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Cutting out the round shape but keep the white part.


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Select both layers, the ellipse layer and the rectangle layer and use the geometry subtract: Layer > Geometry > Subtract  or use the subtract icon on the top menu: 

image.png.8660a822e8efbc09bfd3f1b777b05a71.png

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You're in Designer and you've switched to Pixel Persona.

You've got an empty pixel layer on top of a vector ellipse layer on top of a vector rectangle layer. None of them is selected.

If you want a white 'negative' cutout in the rectangle, leaving just the outline of the ellipse, then delete the pixel layer, which is serving no purpose, return to Designer Persona and follow @firstdefence's excellent advice. You'll still see white below the cut-out rectangle unless you go to File - Document Setup - Colour and check Transparent Background. That will give you something like this :

753850178_Screenshot2021-07-29at22_55_28.png.28f0624879ff5f0ca2c72b65a4f62c87.png

If that's not what you're trying to achieve, then post back with more detail...

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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44 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Select both layers, the ellipse layer and the rectangle layer and use the geometry subtract: Layer > Geometry > Subtract  or use the subtract icon on the top menu: 

image.png.8660a822e8efbc09bfd3f1b777b05a71.png

This method only works with vector... it seems. it either works or does not work... I can't find the pattern why this happens.

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23 minutes ago, h_d said:

You're in Designer and you've switched to Pixel Persona.

You've got an empty pixel layer on top of a vector ellipse layer on top of a vector rectangle layer. None of them is selected.

If you want a white 'negative' cutout in the rectangle, leaving just the outline of the ellipse, then delete the pixel layer, which is serving no purpose, return to Designer Persona and follow @firstdefence's excellent advice. You'll still see white below the cut-out rectangle unless you go to File - Document Setup - Colour and check Transparent Background. That will give you something like this :

753850178_Screenshot2021-07-29at22_55_28.png.28f0624879ff5f0ca2c72b65a4f62c87.png

If that's not what you're trying to achieve, then post back with more detail...

I have no idea what the pixel is and why it is called pixel. I think it is background? In another document when I select layers Background (Pixel) and (Rectangle) the options are greyed out. Why?

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14 minutes ago, ennuied said:

This method only works with vector.

Your ellipse and rectangle layers are both vector. That's why you were offered a vector solution. If you want them to be pixel layers, then switch to Pixel Persona, rasterise them, select the purple pixels of the ellipse by cmd-clicking in the Layers panel, select both layers and press the delete key.
 

1300241970_Screenshot2021-07-29at23_23_19.png.981780d85082b02b15e9e2c7d9789858.png

480278356_Screenshot2021-07-29at23_23_39.png.8600c8973dab7b7a75a193157a5d1a18.png

 

ADD: if you want to perform complex layer manipulations in raster images, then Affinity Photo offers a lot more non-destructive options.

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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12 minutes ago, ennuied said:

This method only works with vector.

If you’re saying that you want to cut a shape out of a raster image it would have been helpful if you had mentioned that in your original post!

How have you created the shape that you intend to use?

P.S. It’s far from obvious what ‘Jesus H Christ’ has to do with any of this.

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6 minutes ago, h_d said:

Your ellipse and rectangle layers are both vector. That's why you were offered a vector solution. If you want them to be pixel layers, then switch to Pixel Persona, rasterise them, select the purple pixels of the ellipse by cmd-clicking in the Layers panel, select both layers and press the delete key.
 

1300241970_Screenshot2021-07-29at23_23_19.png.981780d85082b02b15e9e2c7d9789858.png

480278356_Screenshot2021-07-29at23_23_39.png.8600c8973dab7b7a75a193157a5d1a18.png

 

Ok what the hell is pixel layer? You mean raster?

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1 minute ago, ennuied said:

Ok what the hell is pixel layer? You mean raster?

I'm using the terms in the Affinity interface so that when I show you screen grabs, the words I use match up to the words in the pictures. If you're unclear about the different sorts of layers in the Affinity applications then the help files are a good place to start. 

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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14 minutes ago, Alfred said:

If you’re saying that you want to cut a shape out of a raster image it would have been helpful if you had mentioned that in your original post!

How have you created the shape that you intend to use?

P.S. It’s far from obvious what ‘Jesus H Christ’ has to do with any of this.

