Clipping & Masking Techniques

Clipping and masking are techniques used in web design to control the visibility of elements by defining specific regions of an element to show or hide.

In general, clipping is used in simple situations, and masking is used in more complex situations.

Clipping

Clipping involves defining a region of an element that is visible, and everything outside that region is hidden. It is strictly binary—either the content is visible (inside the clip area) or invisible (outside it).

• Uses shapes to define visibility.
• Does not support transparency or gradients.
• Content outside the clipping path is visually hidden but remains interactive and in the DOM.

The CSS property clip-path supports this technique.

For example;

.clip-example {
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px;
  background: url('https://via.placeholder.com/300') no-repeat center;
  clip-path: circle(50% at center);
}

Masking

Masking defines visibility using an image or gradient that acts as a mask. The mask can have varying levels of transparency, allowing partial visibility and soft edges.

• Supports transparency and gradients.
• Allows for soft edges and complex shapes.
• Uses an image, gradient, or shape as a mask.
• Content outside the mask is not visible and does not remain interactive.

The CSS property mask ( or -webkit-mask for better compatibility ) can be used.

For example;

.mask-example {
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px;
  background: url('https://via.placeholder.com/300') no-repeat center;
  mask-image: radial-gradient(circle, black 50%, transparent 51%);
  -webkit-mask-image: radial-gradient(circle, black 50%, transparent 51%);
}

Differences Between Clipping and Masking

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Tools & Solutions

Generating Your Clip Path

WebBae's Clip Path Bae App

https://webflow.com/apps/detail/clip-path-bae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ChDNewxtk&ab_channel=pixelgeek

Notes

CSS Tricks
https://css-tricks.com/almanac/properties/c/clip-path/

Vincent Bidaux's clipping and masking demo page
https://clipping-masking.webflow.io/

Masking discussion in the Webflow forum
https://discourse.webflow.com/t/masking-an-image-in-a-custom-shape/91772

https://discourse.webflow.com/t/responsive-svg-clipping-mask-on-image/155254

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MajMg7MKECc&ab_channel=AweStation-WebDesignandWebflowDevelopment

Demos

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