APhoto - How To Crop A Layer?

[jubro]

I placed an image on a document, a b&w picture on a white background. I then cut out the b&w picture, inverting, then deleting the white background. I am left with the b&w picture suspended within a larger alpha space, where the white background used to be. How do I crop the alpha space to the size of the b&w picture? I want to be able to snap the picture to other objects, but of course it is surrounded by the alpha space, the frame of which will be recognised as the snapping boundary. I have tried using the crop tool to crop the document, but it doesn't crop the layer the picture is on.

Which tool or process is best for this job?

Thanks

[kaffeeundsalz]

Go to Edit > Copy Merged and then File > New from Clipboard.

[jubro]

37 minutes ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

Go to Edit > Copy Merged and then File > New from Clipboard.

There's no option listed under Edit for Copy Merged; only Copy or Copy Flattened. Anyway I haven't merged anything.

[kaffeeundsalz]

What version of Affinity Photo are you using? Are you running it on macOS or Windows? My guess would be that Copy Merged and Copy Flattened do the same thing, but this implies that Serif must have deliberately changed the name of the menu item. I use Photo 1.8.3 on macOS, and there it's definitely Copy Merged.

[jubro]

3 hours ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

What version of Affinity Photo are you using? Are you running it on macOS or Windows? My guess would be that Copy Merged and Copy Flattened do the same thing, but this implies that Serif must have deliberately changed the name of the menu item. I use Photo 1.8.3 on macOS, and there it's definitely Copy Merged.

I am using Photo 1.8.3.641 on Win 7. I bought the software a couple of days ago after trialling.

I followed your instructions using Copy Flattened instead, but this crops the document to the alpha border of the image & puts the image on a new document the same size as the alpha border. Still I cannot crop from the alpha border to the picture itself.

[kaffeeundsalz]

This is not what should happen and could be a clue that the transparent regions of your image are in fact not entirely transparent. Anyway, it might help if you'd provide the actual file so we can have a look at what's going on.

[jubro]

Thanks.

I have cut out the image, inverted & deleted the white background.

Rafa Ornamental Design #7.afphoto

[Fixx]

In mac version (Mojave) Copy Merged and New From Clipboard worked flawlessly. Curiously simple Copy is not available even though source is single pixel layer.

And yeah, there is no automated way of cropping a document to contain only non-transparent area. Wish devs get around to implementing selection > crop area automation. And also Trim according first pixel value, which does the same (in this particular case).

[kaffeeundsalz]

Thank you for uploading the file, @eightysevens. If you select your pixel layer from the Layers panel and then switch to the move tool, you can clearly see that the blue bounding box of the pixel layer does not run around the edges of your actual image, but extends all the way to the top and bottom border of the canvas (and also a bit to the right). What's inside the bounding box is what gets copied to the clipboard with the Copy Flattened command, so now we know why this method didn't work for you.

I have no idea how this happened because if, as you said, you entirely deleted the surrounding white background, the layer dimensions should have automatically been reduced to the bounding box size of the remaining pixel information (in this case, your black ornament). I also couldn't spot any remaining pixels in the transparent regions that would explain this behavior.

Now, a solution that worked for me was to make sure that the pixel layer is selected in the Layers panel, go to Select > Selection From Layer and then follow the above steps, i.e. go to Edit > Copy Flattened (simply Copy will also do the trick here because you only have one layer) and then File > New From Clipboard.

[jubro]

1 hour ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

Now, a solution that worked for me was to make sure that the pixel layer is selected in the Layers panel, go to Select > Selection From Layer and then follow the above steps, i.e. go to Edit > Copy Flattened (simply Copy will also do the trick here because you only have one layer) and then File > New From Clipboard.

Perfect kaffeeundsalz! This works exactly as I need. Another valuable lesson learned. I think you are correct in your assumption that the image ought to have auto adjusted to the remaining pixel information & I believe it has done so before in some cases, but not all. I will scrutinise my Select/Invert/Delete process to find an answer.

Thanks for your time & efforts, much appreciated. Have a great weekend.

