Adding a Mask
A Mask is an area that prevents objects in front of it from
obscuring what‘s behind it. For example, suppose you have a fence in your
background picture and want to add trees behind it. By adding a mask over the
fence you can prevent the trees from drawing on top of the fence.
To add a mask:
Click Add Mask.
Draw the mask’s outline by clicking to add points. Press Backspace to
remove the last point. Press Esc to cancel.
Click the starting point to close the outline. Or, right-click to automatically
join the last point to the first.
In the following example, two trees were added to the
landscape design. Notice how they draw over fence, which is part of the
This can be prevented by adding a mask around the fence, as
Note: Masks are not normally visible unless they are
Controlling the Render Order
Masks only prevent objects that are behind them from
rendering over the background picture, not objects in front. You can use the
Bring to Front and Send to Back commands to change the order that
objects are rendered. See Controlling
the Render Order for more information.
The following is the finished version of the landscape
design used in the above example.
Changing the Shape
Once a mask has been added, it can be easily changed. This
includes moving points, adding & deleting points, and so forth. See Editing Points for more information.
can draw masks that extend outside of the background picture and onto the gray
workspace. This is easier than trying to draw them exactly on the edge of your
picture. When you print your landscape design, only the rectangular area over
the background picture will be printed.
more control over the shape of your mask, you can easily add more points. See Inserting & Deleting Points for more
Setting Object Properties