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Hi folks,

I need some guidance from you more experienced users of AD. My apologies in advance if I fail to explain what I'm trying to do very well; I'll do the best I can.

I'm trying to make a mask that I can use from my assets section, that basically blacks out the underlying image except for a semi-circular section at the bottom where it fades out smoothly. The result when used would look like candlelight, or a small torch in the dark, revealing the the image closest to the torch clearly but fading out to black. 

I'm probably going about it all wrong, or maybe there's a simple way to do it, but whatever way I try, I can't get a workable mask, and if I do, the transition from transparent to black is unsatisfactory. Does any one have any advice on how to produce this effect? Bare in mind that I would be using this as a temporary mask on many images, so if I can make one it will save me a huge amount of work.

Flashlight.png.90af0df2cf272fef6825f052956fe608.png

I've found this image that might help show what I'm trying to do, not a very good image I know, but it should give you some idea. The transition to darkness is a little too sharp for what I need, but it's close enough.

Thanks

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1. Create a masking shape with the Ellipse Tool or the Pie Tool:

93174459-325E-4357-BFB8-62DF6DF755C1.jpeg.ca9ab63725e9dea5c026c1c86f5d3e98.jpeg

2. Soften the shape by applying a Gaussian Blur effect:

3E122FBC-8913-4F04-AF14-0CCC1D250A54.jpeg.90aee1c0b6e4a8a6a5cd3b2e36c25ad2.jpeg

3. Put a black rectangle at the bottom of the layer stack, drag the shape in the Layers panel and drop it onto the thumbnail of the image layer to get a result like this:

6EC08703-9CFA-4EC4-82D2-E9F261A1DE9F.jpeg.5b73859874b399a855a17daab33ccb5c.jpeg

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Another possibility:

Create a white rectangle that covers the entire document, above the image, and set the blend mode to Colour Burn. Apply a live Lighting filter to the rectangle and play with the settings and effects until happy. Drag the white rectangle (along with its live Lighting filter) into your assets. Rinse and repeat...

Screenshot_2021-04-07_at_19_25_18.thumb.png.72a693a69e0d29b1af8296898d81d8a1.png

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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4 hours ago, h_d said:

Apply a live Lighting filter

In ADesigner? 

5 hours ago, Gort said:

from you more experienced users of AD.

 

Personally, I would also use APhoto to edit "photos".

Edit: If OP changed his mind and wanted to use APhoto for it :-)

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/pages/Filters/lighting_effects.html

Edited by Pšenda

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8 hours ago, Pšenda said:

In ADesigner?

Whoops sorry.

8 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Personally, I would also use APhoto to edit "photos".

Me too.

Especially as if you Edit in Photo from Designer, place my white rectangle with lighting filter, then return via Edit in Designer, the live Lighting filter is now usable in Designer:

295850110_Screenshot2021-04-08at08_30_20.thumb.png.3d16af9490370b149e7a41f9dbf48c15.png

And can be added to Designer's Assets panel for repeated use.

 

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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Hi all,

Thanks for all the info, and I have to say none of which I tried quite in the same way! :) 

But I will be trying out each one later today, see which one works best for me - I'll let you all know how I get on.

Thanks again

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@Alfred  And turned loose with someone like me, your method can result in things like this.  Zowie!!🙄  On the other hand . . .

809598110_seamlesstexture.jpg.295c3ada33e5e1b10489385f8890c45f.jpg

1790159697_meltingice.jpg.4a6416353d347d3da00ca5b65c4f6825.jpg


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MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB  SSD storage
,  Ventura 13.6.   Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1.  
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12 hours ago, h_d said:

Whoops sorry.

Me too.

Especially as if you Edit in Photo from Designer, place my white rectangle with lighting filter, then return via Edit in Designer, the live Lighting filter is now usable in Designer:

295850110_Screenshot2021-04-08at08_30_20.thumb.png.3d16af9490370b149e7a41f9dbf48c15.png

And can be added to Designer's Assets panel for repeated use.

 

I think yours must a little different to mine. I don't seem to have 'Live Lighting', but I do have 'Lighting'. Everything works fine up to when I need to somehow get it over to Designer so I could use it. Your explanation on that I didn't quite understand. :)

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On 4/7/2021 at 6:46 PM, Alfred said:

 

6EC08703-9CFA-4EC4-82D2-E9F261A1DE9F.jpeg.5b73859874b399a855a17daab33ccb5c.jpeg

This worked really well for me, but it affects the image I'm working with, and I wouldn't be able to repeat its use on all the other images I want to work on, which means I have to do this from scratch again and again - unless I'm missing something...

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40 minutes ago, Gort said:

This worked really well for me, but it affects the image I'm working with, and I wouldn't be able to repeat its use on all the other images I want to work on, which means I have to do this from scratch again and again - unless I'm missing something...

I noted that you mentioned in your OP that you wanted something you could add to the Assets panel: you can do exactly that with the blurry shape. Open a different image, drag the shape from Assets and adjust its size and position to suit. Go to the Layers panel, drag the shape and drop it onto the thumbnail of the image layer as described in my earlier post.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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8 minutes ago, Gort said:

I think yours must a little different to mine. I don't seem to have 'Live Lighting', but I do have 'Lighting'. Everything works fine up to when I need to somehow get it over to Designer so I could use it. Your explanation on that I didn't quite understand.

I'm on versions 1.9.2 of Photo and Designer, running macOS (but Windows should be more or less the same). I'll try to be a bit clearer...

Starting in Designer, place your image. Now from the File menu choose Edit in Photo:

2124341938_Screenshot2021-04-08at20_59_52.png.bc96b113410be236d37518b36d36f9d5.png

 

This switches you and the Designer document into Photo (it sounds as though you have it?)

Draw a white rectangle over the image and set its blend mode to Colour Burn (I actually changed mine to Overlay later,  see. below):
1879459059_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_01_23.thumb.png.d891d6c9d2b8ae6a043e8b39a0ac30a8.png

 

With the rectangle selected, from the Layer menu, choose New Live Filter Layer - Lighting:

619006037_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_05_18.png.6221766e45a28e007d0814575c6dffa0.png

 

This will give you a new Live Lighting filter, nested under the rectangle:

1880584856_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_06_27.thumb.png.09d4dd56aaa000925a9be47fc953b739.png

 

Close the filter settings dialog and from the File menu in Photo, choose Edit in Designer to switch you and the document back to AD, then double-click on the (still Live) Lighting filter in the Layers panel. (This is where I changed the blend mode on the rectangle from Colour Burn to Overlay):

1087853038_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_18_30.thumb.png.6faf2eaa0f3931b90acd653c25f0cc67.png

Adjust settings, colours etc as required, then close the Live Lighting settings box.

Open the Assets panel, select the rectangle, pull down the so-called "Hamburger" menu in Assets and choose Add from Selection...

1280890110_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_56_20.thumb.png.833ae90b59354de4cb43d7c3eeaa88af.png

This will give you a "lighting controller" in your Designer Assets which can be dragged over any image (and adjusted if need be):

235004344_Screenshot2021-04-08at21_56_32.thumb.png.dbb0659a37f1fb3c1b71784eeffe4bb8.png

 

 

Screenshot_2021-04-08_at_22_04_06.thumb.png.b7decc68c44d2a2967b2526e6f7956e7.png

 

Hope this makes sense!

 

 

 

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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