idea Add Clipping to Feature Layer Drawing (Opposite of Masking) in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Reverse Mask

MichaelStead — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:05:25 GMT

I would like to see a toggle for "Advanced Drawing Options" masking that lets you mask inside OR outside of a polygon. Only being able to mask inside a polygon is often of no use or requires the implementation of smoke and mirror strategies.

Re: Reverse Mask

emmornile1 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:20:30 GMT

I have created 'outside' masks for years with a large polygon and then erasing with the polygon of interest.
The ability to mask on the fly would save time. It also would be good to have the ability to adjust percentage transparency for the outside mask.

Re: Reverse Mask

MichaelStead — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:18:45 GMT

.....or the clip to shape option could also be fixed to not mask annotation of unclipped layers...

Re: Reverse Mask

roemhildtg — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:22:58 GMT

This would be very ideal. I have a set of about 40 rasters that extend slightly beyond a set of lakes (polygon features). I would like to mask each raster using these lake polygon features. I want to show the rasters inside of the particular features but not outside of those features.

Re: Reverse Mask

JoabelBarbieri — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 21:02:39 GMT

I wonder why this isn't possible yet. It's just logical, my mask should hide the outside not the inside !

Re: Reverse Mask

deleted-user-yUw6wWKCYBY0 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 10:40:08 GMT

I have to agree with Joabel here. For me the expected behavior is that mask affects the outside of my area of interest!

Re: Reverse Mask

RobbieRotten — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:25:09 GMT

Would be fantastic to be able to display a raster that only lies within the bounds of an existing polygon. Much like a clipping mask works in Adobe Illustrator etc.

A simple toggle for inside/outside would be best.

Add Clipping to Feature Layer Drawing (Opposite of Masking)

DanMakridakis — Thu, 02 May 2024 22:09:45 GMT

The introduction of the "Masking" option under Feature Layer > Drawing has been a major improvement for creating custom cartography. It however, falls short by not having the ability to accomplish the inverse at a layer level. There needs to be a "Clipping" layer option that functions exactly the same as Masking with the opposite results.

The "Clip Layer" option (still hidden) under Map Properties is very limited and doesn't give you the same flexibility needed. With it, you can only define 1 outline to use for the entire map which doesn't provide the same layer by layer customization found using the masking option. The purposed functionality would allow for the on-the-fly combination of multiple boundaries to form unique clipping areas. Plus, it would enable the application of different clipping boundaries to different layers in the same map. One could even apply both masking and clipping to a single layer to highlight certain areas without any extra geoprocessing. The options are endless from a symbology and labeling perspective if you have this flexibility.

There clearly are many workarounds to accomplish this, many of which require creating new features or manipulating your current data. But splitting features, adding additional attributes, creating snapshot copies of dynamic data, or manipulating data in general for cartographic reasons is not always the best approach from a data management perspective. Regardless, none of these approaches compare to the simplicity of clicking a check box that has no impact on the underlying data.

Re: Reverse Mask

Anonymous User — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 13:54:47 GMT

please add the ability to choose to mask inside or outside of poygons! I would like to display trees inside of a number of parks without having to clip the parks out of a larger mask layer (it's unnecessary to store this feature layer for any other purpose). At first, I thought I would mask using our parcel layer (query out the parks) BUT some trees are located in right of ways which are not included in our parcel fabric so those still appear in my map.

Isn't this the same concept as select by location? In the meantime, I'm using the select by location tool to only select trees that fall within my parks of interest, then right click on the feature class and use the make layer from selected features option to create a subset of the data. The thing I don't like about this is that it won't be clear to anyone else who opens my map document that the layer was created this way.

Re: Reverse Mask

LindsayRaabe_FPCWA — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 02:51:14 GMT

I can't believe this has sat here since 2011 without an update from ESRI on their intentions to either implement, consider or even ignore this request. We would value this change to the way the program works and can show our main use case below.

We produce maps in the remote West Australian areas that show land systems as the background, but only within the operation boundary. To achieve this at present, we need to ensure that the Operation Boundary Layer has complete coverage over an area, and then instead of just querying the area we want displayed (the red boundary on the map), we have to have a second layer with the inverse definition query (everything not of interest) that is invisible in the symbology/100% transparent but then masks the land systems around the operational area.

