how to get a transparent background - aff Photo

[RandallCC]

There is this thing I did in Photoshop that is very much part of my workflow: I take scanned artwork, do some masking tricks and get the artwork on a transparent layer. Then I can change the colors and put it on top things without having to use blending modes for the layer. It is just a clean stable layer, no surprises.

Any ideas on how to do something similar in Affinity Photo? Or get a similar result.

Thx, stay safe.

[GarryP]

Try menu “Filters → Colours → Erase White Paper”.
If that doesn’t work by itself, try also menu “Document → Transparent Background”.
If these don’t work then get back to us and we can advise further.

[RandallCC]

OMG, "erase white paper" does EXACTLY what I need, and it's waaaaay more simple than the PS-procedure!!

Thanks Garry

[GarryP]

You're welcome.

[Studio55]

Is there a way to remove the background if it is not pure white?

In Draw Plus, the flood erase tool included an option to include pixels of the BG color that were not contiguous with the area you clicked on.  That option appears to be missing in the flood erase tool on Affinity Draw.

===

On edit, I figured out I can use the flood fill to make the background pure white and then do Erase White Paper.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Studio55

[foto-grafic]

5 hours ago, Studio55 said:

On edit, I figured out I can use the flood fill to make the background pure white and then do Erase White Paper.

I have the same problem but, I don't understand if there is solution,
and in particular,  I did not understand this solution.

thanks a lot

[GarryP]

Which part(s) of the solution do you not understand?
We should be able to talk you though it if you tell us where you are getting stuck.

[foto-grafic]

Hi Garry

When I have a background that is not pure white, the 'Filters → Colors → Erase White Paper' command works but, the result is not pure transparent but naturally varies depending on the white point.
The question is: is there a way to get pure transparent?

@Studio55  seems to have succeeded but I don't understand where to start:
I have the document open, before I give “Filters → Colors → Erase White Paper” what is it that I have to do to then obtain a pure transparent background?

Maybe I have the solution under my eyes but, I don't see it.

Thanks for collaboration...

[GarryP]

One thing you can do is to use the Flood Fill Tool – set to Not Contiguous (on the Context Toolbar) – to fill the not-quite-white areas with white and then use Erase White Paper to then remove the white. Does that help? (I don’t have time to do a video at the moment.)
There may be other/better methods depending on your original image.

[foto-grafic]

@GarryP

Ok solved,

everything originated from the fact that you call the -Flood Fill Tool- while only the -Fill Tool- is translated into Italian.
I was looking for a tool that is not there, here is the explanation of my question.

Thank you

[GarryP]

Ah. Glad you have been able to get it to work.
If you have found a problem with the translation in the software then it might be good if you can raise that as an issue for the team to look at. If the tool names are not translated properly then many other people could also be having problems.

[Studio55]

8 hours ago, foto-grafic said:

 I did not understand this solution.

I should probably have been more clear.  That procedure was a solution to my particular issue, but is not a solution that will work for every graphic.  In my case I had a piece of music that was generated by a music notation program, so the background was pure white.  I wanted to make that transparent so I could put a different background behind the music.  The EraseWhitePaper filter works perfectly for that.
If the file had originally been written with some color in the background (say, parchment color), then EraseWhitePaper is not good

In PhotoPlus, I could do the flood erase and turn off the "contiguous" flag, but the flood erase in Affinity does not support the "contiguous" flag.  That means that the majority of the background would be erased, but the contained spaces between lines and inside notes would remain the parchment color.

So I used the flood fill tool to set the background to pure white which works because the flood fill does have a "contiguous" option.  Then used EraseWhitePaper to make that white transparent.

That will not work if your subject matter also contains some white areas.  And it may not work if the background isn't a solid color or is close to the color of the subject matter.  If there is a big contrast between the background and the subject matter, then the EraseBackground tool works rather well.

[foto-grafic]

@GarryP

Thanks, I will put your suggestion into practice.

 

@Studio55

Yes it is all clear to me, as I have already explained the problem was in the translation in fact, they seemed two different tools instead it is always the same.
I also have a similar problem to yours and it is solved with this trick.

Thank you again...

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, Studio55 said:

In PhotoPlus, I could do the flood erase and turn off the "contiguous" flag, but the flood erase in Affinity does not support the "contiguous" flag. 

However, the AP Flood Select Tool does support the continuous flag, so a very simple & easy workaround is to use it to select the pixels to be erased & then tap the Delete key. It is a variation of what @GarryP suggested earlier.

[Studio55]

17 minutes ago, R C-R said:

However, the AP Flood Select Tool does support the continuous flag, so a very simple & easy workaround is to use it to select the pixels to be erased & then tap the Delete key. It is a variation of what @GarryP suggested earlier.

Ahhh.  Yes, that works fine -- essentially the same as the PhotoPlus capability.  Thank you.

It still seems a little odd that they have the contiguous option everywhere EXCEPT on the flood fill, but now that I know, it will be fine.

[Dave Johnson]

This helped me a lot!!!