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If adding a layer mask to a vector shape doesn’t sound like a regular barrel
of monkeys to you, skip to the “Bending and Warping Type” exercise, which
begins on page 388. Then again, if it sounds like more fun than you’ve had
in years, enjoy the remaining steps.- Add a layer mask. With the Stripes layer still active, click the
small icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Photoshop adds
another mask thumbnail, as shown in Figure 11-35. - Click the gradient tool in the toolbox. If the paint bucket is
active, Alt-click (Option-click) it to switch to the gradient tool.
Or just press the G key. Also, confirm the following settings:- Press the D key to set the foreground color to white and the
background to black (the masking defaults). - Make sure the gradient bar on the left side of the options
bar displays a white-to-black gradient. If it does not, press
Shift+ (that’s Shift+comma) to reset it. - Select the first style icon in the options bar (the one labeled
Linear Gradient in Figure 11-36). - The other options should be set to their defaults: Mode:
Normal, Opacity: 100 percent, Reverse: off, and the last
two check boxes on.
- Press the D key to set the foreground color to white and the
- Draw the gradient mask. Drag in the image window from the
top of the 4 to just beyond the left edge of the image window,
matching the angle of the neighboring stripe, as illustrated in
Figure 11-37 atop the facing page. The result is that the stripes
fade as they progress from right to left.
If you don’t like the result of the gradient mask, just redraw it. Because
the gradient is opaque, it replaces any previous gradient you’ve drawn;
no undo needed.Figure 11-35.Figure 11-36.402 Lesson 11: Text and Shapes