Layer Effect Gradient Over Entire Image?

[yerrato]

New to Affinity Designer, so forgive me if this is a silly question...

I have an image designed for a webpage background and I would like to add a radial gradient over the entire image... Having the center transparent and going out to black at the edges.

I'd prefer to use a layer effect opposed to just using the gradient tool.

My issue is that I need to add a shape (ie rectangle) over the entire image before I can apply the gradient fx, but if I do this the center of the gradient is the color of the rectangle shape and not transparent.

How can I apply an fx gradient with the transparent center?

 

Thx!!!

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums.
Is this (attached image) what you want?
Look at how the gradient is formed with a 0% Opacity at one end. (Double-click the gradient swatch to get the pop-up as shown in the image.)

[yerrato]

Thx! yes this is what I want... I get how to set it up with the gradient.

The part that I'm missing is when I create a new layer above the entire image and apply the FX nothing happens???

[GarryP]

You don’t need to create a new Pixel Layer to apply Effects, in fact you probably shouldn’t do this, as the Effects need something to work on and a blank new Pixel Layer contains nothing.
Add Effects to the layer you want to affect.
My attached video should give you a bit more information.

[yerrato]

Thx! So what I needed to do was group all the layers together, then apply the FX to the entire group 🙂

[GarryP]

Yes. The Effects will apply to whatever the Effects are added to. If you apply the Effects to a group then the Effects will be applied to the child layers of the group together.