0 (Windows) to see everything.
Click in a blank area away from the artboards to deselect the masked content.
Choose File > Save (macOS) or click the menu icon (
) in the upper-left corner of the application window and choose Save (Windows).
Masking with an image fill
Another method for masking is to drag and drop an image into an existing shape or path. The image becomes the fill of the shape. This method of masking is great when adding design content to a low-fidelity wireframe, for instance. Next, you’ll import a new image for a profile picture and mask it with a shape.
Double-click the artboard icon (
) to the left of the artboard name “Journal” in the Layers panel to fit the artboard in the document window.
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If the circle doesn’t have a width and height of exactly 144, you could set the Lock Aspect option (
) in the Property Inspector and change either Width or Height to 144 to change both together.
Select the Ellipse tool (
) in the toolbar. Shift-drag on the Journal artboard to create a circle. Release the mouse button and then the key when you see a width and height of approximately 144 in the Property Inspector. As you drag, you’ll notice that the Width and Height values change by 8 because the circle is snapping to the square grid.
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NOTE
If you were to deselect the Fill option in the Property Inspector with the shape selected, the image would be hidden. Also, if you change the fill color for the shape in the Property Inspector, the image will be removed from the shape.
Go to the Finder (macOS) or File Explorer (Windows), open the Lessons > Lesson04 > images folder, and leave the folder open. Go back to XD. With XD and the folder showing, find the image named meng.png in the folder, and drag the image on top of the circle you drew in the Journal artboard. When the circle is highlighted in blue, release the mouse button to drop the image into the frame.
By dragging an image onto a shape, the image becomes the fill of the shape.
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Editing an image fill mask
Dropping an image into a shape so that it becomes the fill of the shape means the image is always centered in the shape. Next, you’ll explore the editing capabilities of this type of mask.
NOTE
Unlike with the Mask With Shape command you used in the previous section, you cannot edit the anchor points of the shape in this type of mask.
With the Select tool (
) selected, double-click the image to enter Path Edit mode. The image will be selected.Drag a corner of the image to make it larger. Then, drag the image so that more of her face is in the circle.
Press the Esc key to stop editing the image within the circle.
Deselect the Border option in the Property Inspector to turn it off.
With the masked image still selected, Shift-drag a corner of the bounding box to make the image smaller. When Width and Height are 80 in the Property Inspector, release the mouse button and then the key.
The image will remain centered in the shape and resizes proportionally to fill the shape. Unlike images you place, the Lock Aspect option (
) is not selected for masked content by default. That’s why you held the Shift key down when resizing it.
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NOTE
The Width and Height values may change by different values in the Property Inspector, depending on the zoom level of the document. If you are zoomed out far enough, the width and height will change by 8.
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If the circle doesn’t have a width and height of exactly 80, that’s okay. You could set the Lock Aspect option () in the Property Inspector and change either Width or Height to 80 to change both together.
Drag the image into position, as you see in the figure.
Choose File > Save (macOS) or click the menu icon (
) in the upper-left corner of the application window and choose Save (Windows).
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