Affinity Photo - Making selection transparent

[pixelman]

I'm experiencing much confusion in trying to do something that I think should be straightforward. In other programs that I've used, if you make a selection in an upper layer and do edit/cut then the area corresponding to the selection is made transparent. This doesn't appear to happen in Affinity Photo.

If I make a selection in an existing image and click on Mask Layer, it appears that the inverse of the selection is made transparent. So there may be a workaround although it doesn't always seem to work for me e.g. when text is involved.

In any case, is there an easy way to just make a selection and have the selection made transparent?

Thanks.
 

Using current Affinity Photo on Mac Big Sur and Windows 10.

Edited February 16, 2022 by pixelman

[pixelman]

Yes, that's what I mentioned as working. But not for all images. If I create a new image with white background and add black text, then Rasterize and select the white background, clicking on the Mask Layer button does not create transparent text. What is the difference there?

Also, with the Document/Transparent Background menu item, how is "background" defined?

[Ron P.]

8 hours ago, pixelman said:

Also, with the Document/Transparent Background menu item, how is "background" defined?

It's defined/displayed by the Checkerboard you should see. If you see white, then the Background is not transparent. To see this, in the Document menu, select it then de-select it.

I recommend you spend some time learning the basics of the program. It will help make doing things much easier, less stressful.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/photo/desktop/

[pixelman]

16 hours ago, Hens said:

Make sure the layer is a pixel in the layers panel.
If it is an image , you'll need to rasterize first

Create the selection>Ctrl+Shift+i>mask layer button.
 

If I open an existing image and do this it works i.e. the selection is made transparent. Consider the following steps:

1. File/New (transparent background not checked, image is white)

2. Draw in black with paint brush. Assistant creates a new pixel layer. I would think it is now similar to when I opened an existing image.

3. Select the black area and invert selection.

4. Click Mask Layer. Now what's inside where I painted is white, not transparent.

So on a basic level why is this behaving differently? And I hope you won't refer me to ~100 tutorial videos to get the answer.

 

[Old Bruce]

49 minutes ago, pixelman said:

4. Click Mask Layer. Now what's inside where I painted is white, not transparent.

Because you Inverted the selection the Mask will mask out the area not selected.

And it is not White, it is the colour of the canvas which is defaulted to white.

 

 

[pixelman]

On 2/17/2022 at 11:26 AM, Old Bruce said:

And it is not White, it is the colour of the canvas which is defaulted to white.

 

 

Okay, but to get to the bottom of all this...If I do steps 1 and 2 above then flatten the image and export it as a JPEG, then open it, make the selection, invert the selection and click on Mask Layer, it makes the area not selected transparent.

So what is different in the saved then opened image compared to the image created just doing steps 1 -> 4 above? If you open a JPEG is the canvas transparent by default?

[Old Bruce]

5 minutes ago, pixelman said:

If you open a JPEG is the canvas transparent by default?

JPEGs have no transparency. If you are going to be working  with images that will require parts/areas that are transparent stay away from JPEGs and use PNGs or TIFFs. Horses for courses.

[pixelman]

2 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

JPEGs have no transparency. If you are going to be working  with images that will require parts/areas that are transparent stay away from JPEGs and use PNGs or TIFFs. Horses for courses.

But if I open a JPEG, make a selection and do Edit/Cut, the selected area is transparent !!  I seem to be having a hard time just getting at something basic here since that is not the case if I create a new image, draw a smear with the paint tool, flatten the image, make a selection and do the same Edit/Cut. So what is the basic difference between such a created and flattened image vs. an opened JPEG such that the behavior of Edit/Cut is different in the two cases? That's all I want to know.

[AffinityJules]

On 2/16/2022 at 11:32 PM, pixelman said:

Yes, that's what I mentioned as working. But not for all images. If I create a new image with white background and add black text, then Rasterize and select the white background, clicking on the Mask Layer button does not create transparent text. What is the difference there?

