Masks allow you to creatively control layers and objects. You can apply masks and blending modes from the Layers panel. You can also use the options on the Select and Modify menus to create a mask. You can cover a part of the image below with a vector object or a bitmap object. For example, if you want to cover a part of a photo to make it look like a box with an ellipse around it, you can paste an ellipse as a mask above the photo. The area outside the ellipse disappears completely, just like it has been cropped, and only the area inside the ellipse is shown in the figure.

When used as a mask, the path profile of a vector object can be used to cut or cut other objects. When a bitmap object is used as a mask, its brightness of one pixel or its transparency will affect the visibility of other objects.

Use the Paste as Mask command to create a mask: Select an object to use as a mask. Hold down the Shift key and click to select multiple objects. Note: If multiple objects are used as masks, Fireworks will always create a vector mask (even if both objects are bitmaps).

Position the selection so that it overlaps the object or group of objects to be masked.

An object used as a mask can be in front of or behind the object or group of objects to be masked.

If you are Macromedia FreeHand,

Users may be familiar with the "internal paste" method of creating masks. Paste Inside creates a vector mask or bitmap mask, depending on the type of mask object used. The Paste Inside command creates a mask by filling a closed path or bitmap object with the following other objects:

Vector graphics, text or bitmap images. The path itself is sometimes called the clip path, and the items it contains are called content or internal paste. Content outside the clip path will be hidden.

The Paste Inside command in Fireworks has a similar effect to the Paste As Mask command, but there are several differences:

When Paste Inside is used, the cut and pasted objects are the objects to be masked. When using Paste as Mask, the cut and pasted objects are mask objects. For vector masks, Paste Inside shows the fill and stroke of the mask object itself. By default, when Paste as Mask is used, the fill and stroke of vector mask objects are not visible. However, you can use the Property inspector to show or hide the fill and stroke of the vector mask.