How to make an upper layer overlap another layer only partly?

[Fadi]

Dear Affinity People,

Firstly sorry for posting a basic question about using the tools in Affinity Photo. I actually remember learning about this topic in a tutorial video, but even after hours searching I simply cannot find it back, or any other video explaining this topic.

What I am trying to do:

I have two layers, one is the statue in the picture, the other is the halo. I want the bottom part of the halo to go behind the head. I manage to achieve exactly this by duplicating the statue, moving it above the halo layer and then erasing the area that overlaps with the front part of the halo.

However this method is quite inconvenient when doing further editing to those layers afterwards.

Any recommendations? Thanks a lot!

[carl123]

Add a mask layer to the halo layer then with the paint brush set to black, paint/erase on the mask layer where the halo should not appear

[Fadi]

Thanks for such a quick reply. Yes I tried this already, the issue is that the result is not exact, there is either still some overlap between the edge of the statue and the halo, or a small gap. It is too difficult to do this by hand on the pixel level.

[Dan C]

Hi @Fadi,

I suspect that Carls suggestion will be the easiest, but we can certainly take a closer look at your document if you're willing?

If so, please attach a copy of the file here, or let me know if you'd like a private upload link.

Many thanks

[Fadi]

Sure I'll attach it here below. Thanks:)

VaporwaveStatue.afphoto

[JimmyJack]

I'm (fairly 😉) certain that palm fronds is not the natural background for that statue.
That would suggest to me that you already have her with a transparent background..... or with a very detailed mask already done.

A) If it's a mask, copy it and use just the part that interacts with the halo.
B) if the statue has a transparent background, CMD click on it's layer thumbnail to get a marching ants selection of the head in order to make your mask. It should be perfect.

But, the solutions above should work fine. Just adjust you brush size and hardness to get into the finer details.
Alternatively, you could make a vector clip object (image ⬇️). 

(edit: I see you posted while I was typing. Love it when I'm right 😛)

[Dan C]

Thanks for providing that! As JimmyJack mentions above -

7 minutes ago, JimmyJack said:

B) if the statue has a transparent background, CMD click on it's layer thumbnail to get a marching ants selection of the head in order to make your mask. It should be perfect.

If you CTRL/CMD click on the layer thumbnail, you will see a selection is created. Now navigate to Select > Invert Pixel Selection and make sure the 'halo' object is selected.

Now click the Mask icon and you'll see a mask generated based on your selection. Finally using a White brush, 'paint' back onto the mask the front section which you wish to keep -

I hope this helps

[Fadi]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

B) if the statue has a transparent background, CMD click on it's layer thumbnail to get a marching ants selection of the head in order to make your mask. It should be perfect.

Ah yes, option B is exactly what I was looking for, I managed to replicate what you did in the video. Does this technique have a specific name? For example how would I look for tutorials showcasing this technique. Because I remember seeing an example like this before, but could not remember what the title was.

Thanks for your time!

[Dan C]

No problem at all, glad to hear this helped!

8 minutes ago, Fadi said:

Does this technique have a specific name?

I'm not aware of any specific term for it, as we simply refer to this as creating a Pixel Selection From Layers 

[JimmyJack]

An extra little tidbit if you haven't discovered it already:

When using a mask the outer FXs will bleed over. (With a halo, that might be appropriate. Or not... I have very little halo experience 😅)
When using a clip, they won't. 

😇

[Fadi]

3 hours ago, JimmyJack said:

When using a mask the outer FXs will bleed over. (With a halo, that might be appropriate. Or not... I have very little halo experience 😅)
When using a clip, they won't. 

Yes, thanks for pointing that out, it indeed does, for the halo that's alright, but with some other items I need to keep that in mind 🤔