- [Voiceover] In this movie, I'll show you
how to crop an image inside of a clipping mask,
which gives you a lot more control
than relying on the bounding box.
So, the first thing I'm going to do is select a shape tool.
It can be any shape tool.
You can place an image inside of a star, or a polygon,
or a free-form path outline, whatever.
But I'm going to keep things simple
by selecting the rectangle tool,
which you can get by pressing the M key.
You also, if you're working along with me,
want to make sure that your smart guides are turned on.
And then I'm going to drag from the intersection
of these two guys in the top left corner
of the yellow rectangle, down and to the left, like so,
in order to create a shape that's 162 points wide
by 180 points tall, as you can see in that heads-up display.
Notice that it's coming in
with a white fill and a black stroke.
Now what you want to do,
is switch back to the black arrow tool,
which you can get by pressing the V key,
and then just drag my face to in back of that rectangle.
Then shift-click on the rectangle to select it,
so you have both the photograph and the rectangle active.
Then go up to the object menu, choose Clipping Mask,
and choose Make, or you have the keyboard shortcut
of "Control + 7", or "Command + 7" on the Mac.
Now the thing about working that way,
is that you lose the fill and stroke.
So I'm going to zoom in here,
so that you can see that the stroke is gone.
You can reinstate it if you like.
But here's another way to work.
I'm going to press "Control + Z",
or "Command + Z" on the Mac,
in order to undo the clipping mask.
And I'll press "Control + Shift + A",
or "Command + Shift + A" on the Mac,
to deselect the artwork, and then I'll click
on the photograph in the background
and press the backspace key, or the delete key on the Mac.
Another option is to place the image
directly into the rectangle.
You can do that by clicking on the rectangle to select it,
and then switch to the two column toolbox,
by clicking on this little icon in the top left corner,
so that I can gain access to these Draw options right here.
We've got Draw Normal, Draw Behind, and then Draw Inside.
Click on Draw Inside and you'll see these dotted borders
around the corners of the rectangle.
Then, go up to the File menu and choose the Place command,
or press "Control + Shift + P",
or "Command + Shift + P" on the Mac.
And then select my face,
make sure the Link check box is turned on,
and also turn on the Replace check box.
And that way, when you click the Place button,
you'll place me directly into that rectangle.
And notice that I maintained that black stroke,
as well as the white fill,
although currently we can't see it.
This is so much better because I can just
drag my face around inside the clipping mask,
as opposed to relying on that little alignment icon.
I'm going to switch back to the Draw Normal mode.
I'm also going to switch back to the single column toolbox.
And I want to scale my face.
So with the photograph selected, switch to the Scale tool,
which you can get by pressing the S key,
and then press the Enter key, or the Return key on the Mac
to bring up the Scale dialog box.
I came up with a uniform value of 52 percent,
after which point, I clicked Ok to accept that change.
Now I'll press the V key,
to switch back to my black arrow tool,
and I'll drag this guy around.
And I want it in a very specific location.
So I'm going to click on Transform,
up here in the control panel.
Make sure that the top left point
in this little reference point matrix is selected,
and then change the X value to 58 points.
And we're looking for a Y value of zero points.
And now I'll hide the transform panel.
I don't really want the fill and stroke
associated with the rectangle,
so notice these little icons over here,
in the far left side of the control panel.
Right now, Edit Contents is turned on,
which allows me to drag the image around,
as well as scale it.
I'll go ahead and undo that move.
What I want to do is switch to Edit Clipping Path,
by clicking on that first icon.
That's going to show me the fill and stroke,
and then I'll change the fill to none,
and also change the stroke to none as well,
in order to produce this effect right here.
And then I'll click off the photo to deselect it.
And that's how you crop an image like a real pro,
using a more reliable and flexible clipping mask,
here inside Illustrator.