Inverted Mask?

[ske_creative]

Hi,

 

I am new to Affinity Photo and Designer and graphic software in general, so I have a very basic question. 
 

How can I use a shape in AP to mask out an area of another shape. For example, I have a big rectangle and I want to design a keyhole into it, so that the area of the keyhole is transparent and I can look through the rectangle onto the background. I tried to achieve this but every time I use a mask on the rectangle I only cut out everything outside the mask, but I want to cut out the mask or shape itself out of the rectangle. 

 

Thanks. 

[evtonic3]

SOmething like this?

[ske_creative]

Yes, exactly like this.

[evtonic3]

Started with a transparent background document, not sure if this matters because the background in this case, is the mountain image. Then make the shapes with the standard tools, had to make the keyhole shape from a circle and and square shape. Then of course the big rectangle. Place keyhole shape on top of rectangle, then select both, right click the selections and go to geometry, Subtract. Then just lower the opacity of the layer, thats what I did, to your liking.

[ske_creative]

Thanks for your help, this works quite well, but unfortunately this cuts out the keyhole and combines everything to a new curve. I mean I can make changes with the curve tool, but it would be nice to have the keyhole on its own layer. 

[evtonic3]

Then I guess you could invert the mask of the keyhole shape on the rectangle, and let the image show through. Still don't know how you can do this with all objects on different layers. Sorry I tried.

[MEB]

Hi ske_creative,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Do the following:

- right-click on the Persona toolbar on top and select Customize Toolbar... scroll down to the bottom and drag the Operations section to the toolbar (you will need this to follow the next steps).

- draw you rectangle and keyhole shape (on top of the rectangle) then select both press ⌥ (option/alt) and click on the Subtract boolean operation button you just added to the toolbar - this will create a compound shape (check the Layers panel to expand it and access the original shapes individually)

- then drag this Compound layer over an image layer's thumbnail to use it as a mask.

 

Note: currently there's no way to create a compound shape using just the menus. That's why i suggested to customize the toolbar in the first step.

 

I think this is what you're trying to achieve. Let me know if you still have trouble.

[ske_creative]

Great, this works perfectly. Thank you for the great help. 

[MEB]

You're welcome.

[Jarrnie]

Along the lines of the original question, is there any way (or plans of a way) to be able to just use a mask in case you wanted to edit the keyhole after the fact?

Scenarios where this would be useful is a solid logo that has a text cutout in the middle and you decide to change the text/font, you'll have to go through all those steps every time.

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Jarrnie. :)

 

As MEB indicated, Option/Alt-clicking on the 'Subtract' icon results in a compound shape which gives you access to the individual components, so you would be able to edit the text at any time by expanding the Compound layer in the Layers panel and selecting the text layer there.

[Kurt]

Ah! Alt clicking on the subtract option is the key, still in v 1.8. Thanks.

It would still be nice if this type of subtract feature could be integrated with the Mask function, as sort of a "Negative Mask" option. In this way, all the cutter tools could be made to be on the same layer.

[Ripul]

It does not work for me. I have already spent 2 hours searching internet, I still can not locate this setting. Attached screenshots. Masking works, there is no invert option.

Can you please please share images because I seem to be missing something which is obvious to others.

[smadell]

This puzzle actually has a really simple solution. There is no need to combine the two vector shapes in any way whatsoever – each of them remains completely editable. I have given an example below.

Put the rectangle (or, really, anything) in a layer over the background. Then, put the second shape (in this case, a star) over the rectangle. Set the Blend Mode of the top layer (the star) to "Erase." This will drill a hole through the entire image, revealing the blank canvas underneath. I know, I know, that's not what you want.

So, put the rectangle and the star into a Group. This will force the Erase blend mode to work ONLY on the rectangle. The star and the rectangle remain 100% editable, as does the background.

[Pierce Marengo]

@smadell Thank you very much, this is exactly the type of lossless solution I was looking for. I used it as a mask and it works perfectly.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Pierce Marengo
Added a sentence

[smadell]

Glad you found this, @Pierce Marengo and that it was helpful.

[Avi_S]

So even 7 years later there is no invert option like cntrl+i on a layer mask to invert it. Sad.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Avi_S

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Avi_S said:

there is no invert option like cntrl+i on a layer mask to invert it.

What's wrong with Layer > Invert?

[Ron P.]

3 hours ago, Avi_S said:

So even 7 years later there is no invert option like cntrl+i on a layer mask to invert it. Sad.

Yes there is, I just tested this to make sure.

• Select your Mask Layer in the Layer stack
• Press CTL + I
• Mask is inverted. The default thumbnail is white, should be black after inverting.

[Avi_S]

21 hours ago, loukash said:

What's wrong with Layer > Invert?

It only works in Affinity Photo, not in Affinity designer 1 nor in version 2

[Ron P.]

In Designer there is a way to have an inverted, Black Mask. You need to go to the Pixel Persona, then grab the fill tool, and with the Mask layer selected in the Layers Panel, fill it with black.

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Avi_S said:

It only works in Affinity Photo

Your Photo is only one menu command away: File > Edit in Photo. Then go back to Designer the same way. That's the Affinity way.

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, Ron P. said:

In Designer there is a way to have an inverted, Black Mask. You need to go to the Pixel Persona, then grab the fill tool, and with the Mask layer selected in the Layers Panel, fill it with black.

Doesn't that just make it Black, rather than Inverting its contents?

[Avi_S]

10 minutes ago, loukash said:

Your Photo is only one menu command away: File > Edit in Photo. Then go back to Designer the same way. That's the Affinity way.

Oh, I didn't know that! Thank you.

[Avi_S]

10 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Doesn't that just make it Black, rather than Inverting its contents?

Yep, I tried it before posting, it didn't help my situation where I had a gradient rectangle and I want to use it as inverted mask to hide whatever that rectangle was on. In my case i wanted to fade a cable end into the background and I wasn't able to find a way to do it. It was frustrating. I then just used a full page mask with a huge gradient that spends all over the page.