Editing Clipping path (section)

{{short description|Closed vector path, or shape}}
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{{Refimprove|date=August 2011}}

A '''clipping path''' (or "deep etch"<ref>{{cite book |page=93 |title=How to start and produce a magazine or newsletter |author=Gordon Woolf S|year=2004 |isbn=9781875750214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzSzC0VXU_UC&q=deep+etching+photoshop&pg=PA93}}</ref>) is a closed [[vector path]], or shape, used to cut out a [[2D computer graphics|2D image]] in [[image editing]] software. Anything inside the path will be included after the clipping path is applied; anything outside the path will be omitted from the output. Applying the clipping path results in a [[aliasing|hard (aliased) or soft (anti-aliased) edge]], depending on the image editor's capabilities[[File:Clipping Path.jpg|thumb|Clipping path]]

By convention, the inside of the path is defined by its direction. Reversing the direction of a path reverses what is considered inside or outside. An ''inclusive path'' is one where what is visually "inside" the path corresponds to what will be preserved; an ''exclusive path'', of opposite direction, contains what is visually "outside" the path. By convention, a clockwise path that is non-self-intersecting is considered inclusive.

A '''compound path''' results from the combination of multiple paths (inclusive and exclusive) and the Boolean operations that ultimately determine what the combined path contains. For instance, an inclusive path which contains a smaller exclusive path results in a shape with a "hole" (defined by the exclusive path).

One common use of a clipping path is to cull objects that do not need to be rendered because they are outside the user's [[viewport]] or obscured by display elements (such as a [[Heads-up display (video games)|HUD]]).