That's the problem I can't show my workspace, and it is very late and I have a migraine and English is not my first language. I don't know how to say what I'm trying to say. I CUT A LOT, cutting, cutting, cutting, I have to be able to cut raster as well as vector. Which was possible in xara designer, but I can't use it since I'm on MacOS now.

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Take a breath, turn off your screen, walk away from it, water a plant, talk to the cat, think about something else. Come back later, start with simple things.

Maybe post in your own language, someone here may well understand. 

Everyone is trying to help, but it's really unclear what you want to achieve. 

Sorry if I seemed antagonistic - take care of yourself.

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 minutes ago, h_d said:

I'm using the terms in the Affinity interface so that when I show you screen grabs, the words I use match up to the words in the pictures. If you're unclear about the different sorts of layers in the Affinity applications then the help files are a good place to start. 

Ok so the word pixel is used instead of the word raster, gotcha, I got no problem with that, this makes sense now. But technically vector shapes are also pixels if you use pixels as units which I always do.

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32 minutes ago, h_d said:

Take a breath, turn off your screen, walk away from it, water a plant, talk to the cat, think about something else. Come back later, start with simple things.

Maybe post in your own language, someone here may well understand. 

Everyone is trying to help, but it's really unclear what you want to achieve. 

Sorry if I seemed antagonistic - take care of yourself.

Thanks... here's what I did. I got a raster image with a shape on a white background. I have to be able to make the white background change to another colour, but not the shape. So the idea was to cut the shape OUT of the background. But you cannot colour the raster shape, for some reason... only the neutral colours change, blacks and white stay the same. So I cut the shape (which is raster) then made a vector background and made a cutout of the raster shape in the vector background. Colour it, then impose it on the copy of the raster shape, then blend it. 

P.s. it seems if the image was opened it becomes a background and background cannot be cut, only placed images can be cut, again, it seems that way.

Here's a crude example, where the background of the shape/object switching from white to grey.

1.png

2.png

3.png

4.png

5.png

6.png

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I'm sorry @ennuied but without some sort of screenshot, or a specific example, it's very difficult to understand what you want to do. It may be possible, it may not be. Without specific details of your project, no-one can tell.

I appreciate that there's a language barrier (phrases like 'how the hell...' don't sound polite in the context of a help forum) but I think you are confused by the terminology in Affinity, and that you need to start with the basics.

If you look at the links pinned to the top of this forum, there is a post called A Guide to Learning Affinity Software:

393100639_Screenshot2021-07-30at00_25_22.thumb.png.abfbf34739968032148cd72ddf0f0fdd.png 

I would seriously suggest that you start there, take baby steps, follow the tutorials, get a feel for the image editing conventions in the Affinity suite of programs.

And by all means post back with specific questions.

I would also say, once more, that if you want to edit images, then Affinity Photo is a better solution than Affinity Designer.

 

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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6 minutes ago, h_d said:

I'm sorry @ennuied but without some sort of screenshot, or a specific example, it's very difficult to understand what you want to do. It may be possible, it may not be. Without specific details of your project, no-one can tell.

I appreciate that there's a language barrier (phrases like 'how the hell...' don't sound polite in the context of a help forum) but I think you are confused by the terminology in Affinity, and that you need to start with the basics.

If you look at the links pinned to the top of this forum, there is a post called A Guide to Learning Affinity Software:

393100639_Screenshot2021-07-30at00_25_22.thumb.png.abfbf34739968032148cd72ddf0f0fdd.png 

I would seriously suggest that you start there, take baby steps, follow the tutorials, get a feel for the image editing conventions in the Affinity suite of programs.

And by all means post back with specific questions.

I would also say, once more, that if you want to edit images, then Affinity Photo is a better solution than Affinity Designer.

 

Here's another example. Once I press subtract both raster background and vector shape disappear!!! If this is not a bug then can you please explain to me why this happens?

 

Screenshot 2021-07-30 at 00.31.55.png

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Please can you show screen shots of what you did before this? One for each step.

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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10 minutes ago, ennuied said:

Once I press subtract both raster background and vector shape disappear!!!

We have no way of knowing from that screenshot how the two layers were ordered in the Layers panel or how either of them was filled with color or pixels.

If this is all you can post, please show us what the Layers panel looks like before the subtraction.

Edit: @h_d beat me to it.

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7 hours ago, ennuied said:

Here's a crude example, where the background of the shape/object switching from white to grey.

In your last screenshot you show the Blend Options dialog with a change to the Underlying Composition Ranges graph. If you reset that graph and change the Source Layer Ranges graph instead, you can make the white background transparent.

