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help with image isolation


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Hi, this isn't a particularly great question. so excuse me but. haven't been on affinity in a blue moon.

So, I have a fairly complex image and I intentionally erased the background. What would be an easy way to select the image only with the non pixel background it has now. Or conversely, (selection seems to not be my thing) what is another way to save the image itself  without messing around with selections, because the image is a little complicated.

Also, how do you open a non pixel layer as a new doc in affinity?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Screen Shot 2020-02-14 at 2.13.29 AM.png

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1 hour ago, lama555 said:

What would be an easy way to select the image only with the non pixel background it has now.

Pull down the Select menu, choose Alpha Range, then Select Opaque:

Selecting alpha ranges in Affinity Photo

Alternatively you can Cmd+click (Ctrl+click on a PC, I believe) on the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel. This may be a bit hit and miss with an image like yours, as you have to click precisely on an opaque area of the thumbnail.

1 hour ago, lama555 said:

how do you open a non pixel layer as a new doc in affinity?

I don't understand this - can you be a bit more specific?

Cheers,

H

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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4 hours ago, lama555 said:

Also, how do you open a non pixel layer as a new doc in affinity?

If I understand what you mean correctly, you can select the layer, copy it, & then use File > New from Clipboard. This should work for any kind of layer.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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I think we need to clarify what a non-pixel layer is...

  1. Is a non-pixel layer a transparent layer i.e. no opaque pixels
  2. A layer with pixel (Raster) objects on it but with a transparent background
  3. Or a vector layer.
  4. "Layer" layer (the container type of AD layer)
  5. A group layer
  6. An adjustment
  7. A live filter layer 
  8. 😉

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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3 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I think we need to clarify what a non-pixel layer is...

  1. Is a non-pixel layer a transparent layer i.e. no opaque pixels
  2. A layer with pixel (Raster) objects on it but with a transparent background
  3. Or a vector layer.

Or a "Layer" layer (the container type of AD layer), a group layer, an adjustment or a live filter layer ....

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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23 hours ago, h_d said:

Pull down the Select menu, choose Alpha Range, then Select Opaque:

Selecting alpha ranges in Affinity Photo

Alternatively you can Cmd+click (Ctrl+click on a PC, I believe) on the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel. This may be a bit hit and miss with an image like yours, as you have to click precisely on an opaque area of the thumbnail.

I don't understand this - can you be a bit more specific?

Cheers,

H

As far as the selection of the image, that was very helpful. thank you.

 

I know there was some confusion about the non pixel layer so what I meant was the transparent layer. I had used the background erase brush but unfortunately after saving my image, I saw very trace amounts of color where the pixels were supposed to be erased. 

 

What I want is a completely clean transparent background behind the colorful image. How can I accomplish this? 

 

1.)is there any way to just open up a transparent layer in a new doc or how do I convert an entire layer to be transparent?

2.) I would prefer this method-- how do I just get the background perfectly transparent in the existing page without affecting the colorful image?

 

Thanks! :)

Screen Shot 2020-02-15 at 2.32.48 AM.png

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It is not clear what you mean by "the transparent layer." There is no transparent layer as such -- the checkerboard pattern is just how the Affinity (& several other apps) show empty parts of the document, like where on a pixel layer you have erased something & there is no layer behind it with anything that would be visible.

For example, if in AP you create a new document with the Transparent background option enabled, you will get an empty document with no layers & a checkerboard pattern showing you the width & height of the document.

1379253132_transparentbg.jpg.d279a41ccc21b501566cd8a681e8cb7e.jpg

So the only way to 'convert' a pixel layer to a completely transparent one would be to erase everything in it.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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4 minutes ago, lama555 said:

is there any way to just open up a transparent layer in a new doc

Pull down the Layer menu and choose New Layer. Alternatively, click the little chequerboard icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

1407911892_Screenshot2020-02-15at08_45_19.png.d5bfcb79b39db77fbf217a52031c2af5.png

Either of these methods will give you a new empty pixel layer, labelled (Pixel), above the currently selected layer. You can drag it down to the bottom of the layer list if required:

1193413762_Screenshot2020-02-15at08_45_58.png.5949ab85c7b1c4a2bdc406ee52e20496.png 

If you use any of the painting tools in a new doc without any layers, a new pixel layer is created automatically.

9 minutes ago, lama555 said:

how do I convert an entire layer to be transparent?

Click on the layer in the list, Select All from the Edit menu, press delete.

One possible source of confusion with Affinity Photo is that if you open an existing image (say a .jpg), the initial image layer is named Background. This isn't the same as the transparent "Background" you can see behind the image (chequered pattern) if you delete parts of it.

Can you post a screen grab of your image including the layer list? It would make it easier to understand what you're trying to accomplish.

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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42 minutes ago, h_d said:

If you use any of the painting tools in a new doc without any layers, a new pixel layer is created automatically.

Note that happens only if the Assistant Manager is enabled & its "Painting with no layer selected" option is set to "Add new pixel layer and paint." Otherwise, nothing happens.

47 minutes ago, h_d said:

One possible source of confusion with Affinity Photo is that if you open an existing image (say a .jpg), the initial image layer is named Background. This isn't the same as the transparent "Background" you can see behind the image (chequered pattern) if you delete parts of it.

It is probably too late to change that but I wonder if a different default name would be less confusing, like maybe the file's name.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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21 hours ago, R C-R said:

It is not clear what you mean by "the transparent layer." There is no transparent layer as such -- the checkerboard pattern is just how the Affinity (& several other apps) show empty parts of the document, like where on a pixel layer you have erased something & there is no layer behind it with anything that would be visible.

For example, if in AP you create a new document with the Transparent background option enabled, you will get an empty document with no layers & a checkerboard pattern showing you the width & height of the document.

1379253132_transparentbg.jpg.d279a41ccc21b501566cd8a681e8cb7e.jpg

So the only way to 'convert' a pixel layer to a completely transparent one would be to erase everything in it.

The above demonstration was exactly what I wanted to do, so thank you! Thanks for the selection tips as well.

I was able to get the image isolated by making a selection of the opaque only from the first doc and then starting a new doc with the transparent background and copying and pasting it. (Initially, I had used to background erase brush and that didn't do the trick to remove all the pixels when I tested the image against a black background) but its good now.

By the way, does Affinity happen to have a brush option that enhances colors or contrast. Kind of like Snapseed's option with the brush where you can apply it to change the exposure/temp/saturation  in specific parts of the photo/image? If so, please let me know the name of the tool and I will look it up in help center.

Cheers

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3 hours ago, lama555 said:

By the way, does Affinity happen to have a brush option that enhances colors or contrast.

Have a look at the Retouch Tools in Help, especially Burn, Dodge and Sharpen. .

But you can also select the area you want to modify (the Selection Brush Tool works well for this) and then add an Adjustment Layer. This will be masked to your selection, so you can deselect and then modify the adjustments, which will only affect the area you selected. Additionally, you can apply an Adjustment Layer to the entire image, invert it and paint white onto the Adjustment Layer to apply the adjustment to your painted area.

 

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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