Learn how to enhance your digital designs by adding a mask to the stars layer. The article walks through the process of group selection, changing opacity, creating a radial gradient, modifying colors, and adjusting sliders to create vibrant and realistic star layers.
Key Insights:
- The article provides a detailed walkthrough on how to add a mask to a stars layer in digital designs, starting with group selection of the stars layers.
- Creating a radial gradient and adjusting the opacity of the shape allows for the creation of vibrant star layers. The white and black elements in the gradient determine the visibility of the stars.
- Along with adjusting the gradient and opacity, the article also recommends modifying colors and adjusting sliders for creating realistic and less vibrant stars at the corners and the bottom of the design.
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In this video, we'll be adding a mask to our Stars layer. Let's first begin by selecting our Stars layers.
Normally, we could right-click and select Group. However, because these are symbols, we'll need to select them and go to Object > Group. From here, we can begin adding our mask.
Let's start by creating a rectangle and dragging from the top left down to the bottom right, under the horizon. If we hit V on the keyboard to select our shape, let's change the Opacity from 100% to 50%, and hit ENTER. This will allow us to see behind the shape for our mask.
Next, let's utilize the Gradient Tool, shortcut G on the keyboard, and select a Radial Gradient. In order to create our mask, all of the white elements will fully show through, and all of the black elements will be hidden. Therefore, for our stars, anything in white will be fully vibrant, and anything in black will not show through.
For our gradient, let's start by clicking and dragging out from the center of our moon. We'll then hold Shift to drag a straight line outward and release at about the edge of our Artboard. Next, we need to modify our colors.
We can do this by double-clicking the color stop. The first change we'll make is to click the top right icon with the bullet points and, rather than Grayscale, we'll select RGB. For this one, let's select white. Then, dragging our second color stop, we'll do the same thing—select RGB and set it to black.
Next, let's add two more color stops. We'll move our white stop by dragging it to the right and add one more by clicking when we see the plus sign at the bottom right of the gradient slider. If we double-click this stop, we’ll again set it to white.
Finally, we’ll add one more on the left-hand side. Double-click it and set it to black. From here, we'll align the black stop with the center of the moon—this will be where the stars show the least—and we’ll drag the white stops outward. Our first white stop will sit just outside the moon, and the second white stop we’ll drag toward the edges so that the outermost areas of the Artboard fade to black.
From here, feel free to adjust the sliders as needed. In this case, we’ll position the black stop so it aligns with the edge of the moon, ensuring no stars appear directly over the moon. Adjust as needed.
We'll make it so that the stars closest to the moon are less vibrant than those farther away. Feel free to make your own modifications. If we zoom out, we can see the result. Next, we need to create a second mask for the bottom so the stars near the horizon aren’t as vibrant.
We’ll again use the Rectangle Tool, and with the Rectangle Tool, drag a shape from one end of the Artboard to the other, starting below the horizon and dragging up to about the top of the moon. Release, and next, we’ll select the Gradient Tool.
This time, instead of a Radial Gradient, we’re going to choose a Linear Gradient. Let’s remove a couple of color stops.
To remove a color stop, simply click on it and drag it downward. Do this twice, so you're left with two black color stops. We'll then drag this gradient to the left. Rather than dragging across, we want the gradient to go from bottom to top.
Click at the bottom of the shape, hold Shift, and drag straight upward—just below the top. Now, we want to modify the top black color stop’s opacity to 0%.
Double-click the stop, set the Opacity to 0, and hit ENTER. You’ll now see the gradient fade from solid black at the bottom to transparent at the top. We can adjust the slider so that stars begin to appear halfway up, becoming most vibrant at the top. We've now finished our bottom gradient.
Next, let’s hit V on the keyboard and select our Radial Gradient shape. Change its Opacity from 50% to 100% by typing it in and hitting ENTER.
We now have our two gradient shapes. Select both while holding Shift, and hit CTRL+C to copy them to the clipboard. Since we may want to make modifications later, let's keep them in our Stars layer but simply hide them.
Finally, we need to apply our masks. Select the grouped stars, and in the Transparency Panel, select Make Mask. From here, select the black thumbnail to enable mask editing, and hit CTRL+Shift+V to paste our gradient shapes into the mask.
Below, we can see a preview of our masks. If we click outside the mask thumbnail, we’ll see the result: stars are less vibrant in the corners, and the gradient also softens the stars near the bottom.
To edit a gradient, select the shape and use the Gradient Tool. In this case, if we want fewer stars near the corners, we can drag the black stops inward. Now, we have fewer visible stars in the corners.
To exit mask editing and return to editing normal layers, click outside the mask and hit CTRL+Shift+A to deselect.
Let’s now hit CTRL+S on the keyboard to save our work. In the next video, we’ll be modifying our image for our final project.
See you there!