Drag the right-hand end of the graph all the way down. This will make the white parts of the image completely transparent, leaving the black parts completely opaque, but everything else will be partially transparent. To restore full opacity to the coloured parts of the image, drag the left-hand end of the graph directly across towards the right, stopping when the white background starts to reappear.

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I'm still not entirely sure what you want, but does this help:

In steps:

1) Open the image in Designer, switch to Pixel Persona.

2) Click the Flood Select tool in the white area to create a selection.

3) Press the Delete key to remove the white area. Deselect with Cmd-D.

4) Switch back to Designer Persona.

5) Draw a rectangle and drag it under the isolated Rubik's Cube in the Layers Panel.

6) Modify the colour of the rectangle.

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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18 hours ago, h_d said:

Please can you show screen shots of what you did before this? One for each step.

You can replicate this yourself. Add raster image, then add vector shape on top of it then select both and try to subtract. You will observe exactly what you see on this screenshot.

In anyway, I think I found a temporary solution, to use the polygonal lasso tool. It works, but it is clunky since you cannot edit it like you would a vector shape.

Also I found a cool feature if you hold shift while using polygonal lasso tool and if the shape is simple enough, for example a curve the tool will follow the shape of the curve automatically and with a pretty good precision too.

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11 hours ago, Alfred said:

In your last screenshot you show the Blend Options dialog with a change to the Underlying Composition Ranges graph. If you reset that graph and change the Source Layer Ranges graph instead, you can make the white background transparent.

Drag the right-hand end of the graph all the way down. This will make the white parts of the image completely transparent, leaving the black parts completely opaque, but everything else will be partially transparent. To restore full opacity to the coloured parts of the image, drag the left-hand end of the graph directly across towards the right, stopping when the white background starts to reappear.

I find the blend tool in affinity designer to be far superior to the one in xara designer, but alas the white background is only a simple example, I would use blend tool in the way you described if I had to edit out white background.

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3 minutes ago, ennuied said:

You can replicate this yourself. Add raster image, then add vector shape on top of it then select both and try to subtract.

When I try that with any vector object (including quick shapes like rectangles & ellipses, curves, or any other kind of vector object) & a "(Pixel)" layer, the subtract boolean is not available (greyed out both in the toolbar & in the Layer > Geometry menu), so I cannot duplicate this.

However, if instead I use an "(Image)" layer instead of a "(Pixel)" layer I get a "(Curves)" or "(Curve)" layer with no fill or stroke applied.

So my guess (& why we are asking for screenshots showing what you have before trying the subtract) is you are always trying this with an "(Image)" layer.

"(Image)" layers behave differently from "(Pixel)" layers. For example, if you select one with the Move tool, you get a popup menu in the Context toolbar that allows you to interactively set the x & y scale & DPI to any values or to the original size, & a "Replace Image" button. "(Image)" layers can also be converted to "(Curve)" layers so they can be given a stroke, reshaped with the Node Tool, or added or subtracted with vector objects.

Bottom line: you need to pay attention to the layer type of each object you are working with. 

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
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1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

When I try that with any vector object (including quick shapes like rectangles & ellipses, curves, or any other kind of vector object) & a "(Pixel)" layer, the subtract boolean is not available (greyed out both in the toolbar & in the Layer > Geometry menu), so I cannot duplicate this.

However, if instead I use an "(Image)" layer instead of a "(Pixel)" layer I get a "(Curves)" or "(Curve)" layer with no fill or stroke applied.

So my guess (& why we are asking for screenshots showing what you have before trying the subtract) is you are always trying this with an "(Image)" layer.

"(Image)" layers behave differently from "(Pixel)" layers. For example, if you select one with the Move tool, you get a popup menu in the Context toolbar that allows you to interactively set the x & y scale & DPI to any values or to the original size, & a "Replace Image" button. "(Image)" layers can also be converted to "(Curve)" layers so they can be given a stroke, reshaped with the Node Tool, or added or subtracted with vector objects.

Bottom line: you need to pay attention to the layer type of each object you are working with. 

That's because your raster layer is background, you need to place it. Create new document, place the image, create vector shape then you can replicate it.

Yes I just realized the placed image is called image and the opened image is called pixel. I have no idea what this means, seems like unnecessary complication.

And yes the pixel layer does not even allow to subtract. So like I said the polygonal lasso tool is the only controlled solution to cut raster layer.

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