Can you make a font transparent in Zazzle to mask over a photo without bringing in an SVG file?

[designme]

I would like create an editable text template in Zazzle that allows the customer to edit the text (and font too if possible) over a photo image that shows the image through the font.  Basically a masking technique using editable text and fonts.   I believe the only way to achieve this now is by importing individual SVG letters and masking over photo images, but this is not editable for the customer.  Any advice would be helpful.  Thank you! 

[Cat]

Oooo... so basically you want to use the text as a mask for the image? That sounds like a cool idea. I don't know any way to do it other than uploading an SVG of the text in question like you said, but if you could use actual editable text it would open up a whole bunch of fun design ideas. You could mask a photo, or you could even mask an image of a colorful pattern to the text so the text would be printed with whatever background pattern you masked to it.

[designme]

Thanks for your response Cat.  Maybe something for Zazzle to consider in future updates. 😀

[duckyrubin]

I have been wondering the same lately, but sadly, I don't think it can be done with editable texts - even one letter. Masking itself is a raster feature that must be created manually each time the text/letter changes.

[Barbara]

I used to work with video, and the only way we could use text as a mask was if we converted the text, but only the creator and clever users could edit it. I seriously doubt Zazzle could do the conversion using HTML.

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[Connie]

I really wish Zazzle would add the feature to use text as a mask. So many times I want to add texture or something to editable text templates.

[duckyrubin]

Indeed, it can be done with a clipping mask over the editable text layer. After all, they already apply masking, so their editor can do that, too. It's a feature I would love to see.

[Barbara]

I'd love text masking too, but given that text (OTF & TTF most common) isn't in the same format as images (JPG, PNG, etc.), Zazzle would first have to find a way to convert one format into the other. It can be done in Photoshop, but text attributes are lost in the process such as kerning and, more importantly with Zazzle, the ability to replace the text with other text. So, sure, we can convert the text ourselves in an image editor, but it can't be used as a template for customers to edit.

For the above reason, I don't think we're going to see it in Zazzle because an extra step is required: in-the-moment conversion from one format into another unrelated format before masking can take place.

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