# Making a gif, a mask

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [May 28, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941 "2003-05-28T09:21:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cheez00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Cheez00](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Cheez00)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941/1 "2003-05-28T09:21:20Z")

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yo ok u kno say you have a person, as a gif, and you take out the bg, so its transparent around the edges of hte person, u still have a square picture. is ther any way to make the person themselves a mask, so u can have whatever going on behind it. when i make the picture as the mask, it just appears as a square. thnx for the help

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 9:53am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941/2 "2003-05-28T09:53:55Z")

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none of the details of the person will appear anyway as a mask, so perhaps tracing the outline with the pen tool would be a good idea? i think there are some tutes. on tracing bitmaps to vector shapes around, if not, check out Kitiara’s site, she has a pretty good tute on it… its [www.nowingsnohalo.co.uk](http://www.nowingsnohalo.co.uk)

once you’ve traced the outline its a simple matter to fill it and turn it into a symbol then make it a mask layer 🙂

hope it helps

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941/3 "2003-05-28T09:56:52Z")

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No idea. But you could draw the outline of your character, fill it and turn it into a mask instead.

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 9:57am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/making-a-gif-a-mask/21941/4 "2003-05-28T09:57:38Z")

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Stop reading my mind, Yoshi! :trout: