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Delete white background on vector image


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hi,

Anyone know why pressing delete key to delete the selected white background doesn't seem to work in Affinity Pixel Persona in Affinity Designer?

I'm sure of my selection (see second screenshot - Refine button)

I'm using affinity designer version 1.9.2.1035 on Windows 10. It's an EPS file vector

Thanks 

Edit: clarified some this in this post based on feedback in below comments

 

image.thumb.png.e422b33a37b782550be3c5247c606da9.png

 

Refine selection - visual confirmation

image.thumb.png.7e23cd41a4f6a1def2936dd9ab6b682d.png

 

 

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By what I can see in the layer thumbnail there is no white background within the contents of the document but the document can have a white background itself.
If you need to remove the document’s background go to Document Setup, select the Colour tab and check the Transparent Background checkbox).

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I can't see in your Layers panel, but could it be that it's an image layer rather than a pixel layer? If that's the case, right click on the layer and rasterise before doing the flood selection.

Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher | macOS Sonoma (14.2) on 16GB MBP14 2021 with 2.4 versions

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38 minutes ago, RNKLN said:

could it be that it's an image layer rather than a pixel layer?

The topic's title says "vector image". In that case I would expect the white background to be a separate layer.  And, as @GarryP pointed out, the background would/should appear in the layer's thumbnail. If the background is not caused by the document setup: Maybe @aymanzone can show the unfolded content of the Layer layer?

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I think it’s worth adding that even if the title of the thread says “vector image”, and even if the user has used a “vector” format file, such as SVG, the contents of that image might still include a raster portion.
In other words, just because someone says the issue is about a certain thing and just because people normally expect certain things from certain file types it doesn’t mean that what has been said, and expected, will always be true.

Having said that, I’m pretty sure that this is just a document background thing (unless my question about the thumbnails has an answer that I’m not expecting, which may lead to further – off-topic – questions).

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@Garry, that was my idea, too. But as long we don't know the content of "Layer" we can't really judge but guess only. Another possible guess is the file format .AI which may contain editable vector in its original app and open differently for others, as mentioned in this short topic:

There is a video tutorial demonstrating various file types (.svg, .eps, .ai, …) opened in Affinity.
At 8:50 the author opens an .eps which occurs with a white background, not appearing in the layer thumbnail and different to the previously opened .svg.

https://youtu.be/YDVMm4_AvmY

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In this post Aymanzone shows that he's in the pixel persona of AD. He only calls it Affinity Persona.

Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher | macOS Sonoma (14.2) on 16GB MBP14 2021 with 2.4 versions

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1 hour ago, RNKLN said:

In this post Aymanzone shows that he's in the pixel persona of AD. He only calls it Affinity Persona.

Yes, but it will only be a user inexperience - because the white background (white rectangle) was not listed between the layers, so they try to remove it using Pixel Persona and the pixel selection tools.

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Interesting.
So it’s possible to open an EPS file and for it to have a white background even though that white background doesn’t show in the thumbnail.
I wonder if that’s a design decision which was made by the developers or if it is inherent to the EPS format in some way.
I also wonder if the same thing is possible in some other way(s), because it doesn’t seem like something I would expect.
If, as has been suggested, aymanzone can tell us what sort of file they are using, and give us a visual of the layers panel expanded, then that should clear things up.

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Quote

By what I can see in the layer thumbnail there is no white background within the contents of the document but the document can have a white background itself.
If you need to remove the document’s background go to Document Setup, select the Colour tab and check the Transparent Background checkbox).

HI @GarryP

That works great! Thanks

 

Thanks @RNKLN and @thomaso (also for the link) and @Pšenda (I will remember to call it Pixel Persona, your right).

I have a horrible feeling I wasted everyone's time, sorry. I was stuck on this for hours. Thanks so much

 

Edit: it's an EPS file that I was using (I will also add comment in original post just in case for future reference)

 

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14 hours ago, aymanzone said:

it's an EPS file that I was using

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

I now know that EPS files, when imported, can have white backgrounds that don’t show in the thumbnail

Was it really a vector EPS? Being just a container format, an EPS can be pure bitmap content.
If you open an EPS with ADe – as opposed to place in an existing ADe document – you can tell right away by one click: open your Layers panel.
Heck, you can even open an EPS with any text editor and read its content as plain text as human readable descriptions, instructions and coordinates. If you see mainly absolute gibberish, however, then it's bitmap.

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1 minute ago, loukash said:

If you open an EPS with ADe – as opposed to place in an existing ADe document – you can tell right away by one click: open your Layers panel.

Speaking of which…
If you have already placed an EPS, be it linked or embedded, if you select it with the Move tool, then click Edit Document from the context toolbar to see and edit its actual content.
If you still have to resort to pixel tools for editing, well, then the content is definitely bitmap.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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14 hours ago, aymanzone said:

it's an EPS file

Having found the actual image: dreamstime.com/thumbs-up-star-trophy-character-shape-vector-illustration-thumbs-up-star-trophy-character-shape-image157888851
Was it really the EPS that you've downloaded? (I'm not going to sign up with them so I can't test it.)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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hi @loukash,

it looks like an EPS to me

I can select any item item and it will show up in the Layer.

I opened it in textpad++ and this is what I got. Only last screenshot seems gibberish but the other two screenshots are in english.

 

image.png.bc035932ce49ff1214ab3449ebb2af6e.png

 

 

image.thumb.png.601b7a5ae20f2dd2c758f8b1f054f543.png

 

 

image.thumb.png.8cb52fb91a8abe0bb601b4f6fe60d4a4.png

 

 

Quote

Speaking of which…
If you have already placed an EPS, be it linked or embedded, if you select it with the Move tool, then click Edit Document from the context toolbar to see and edit its actual content.
If you still have to resort to pixel tools for editing, well, then the content is definitely bitmap.

I tried that and it looks like a real eps file to me because I can go and edit each part and it would open up in the layer. Let know if you want screenshot but I'm pretty sure.

 

Thanks

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When you look at the layer panel, you should see lot of curves, with plain colours or gradients.

If you mostly see images with a clipped path, it's a bad EPS, since the original was too complexe to be divided in vector objects... those are difficult to work with, since they are not real vectors.

That's what you should check in the file.

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hi @Wosven

GarryP solved the original problem but some people wanted additional info about the file. The image looks like good EPS to me, but I'm newbie. Here's an example of a selection. Looks neat. Not sure if that is what you were referring too. GarryP mentioned I just need to change background to Transparent and everything worked :)

image.thumb.png.f5983ed2a1044d38dff6e71629649d9b.png

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3 hours ago, aymanzone said:

Here's an example of a selection.

Yes, that's genuine vector.
In that case, you should simply group all the front parts of the illustration without the white background (if any) and copy them into your project. No need for pixel masks whatsoever.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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