Fadi Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 Quote To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadi Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted March 31, 2022 Staff Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 1 Quote Please note - I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time. Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadi Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 Sure I'll attach it here below. Thanks:) VaporwaveStatue.afphoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJack Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 😛) Fadi and Dan C 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted March 31, 2022 Staff Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 - 2022-03-31 16-24-08.mp4 I hope this helps Fadi and JimmyJack 1 1 Quote Please note - I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time. Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadi Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted March 31, 2022 Staff Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 Fadi 1 Quote Please note - I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time. Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJack Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadi Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 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 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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