Feedback for Design Tool updates: Editing Mask and Group elements

[James]

Hi Creators, 

Have you seen the latest? Group and Masking element editing has just gotten an upgrade. Check out the latest announcement for more details and let us know what you think 🗣️. 

Thanks. 

The Creator Team. 

[Connie]

I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but these are FANTASTIC changes! SOOOO many times I wanted to be able to edit elements in a group without having to ungroup, edit, and then regroup!

[KeegansCreation]

Thanks for the updates. There are just too many times I forgot to make the placeholder photo into a template or have to fidget with placement. Removing the whole mask>oops>unmask>fix>re-mask step is quite helpful. Same with group>oops>ungroup>fix>re-group.

[Spark]

😊👍

[Cherie]

😃GREAT!

[aldercreek]

Thank you... these upgrades will be very helpful.

* An opacity tool would be great too!

[HeatherM]

Fantastic! Thank you to the team that made this happen!

[BiRD]

Luvit! Thank you 🙂

[leartiste67]

Hi,

Wondering if we as creators can upload our own SVG's to the design tool ourselves? it has to be only a solid color & why? It's a cool upgrade btw! ~leartiste67 

[KeegansCreation]

We can upload our own SVGs. I have done it for shapes not available in the design tool such as diamonds and arches. It wouldn't work as a mask if it weren't a solid color.

[Anne]

I don't understand it. Sorry.
"For creating placeholder images in various shapes, we recommend using a solid shape SVG and leveraging the masking feature instead of cutouts. Utilizing cutouts may result in a less seamless personalization experience for the customer. Opting for the “Mask” function provides a smoother integration between the image and the desired SVG shape."
Are we now expecting the customer to go into the advanced editor and know that when they see "mask" they are supposed to double click on it? Why else would it make a difference for the customer?
Sorry, very confused about how this works.

[KeegansCreation]

The customer doesn't have to go into the design tool anymore to adjust the photo placement. They used to but then a few months ago Zazzle introduced Adjust on the product page. When a customer uploads a photo, an Adjust button appears (not until they upload a photo) that lets them resize the photo and/or move it around without ever going into the design tool. So they will never even know there is a mask.

[Deb]

The one thing I am noticing is - the entire page  where we do our  layouts is hanging up a lot sine the new tools -  getting a lot of errors, stalling,  no response etc.. 

[origamiprints]

I do love the idea of a masking tool and I'm hoping it can be used on more elements in the future like text for example. 

[Anne]

As the option to edit a comment apparently is not functional any more, I 'd like to add something to my remark. Sorry I seem to be the only one who does not have a clue as to how to turn this into an advantage.
I see the mask sitting on top of the template image. This prevents me from seeing whether I actually made it a template or forgot.
Then I want to add multiple template images and I see multiple layers of "Mask", which prevents me from seeing which image is which.
I had to download Inkscape as none of my software can create SVG files, so that is another burden on the already heavy workload.
Obviously I am missing something.
@James could you please be so kind to offer additional information on this? Maybe an example product that we can see the advanced editor of? Thank you!

[Connie]

You don't HAVE to use the mask feature if you don't want to download more software. They have ALWAYS required SVGs for masking- this change merely makes it easier to adjust the masked image without unmasking (when it works, LOL!)

[KeegansCreation]

You only need to import your own SVGs if you want something beyond the round/square options already in the design tool.

[Anne]

The entire mask area in the advanced editor is now frozen and I cannot change anything in the advanced editor. I also don't get the notifications when someone posts a reply on this thread.

[Krysanthe]

I used it this week...absolutely love it! Makes it so much easier with masking. 

[VivianD117]

Actually the group editing is pretty amazing . . . thank you! 

[Anne]

Thank you @Connie and @KeegansCreation  I am able to create the SVG with Inkscape. However I don't seem to be able to create the effect that would make this awesome. I thought maybe it was because I had left the template photo to the standard "fill". But that is not the problem either. Also I don't see any "adjust" option on the product page next to the template image. It just says "replace" and then it goes to a standard whatever and I cannot scale it or move the new image without going into the advanced editor.
Does anyone have a link to a product in which this is actually working? Thank you!

[De]

Very helpful!!!  One question, if fill is recommended, why have fit and none as an option?  Wouldn't it be easier to just remove them as an option, or do others use these functions for a specific purpose.  I'd love to see or hear of examples of how and in what situations to use them over the recommended fill options.

[KeegansCreation]

Logos don't use fill because that would cut off the edges of the logo. 

[ChromaMaven]

Is fit the correct option for a logo?

[Fiorenzo]

Absolutely. You want to make sure the whole logo is visible inside the template. For this to be granted you need to use the fit option. This is not restricted to logos but to all imagery meant to be displayed fully/uncut, e.g. monograms, frames, etc.