[jubro]

3 hours ago, Fixx said:

In mac version (Mojave) Copy Merged and New From Clipboard worked flawlessly. Curiously simple Copy is not available even though source is single pixel layer.

And yeah, there is no automated way of cropping a document to contain only non-transparent area. Wish devs get around to implementing selection > crop area automation. And also Trim according first pixel value, which does the same (in this particular case).

Copy is available, as I originally stated above, just not Copy Merged.
Yes, there are cropping mechanisms which could be implemented to make this action more efficient.
Thanks for your input.

[jubro]

I also have a technique I want to apply which will be very time consuming if there is not automation involved.

I want to cut 2 images each into 20 vertical strips & then create a space beside each strip, equal in width. I then want to layer the images together so the overlaying image's strips cover the spaces of the base image.

Do you know if there is an automated way to cut an image into several equal strips without having to cut them all individually & then insert spaces also individually?

Many thanks.

[carl123]

37 minutes ago, eightysevens said:

Do you know if there is an automated way to cut an image into several equal strips without having to cut them all individually & then insert spaces also individually?

You can use the Export persona to create the 20 vertical strips then File > Place them in a document and use the Distribute options to distribute them horizontally leaving whatever size of "white" space you want in-between each strip

[Move Along People]

-

 

[jubro]

3 hours ago, carl123 said:

You can use the Export persona to create the 20 vertical strips then File > Place them in a document and use the Distribute options to distribute them horizontally leaving whatever size of "white" space you want in-between each strip

How do I cut the image into 20 vertical strips in the Export Persona? I don't see any appropriate tools for this prupose.

[carl123]

The Slice Tool 

Work out what 1/20th of your document width is then drag out the Slice Tool to that width & the full height of the document

When you next use the slice tool to create the next slice it will automatically remember (and snap) to the previous width you set as you drag it out

The slices also snap to each other, so it's easy to align them horizontally

 

[kaffeeundsalz]

How about this? At 0:40, I used the power duplicate feature of Affinity Photo by repeatedly pressing Cmd+J. The modifier key will be a different one on Windows (Ctrl, I guess), but the basic principle is the same.

Note how easy it is to get the strips because the Transform panel allows for mathematical expressions, thus entering the image's width and divide it in place by the desired number of slices. Then it's just a matter of getting the first duplicate right (moving it by the double width of a strip to get a gap of identical size) and then make power duplicate do its work. From 0:56 on,  I merged the white rectangles into one layer and then offered the image to that layer as a clipping layer.

Wherever possible, I used the menu commands to show you what I actually did, but you‘ll be even faster when using keyboard shortcuts for e.g. Copy/Paste and Deselect.

[jubro]

3 hours ago, kaffeeundsalz said:

 

How about this? At 0:40, I used the power duplicate feature of Affinity Photo by repeatedly pressing Cmd+J. The modifier key will be a different one on Windows (Ctrl, I guess), but the basic principle is the same.

Note how easy it is to get the strips because the Transform panel allows for mathematical expressions, thus entering the image's width and divide it in place by the desired number of slices. Then it's just a matter of getting the first duplicate right (moving it by the double width of a strip to get a gap of identical size) and then make power duplicate do its work. From 0:56 on,  I merged the white rectangles into one layer and then offered the image to that layer as a clipping layer.

Wherever possible, I used the menu commands to show you what I actually did, but you can imagine this to be even faster if you use keyboard shortcuts for e.g. Copy/Paste and Deselect. Also, you can Cmd+Click (or probably Ctrl+Click on Windows) on a layer to load a selection from it.

Thanks kaffeeundsalz but the video doesn't play. So I can't follow your example.

[jubro]

3 hours ago, carl123 said:

The Slice Tool 

Work out what 1/20th of your document width is then drag out the Slice Tool to that width & the full height of the document

When you next use the slice tool to create the next slice it will automatically remember (and snap) to the previous width you set as you drag it out

The slices also snap to each other, so it's easy to align them horizontally

 

Thanks carl123, I managed to accomplish my task using your method. It's quite a protracted process, & it's possible that kaffeeundsalz has some swifter methods, but I'm unable to view his uploaded video.
Thanks for your instructions.