Hello, I'm fairly new to Inkscape but I have a lot of the basics down. I need to create a 1920x1080px document that is black in color and that contains text that is transparent all the way through the document. Here's what I've done so far:
Created 1920x1080 document with black as its color rather than transparency.
Created text that is transparent.
Obviously, the text doesn't go all the way through the black underneath it. I'm certain there's a fairly easy way to accomplish this, but I'm not finding it online or in these forums.
This would be super easy in GIMP, something I've used for 15+ years now, but Inkscape handles text a lot better and I'd like to treat this as a learning opportunity. Thanks so much for the assistance.
Another method, which still keeps the text as a text object in case you need to edit it later:
In Document Properties make sure the background is transparent.
Draw a rectangle that covers your document with the fill set to the colour you want.
Duplicate the rectangle, but set the fill to white.
Create your text on top of the white rectangle, with a black fill.
Shift-click to select both the white rectangle and the text, then group them.
Select both the group and the coloured background rectangle (e.g. by rubber-band selecting over both), then Object > Mask > Set.
Now the big caveat: Although the text is still a text object, you need to release the mask to edit it, then re-set the mask afterwards. Alternatively you can edit it via the XML editor without having to release the mask, but that requires knowing what you're doing in there (hint: the group gets moved into the <defs> section when it's used as a mask).
(At least you should be able to select the text in Objects-browser and edit on the fly without xml-editor.)
Once it's used in a mask it gets put into the <defs> section of the document, so doesn't appear in the Objects browser.
You can use a clone in the mask group, with the source text outside it, which allows the text to remain editable as normal, but I figured that was probably a step too far for the OP's requirements at this point.
Ok - spoke to soon: I restarted Inkscape and it works - seems I messed with the layers of the test file. The masking text will not be automated update but is pretty easy to access here:
@PixelPest I'm not 100% sure what's happening in your video. In particular, when you set the mask (after changing the text to OBJ) why is it that the group is still available? I can get that behaviour if I use a clone of the group for masking - but then the text updates live, which doesn't appear to be happening in your example.
@PixelPest Found the answer: in Preferences > Behaviour > Clippaths and masks there's an option for "Remove clippath/mask object after applying". This is checked by default (tested on a fresh v1.0 install on a fresh virtual machine), so I guess you must have unchecked it at some point.
I prefer the default behaviour, as I rarely need to keep the clippath or mask for anything else once I've used it - and if I do then it's trivial to duplicate it before use.
Then this is exact the reason I turned it off someday as I constantly need to edit clipping paths for instance.
For editing clipping paths I just use the node tool and edit them with the clip enabled - saves having to release then re-set the clip, and you can see the changes live.
I wish there was a similar feature for masks, as it would save me a lot of time. But with that option unchecked you still need to unset the existing mask, optionally delete it, and then re-set your edited mask - so I don't really see the benefit over just unsetting the mask, editing it, then re-setting it. Maybe I'm missing something.
As I mentioned earlier, you can clone the text before you add it to the mask group, so that it remains editable. But perhaps an even better approach is to clone the whole group. That way you can enter the group to not only edit the text, but also add other content to it.
Looks like that's new in v1.0 (I'm still on 0.92 for most work). Useful to know. Unfortunately it doesn't let you edit gradient handles, which is the thing I use masks for most (for fading out the top-left corner of my Elvie comics, so they don't clash with the logo).
Edit: Not entirely new - the button to display masks existed in 0.92 - but I can't get it to actually do anything useful in that version.
Beginners' Questions Colored document with transparent text
Inkscape.org
Hello, I'm fairly new to Inkscape but I have a lot of the basics down. I need to create a 1920x1080px document that is black in color and that contains text that is transparent all the way through the document. Here's what I've done so far:
Obviously, the text doesn't go all the way through the black underneath it. I'm certain there's a fairly easy way to accomplish this, but I'm not finding it online or in these forums.
This would be super easy in GIMP, something I've used for 15+ years now, but Inkscape handles text a lot better and I'd like to treat this as a learning opportunity. Thanks so much for the assistance.
That´s pretty easy to do:
1. draw a rectangle in the size of your document and give it a light color/no stroke for the moment
2. Take text tool and type your "slogan", adjust font/size/placement etc. and fill it with color=black
3. Shift select rectangle+text and go Path->Combine - don´t be scared by the result
4. Go Fill and Stroke-> and go tab Fill->select fill rule=evenodd to maintain the text as holes - done
Cheers
Another method, which still keeps the text as a text object in case you need to edit it later:
Now the big caveat: Although the text is still a text object, you need to release the mask to edit it, then re-set the mask afterwards. Alternatively you can edit it via the XML editor without having to release the mask, but that requires knowing what you're doing in there (hint: the group gets moved into the <defs> section when it's used as a mask).
With this set-up Mask->Set here will make the background plate invisible.
(At least you should be able to select the text in Objects-browser and edit on the fly without xml-editor.)
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you explain a bit more?
Once it's used in a mask it gets put into the <defs> section of the document, so doesn't appear in the Objects browser.
You can use a clone in the mask group, with the source text outside it, which allows the text to remain editable as normal, but I figured that was probably a step too far for the OP's requirements at this point.
Ok - spoke to soon: I restarted Inkscape and it works - seems I messed with the layers of the test file. The masking text will not be automated update but is pretty easy to access here:
PixelPest: Marvelous! Thank you! And thank you both for taking the time to help. I have so much to learn with Inkscape.
@PixelPest I'm not 100% sure what's happening in your video. In particular, when you set the mask (after changing the text to OBJ) why is it that the group is still available? I can get that behaviour if I use a clone of the group for masking - but then the text updates live, which doesn't appear to be happening in your example.
Don´t know - I thought this is the normal behaviour. 😁
@PixelPest Found the answer: in Preferences > Behaviour > Clippaths and masks there's an option for "Remove clippath/mask object after applying". This is checked by default (tested on a fresh v1.0 install on a fresh virtual machine), so I guess you must have unchecked it at some point.
I prefer the default behaviour, as I rarely need to keep the clippath or mask for anything else once I've used it - and if I do then it's trivial to duplicate it before use.
Then this is exact the reason I turned it off someday as I constantly need to edit clipping paths for instance. 😉
For editing clipping paths I just use the node tool and edit them with the clip enabled - saves having to release then re-set the clip, and you can see the changes live.
I wish there was a similar feature for masks, as it would save me a lot of time. But with that option unchecked you still need to unset the existing mask, optionally delete it, and then re-set your edited mask - so I don't really see the benefit over just unsetting the mask, editing it, then re-setting it. Maybe I'm missing something.
As I mentioned earlier, you can clone the text before you add it to the mask group, so that it remains editable. But perhaps an even better approach is to clone the whole group. That way you can enter the group to not only edit the text, but also add other content to it.
The same procedure applies here to mask as to clip (except editable Text; just paths):
PS: Yup - "cloning" is clever!
Looks like that's new in v1.0 (I'm still on 0.92 for most work). Useful to know. Unfortunately it doesn't let you edit gradient handles, which is the thing I use masks for most (for fading out the top-left corner of my Elvie comics, so they don't clash with the logo).
Edit: Not entirely new - the button to display masks existed in 0.92 - but I can't get it to actually do anything useful in that version.