Changing the opacity an object by keying a number

[MickRose]

If I type a number, say 70, to a selected object then that object has an opacity value applied to it. But it doesn't seem to show up anywhere in a panel. So is there a way to see what that value actually is? Am I missing something? This applies in Publisher & Designer (& probably Photo).

[MEB]

Hi MickRose,
Check the Opacity control on the top of the Layers panel.It should reflect the value you have set with the keyboard.

[MickRose]

Thanks - I can see that now. It's just a bit confusing that the object in the Layers panel does show the applied opacity value but the same object on the Colour panel shows an opacity of 100%.. It looks like two ways of applying transparency don't talk to each other.

[Old Bruce]

The Layer opacity is applied to both the stroke and the fill whereas the colour panel's opacity is applied to the fill only or the stroke only.

[MEB]

28 minutes ago, MickRose said:

Thanks - I can see that now. It's just a bit confusing that the object in the Layers panel does show the applied opacity value but the same object on the Colour panel shows an opacity of 100%.. It looks like two ways of applying transparency don't talk to each other.

Hi MickRose,
The Opacity control on the top of the Layers panel and the Opacity control on the bottom of the Colour panel are different things. The first alters the opacity of the whole layer/object, while the second controls color's opacity (no matter if for the fill or stroke of an object). The numbers on the keyboard set the Layer's opacity only.

[MickRose]

Okay MEB and Old Bruce - yes, they are slightly different I agree. Using the Layers panel to apply opacity to a photo or a style makes sense because they are not flat colours. But I do think that having 2 separate and non communicating ways of applying opacity to flat fills/strokes is not great, granted that one method links the fill and stroke and the other one doesn't. Maybe I should put in a feature request to link the 2 panels where appropriate.

[MEB]

Hi MickRose,
They are not two separate/different ways of doing the same thing - they are not directly linked/related. Layer/object's opacity is an attribute of an object and controls its overall opacity. Color's opacity is an attribute of a colour (not of an object). You may use colour's opacity to control the opacity of a node/colour stop of a gradient for example - if you do it though the context panel you will see that the Opacity slider on the bottom of the Colour panel also reflects the colour opacity you set in the context toolbar for that specific node/colour stop. The Layer opacity control on the contrary would make the whole object ("all the gradient fill") transparent instead.

If all you have is a  simple rectangle with a flat/solid colour using either the Layer's Opacity or Colour's opacity will give you the same result visually but they are different concepts.

[MickRose]

Hi MEB - Yes I completely accept that Object/Layer properties and Colour properties are different things. But sometimes they will have the same effect on an object and that might cause some confusion to some users. I don't know what the answer is but some thought should be given to the matter.