A new image with a white background and a new black text layer are two different entities, or 2 layers.

Rasterising both layers then selecting the white background will not result in making the text transparent. The text layer itself will need to be selected for this to work.

If the two layers in question are 'flattened' down to one layer, then the black text can be made transparent after selecting the black areas.

[pixelman]

3 hours ago, AffinityJules said:

If the two layers in question are 'flattened' down to one layer, then the black text can be made transparent after selecting the black areas.

Sorry if I'm not making my question clear. Yes, what you show is what I get under those circumstances. But if I save the flattened image with text as a JPEG and then open it, selecting the text and doing Edit/Cut, the text then shows the checkerboard pattern inside that I associate with transparency, not the white inside as you show. So what exactly is the difference between the flattened pixel layer as in your example and an opened JPEG such that in the former case you get white and in the latter case you get the checkerboard. Yes, in the former case the canvas is white, but what specific property of the image determines that difference? In other words, what property of the images would predict checkerboard vs. white?

[AffinityJules]

It seems a simple thing to me, but then again I might not be understanding your question properly.

A JPEG opened in Photo has become an 'editable image' and thus capable of being live edited.

A flattened file which has transparent elements exported as a JPEG (edited and saved) will not show transparency, and therefore when opening it again the transparency will appear as white.

A PNG file saved with transparent elements will retain all the edited properties, and when reopened, the image will still have the transparency.

Note: the image I uploaded had transparency, but once it was saved as a JPEG those properties were lost.

 

 

[AffinityJules]

In answer to your original question: when a selection is made and a mask applied, the outside of the selection will be masked out (everything inside the selection is retained). To do the opposite, simply invert the selection then apply the mask (everything outside the selection is retained. Any image underneath any of the above examples will show through because the masked out sections are now transparent.

Using the edit/cut method will still work and do the same thing as a mask, but it's a hard edit rather than a soft masked edit which is retrievable should the need arise. The thing to note using the edit/cut method is, when making the selection everything inside the marching ants will be removed unlike the opposite effect when applying a mask. This can also be reversed by inverting the selection and cutting away the inside rather than the outside of the chosen selection.

[Jan_NL_FR]

If you want to see transparency, you have to export it as PNG. If you save as JPEG transparency will be filled with white.

[Rob Ainscough]

I know this is an old post, but I'm running into the same issue with ability to simple Cut out my selection revealing transparency.

1. File | New from Clipboard  (create image from Clipboard, all good)

2. Use Flood Selection Tool (Tolerance 12% from current layer, all good selection is made correctly)

3.  File | Edit | Cut - my entire image on the layer goes away and not just the selected area?

I'm coming from Adobe Photoshop where this is a very simply process ... hoping AP2 would be the same?  File format hasn't been established since it's from clipboard (new file) ... I've read the above in this thread but that seems crazy amount of work for what is a very simple process?

Cheers, Rob.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

1. File | New from Clipboard  (create image from Clipboard, all good)

That probably gives you a new document that has an Image layer rather than a Pixel layer. You can see this in the Layers panel. 

If so, you need to Rasterize the layer, to make it a Pixel layer, before you can work with its pixels. You can do that from the Layer menu, or by right-clicking it in the Layers panel.

[Rob Ainscough]

Thanks Walt, in my search for a solution I came across this video:

Which didn't work ... then I read a comment from the poster that clarified that when using File - Create from Clipboard the layer needs to be "Rasterize & Trim" prior to making any selection (per your response).  

This seems to be a fairly common issue that trips many users up (myself and others according to Google search), might be worth making the default "Rasterize & Trim" as part of the "Create from Clipboard" process ... I can't think of a majority case where someone would NOT want "Rasterize & Trim" as the default behavior?  Or if there is a use case, maybe make it an option to not Rasterize and Trim in preferences?

Cheers, Rob.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Rob Ainscough