Bitmap Texture Overlay fx for Text

[firstdefence]

10/10 for effort John, obviously persistence pays.

I was doodling with text effects and came up with a distressed effect using the layer blend mode erase, I thought it was pretty cool. 

[GarryP]

JohnG: I’m still not entirely sure exactly what the Bitmap Overlay function does but I’ve managed to create something that looks like what you’ve described (as I have understood it) by using a Multiply Blend Mode and a Black & White Adjustment on the child image. It’s very quick to do and produces a reasonably good effect without much work. The image on the left was used in the text on the right (the colour of the text comes from the fill of the text and not the image). Is this the sort of thing you need, or am I still way off course?

firstdefence: That ‘s a really nice effect. It’s like it’s been eaten away by dripping acid. I’m wondering how it might look on a skull silhouette or something similar.

[CPC]

17 hours ago, JohnG said:

CPC, unless I'm missing something, I've tried that and there is still one problem.

When I do a color balance adjustment, I see the original text, not the final output text. Am I missing something. Is there a way, in AP, to do a color balance adjustment on the original image, while viewing the effect of those changes on the final output product.

JohnG,

Here a clip is what I see... I may be confused (missing something) by your description. To me 'original image' is the jpg/bmp used for the art text bitmap fill. Any changes being made in the adjustment layers are non destructive -- the original image remains unchanged. The effect of the adjustments are displayed in a rendering of the image in the project window. I'd reserve 'final output' for a bitmap export or for a print-to-file PDF.

Notes: My earlier example was done in Publisher but I switched to Photo here to be sure I was doing the same thing. Again it's not bling, but as simple an example as possible to show WYSIWYG dynamic changes. Could you (and perhaps GaryP and firstdefence's distressed look as well) please post your project file?

Regards,

Carl

BC_adjust.afphoto

[JohnG]

OK. I've made a lot of progress. It's still not what I want yet. But now that the bling is beginning to show up, I'm beginning to see a serious problem. The first of the following images is the full image. The next image is zoomed in on two letters and it clearly shows the issue. The problem is that the color change in the reflective bevel does not blend smoothly. Instead, there are numerous mostly rectangular blocks of a single color. The arrows point this out. This is most certainly NOT acceptable. The last image is the same two letters from the Photoshop file, showing how the reflections blend smoothly across the bevel, instead of chopped up in blocks, as the image should look. The zoomed images were both created with 300dpi resolution.

I tried gausian blur and other tools, to try and smooth that bevel. The bevel is a child layer (duplicate, but outline only). That's the only way I've been able to get that sharp reflective bevel.

In Photoshop, the effect is called "Satin". But I can't find any work around for this in Affinity Photo.

Does anyone know how to eliminate these blocks and make the transition smooth, across the bevel?

Thanks.

[walt.farrell]

16 hours ago, GarryP said:

I’m still not entirely sure exactly what the Bitmap Overlay function does but I’ve managed to create something that looks like what you’ve described (as I have understood it) by using a Multiply Blend Mode and a Black & White Adjustment on the child image. It’s very quick to do and produces a reasonably good effect without much work. The image on the left was used in the text on the right (the colour of the text comes from the fill of the text and not the image). Is this the sort of thing you need, or am I still way off course?

That looks like an interesting approach, Garry, and one that may give more control over the final result. If I understand what I'm seeing in your screenshot, rather than using the image as a bitmap fill for the letters via the Gradient Tool you have nested the image in the text layer. Both methods give a similar (identical?) visual effect on the page, but the nesting approach allows you to apply additional adjustments directly to the "fill" without affecting other aspects of the text. Thanks; I wouldn't have thought of that.

[JohnG]

For anyone who may be wanting to help with this issue, I'm attaching the AP file that created the above text.

rv-insp-chrome.afphoto

[GarryP]

Walt: That’s exactly what I did. I very rarely use a bitmap fill as I generally find a child layer easier to manipulate. Just a personal preference though.

JohnG: Thanks for sharing the file. That might help someone come up with a fix.