Product Mask Image Creation

Create Mask Image for printable products such as CDs, Door Hangers, etc. Mask images use the mask to hide portions of the layer and reveal the layers below. This feature will help your customers to edit their photos and designs in a more enhanced way for the die-cut products.

Follow the systematic guideline to create a Mask Image of CD Product using Adobe Illustrator.

Note: The main aim of creating a mask image is to differentiate between the Printable & Non-Printable Area. Make the Printable area transparent such that a customer can superimpose its design on it. Also make the Non-Printable area semi-transparent by filling it with a color (grey and red color are used in the below example), by using opacity.

Step – 1 Create a New File

Start the mask image creation; create a new file in Adobe Illustrator.

Set the height and width as per your product requirements. Example shows a canvas of 62mm*62mm.
Set the Units.
Click on 'OK'.
This will create your Canvas.

Step – 2 Create a Rectangle

On the Canvas created above, create a rectangle of the same size as the canvas.

The example shows a rectangle of size 62mm*62mm, the same size as that of Canvas.
Fill color in the rectangle as Grey.
Give opacity to the rectangle as 35%.

Step – 3 Create an Ellipse

In your design area, create a Ellipse shape.
Enter the desired width and height.

This will create an ellipse as follows-

Similarly, create an Ellipse of smaller size to create a hole in CD Product design.

Now you have an image created for a Die-cut product CD Label.

The Opaque area in the image is the non-printable area. Design done in that area will be non-printable.
The White area is Printable i.e. a design made on this area will be only printed. Thus, you require making it transparent.

Step – 4 Make the ‘White’ Area Printable i.e. Transparent

Press ‘Ctrl + A’ to select all the Shapes.
Click on ‘Shape Builder Tool’

Select the ‘Shape Builder Tool’ and hold Alt Key + Right Mouse Button in the ‘White Area’ to make it transparent.

Step – 5 Export Mask Image

The above step will create a Mask Image for CD Product.

Here you can change the color of the non-printable area.
Now ‘Export’ your Canvas as PNG/PDF/SVG file.

Note: The size parameters used above are just for reference. Your size parameter may vary as per needs. In addition, this is only an example of one Die-Cut Product – CD. Using similar steps create Mask image of other Die-Cut products.

Shown below are some example of Mask Images of other Die-cut products.