How do you make image occlusion cards?
To make image occlusion cards, take a labeled diagram, draw a box over each label, and turn each box into a card that hides one part. You study by looking at the masked diagram and recalling what is underneath. You can draw the boxes by hand in Anki, or upload the diagram to a tool that masks every label for you automatically.
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In more detail
The slow way is manual. In Anki's built-in Image Occlusion you paste one image and drag a rectangle over every label, which can mean dozens of boxes per diagram. It works, but it is the part most students dread, and it has to be redone for every new picture.
The fast way is automatic. You give a tool the diagram, or your whole lecture, and it detects the printed labels and masks them for you. You start from a finished deck and only nudge a box if it sits slightly off.
Step by step
- 1
Choose a diagram with clear printed labels.
- 2
Decide what to hide: every label, or only the high-yield ones.
- 3
Mask each label with a box, by hand or automatically.
- 4
Make one card per diagram, or one card per label if you want them separated.
- 5
Study the masked version, reveal to check, and rate how it went.
- 6
Export to Anki so spaced repetition brings the hard ones back.
How StudyPDF helps
With StudyPDF you skip the drawing. Upload your lecture and StudyPDF finds the labeled diagrams, masks every label automatically, and builds one recall card per diagram. Study hide-all or one at a time in the app, then export to Anki's native Image Occlusion note type on Pro, fully editable, with no add-on.
See also
More questions
Can I make image occlusion cards without drawing boxes?
Yes. Upload the diagram or the whole lecture to StudyPDF and it detects and masks every printed label for you, so you start from a finished deck instead of a blank image.
Do image occlusion cards work in Anki?
Yes. Anki has a built-in Image Occlusion note type, and StudyPDF exports straight to it on Pro, so the cards open in Anki's own editor with no add-on.
Do it on your own course
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