If you’ve ever wanted to use a vector shape to mask any of your layers in Photoshop, look no further! It’s incredibly easy and quite useful.
The video is pretty self-explanatory, but here are text instructions regardless:
- Select the layer you wish to mask
- Hold down ctrl (command on Mac, probably), left-click and hold on the shape, and drag it on top of the layer you wish to mask
That’s it! You now are using the shape as a layer mask. You will likely want to hide or delete the original shape layer, because odds are it’s blocking the view of your newly masked image.
It’s so easy, you may just want to cry. It’s not necessarily intuitive, though, which is why you are here. I also have another tutorial on using an actual image as a layer mask as well.
Good luck!
9 Comments on “Using Vector Shape as Layer Mask in Photoshop”
This was so much easier than the instructions on the Adobe site. Thank you
Thank you so much for this quick and easy to follow tip!
Thank you Brian, for an easily understood, concise tutorial that just gets it done!
Thank you Brian, for an easily understood, concise tutorial that just gets it done!
This is the most straightforward, clear tutorial on layer masks I’ve seen! Thanks for making this so easy.
Of course! And yes, it’s strange… So many of the tutorials seem to make things way more complicated and I’m not sure why.
I normally don’t leave comments but I gotta say thanks for this. I have never seen a tutorial as useful and concise as this, excellent job spreading this information effectively. I appreciate it greatly.
HOLY COW…this just blew my mind. I’ve been using Photoshop since 2003 and have always done it the complex pen way. Thanks for this tip!
Glad I could help out!