My view of a solution - the option to select Masking either In (inside) or Out (outside) of a polygon layer:

Re: Reverse Mask

AlfredBaldenweck — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 23:23:30 GMT

I like your proposed solution @LindsayRaabe_FPCWA!

It would be incredibly useful to be able to set layers to only draw inside of a polygon.

You can always clip to shape and exclude layers, but that means you have to micromanage it, when instead you could just manage it on an as-needed basis for each layer you want.

Inverted Feature Masking

AricLang1 — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:00:08 GMT

It would be great to be able to have a feature similar to vector feature masking, only inverted. Instead of needing to make a donut polygon to use as the mask, add functionality to be able to use the original polygon and mask out everything that is NOT within that feature.

Re: Inverted Feature Masking

LindaWilliams1 — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:22:27 GMT

I agree that this would be very time-saving. I currently strategically create additional layers and work out definition queries to create outside masking with some amount of transparency in both single maps and map series (for example, a map series highlighting all cities individually within a county and/or adjacent counties).

Greyscale outside area of interest

VictoriaChmarycz — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 16:03:33 GMT

If there could be an option to have my area of interest in colour and automatically change everything outside my selected clip boundary to grey scale. A similar concept to masking a map but rather than a mask - have all symbology go grey.

Re: Greyscale outside area of interest

BobBooth1 — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:23:07 GMT

You can do this with blend modes.

Make a feature around your AOI, buffer it, change the color to dark grey, and then use blend modes>color to grey out the area outside of your AOI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHAvL_hrWTo

Re: Greyscale outside area of interest

Lucavson — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 06:55:06 GMT

Great idea! Thanks for the post.

Re: Clipping Layers Appearance Option (Opposite of Masking)

BxJMO — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:07:33 GMT

@BobBooth1 The issue is that creating a feature in its own feature class, with its own symbology and other properties feels like a workaround rather than a solution. The idea is to be able highlight the area of interest of features in a feature class layer by applying various properties with the inverse effect of masking to that specific feature class as opposed to creating a new feature within a new feature class and editing those properties. In a perfect world, I'm able to apply a mask to a layer and just check a box that says "Invert Mask"

Re: Clipping Layers Appearance Option (Opposite of Masking)

DanMakridakis — Tue, 07 May 2024 18:56:04 GMT

@BobBooth1Blending modes are great for complex cartography, but they don't quite fit the issue discussed in this post. Your suggestion is more of an example of creating a feature to fade out the area outside an AOI, which is possible using the masking tool; while, I need to do the opposite—clip areas inside the AOI. Currently, clipping options are too restrictive; we need layer-level control similar to masking, with the ability to combine multiple layers.

Your solution also doesn't tackle the challenge of differentiating labels within an area from those outside. For example, in my attached basemap, I had to categorize streets, highways, and parks differently by splitting these features and assigning "inside" and "outside" the city values. This gets even more complex with maps that represent our utility service area or future growth areas which extend beyond our city limits, each requiring unique label queries based on the boundary type.

I could create an inverted polygon for each boundary and apply clipping in the Map Properties under "Clip Layers," but this only works with one boundary for the whole map. If the boundaries change, as they do in our growing city, I'd have to update every feature I've split or recreate my inverted polygons.

If we had a clipping menu that functioned like an inverted masking menu, our maps would automatically update with boundary changes and there would be no need to maintain clipping features or manipulate my master data for the sake of cartography.

(I've also updated my original post to provide more detail)

Re: Add Clipping to Feature Layer Drawing (Opposite of Masking)

JordanSeider — Tue, 07 May 2024 18:42:45 GMT

I can't wait to see this feature implemented. Seems such a simple solution to add an "Invert Mask" check box or something similar. I cannot "kudos" this thread/suggestion enough!

Invert a masking layer in the Feature Layer panel.

FedirBalaba — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:15:53 GMT

Allow the masking layer in the Feature Layer panel to be inverted, so that you can hide not only what's under the polygonal masking layer, but also what's outside its contour.