Mask Toolbar

The Mask Toolbar is divided into two sections: tools and tool options. Each tool has its own set of options.

The tools described in this section are found in both the mask operator toolbar and Paint toolbar.

Freehand Mask

Click the Freehand Mask tool to draw a freehand mask.

Enable the Make Curve option if you want to modify control points for the freehand mask after drawing it. (If you forget to enable Make Curve before you draw a mask, you can select the freehand mask object, then choose Object | Make Curve.)

Rectangular Mask

Click the Rectangular Mask tool to draw a rectangular mask.

Use the Mode list to access various rectangle drawing modes.

Select:	To:
Normal	Draw a rectangular mask of any size. This is the default setting. Press Shift while dragging to draw a square mask.
Constrained	Set a specific width-to-height scale ratio. In this manner, you can make sure that any mask you draw is scaled to the ratio W:H.
Fixed	Set specific rectangular dimensions. This is useful for drawing exact shapes quickly. First, set the mode to Fixed, enter the object size in the X and Y fields, and then click to set the center point of the fixed shape. You can click and drag to position it also.

Elliptical Mask

Click the Elliptical Mask tool to draw an elliptical mask.

Use the Mode list to access various ellipse drawing modes.

Select:	To:
Normal	Draw an elliptical mask of any size. This is the default setting. Pressing Shift while dragging in Normal mode is the same as using Constrained with a setting of 1 and 1.
Constrained	Set a specific width-to-height scale ratio. In this manner, you can make sure that any mask you draw is scaled to the ratio W:H.
Fixed	Set specific elliptical dimensions. This is useful for drawing exact shapes quickly. First, set the mode to Fixed, enter the object size in the X and Y fields, and then click to set the center point of the fixed shape. You can click and drag to position it also.

Polygon Mask

Click the Polygon Mask tool to draw a polygon mask. There are no tool options for the Polygon Mask tool.

Magnify Tool

Click the Magnify tool , then click in the viewport to zoom in. To zoom out, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) the viewport. To draw a zoom area, Ctrl-drag a selection box in the viewport. For fine control over zoom, scrub the Magnify tool.

Note: When the zoom factor is not one of the presets, the Zoom Factor list shows "--".

To reset zoom to 100%, double-click the Magnify tool or select 100% magnification from the Zoom Factor list.

Grab Tool

Click the Grab tool to adjust what you see in the viewport. You can also scrub the Grab tool.

Note: To scroll the image in the viewport, you can also press Spacebar while dragging the cursor in the viewport.

Arrow Tool

Click the Arrow tool to select mask objects in the active viewport.

The Arrow tool has several options:

Object Option

Use the Object option to rotate, move, or scale a mask object.

Control Points Option

Use the Control Points option to change the shape of a mask and to access the Splines, Edges, and Active options.

Pivot Point Option

Use the Pivot Point option to move the pivot point of a mask object.

Gradient Option

This option appears in the tool options, but it is unavailable for mask objects.

The next three options can only be accessed when the Control Points option is selected.

Splines Display Option

Use the Splines display option to show or hide mask outlines, leaving only the control points visible.

Edges Display Option

Use the Edges display option to show or hide the edges created by the Edge Gradient feature.

Note: The Splines display option must be enabled for you to use the Edges display option.

Active Option

Use the Active option to determine whether a mask control point is active or inactive on a frame or range of frames. To access this option, a mask control point must be selected.