Friksel Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 I'm mostly using Designer, but now I need to cutout parts from a photo so I'm using Affinity Photo for this. I'd like to do this with a curve (already have created these), but it's too sharp to use for masking parts of the photo, so I'd like to feather the cutout mask. This is how I mask now: I tried to do this with layer effects by using gaussian blur, but then it blurs the fill as well and I want to only blur/feather the mask. Is there a way to blur only the mask, or another way to feather the mask without bluring the image and without rasterizing the vector first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted July 6, 2022 Staff Share Posted July 6, 2022 Hi @Friksel, 37 minutes ago, Friksel said: Is there a way to blur only the mask, or another way to feather the mask without bluring the image and without rasterizing the vector first? I would do the following - Unclip the Pixel layer from the Curve layer Select the Curve Layer, then navigate to Layer > New Live Filter Layer > Blur > Gaussian BlurThis should clip the filter inside the curve layer. Adjust the Blur until you're happy with the amount Drag and drop the Curve over the thumbnail of the Pixel layer, to add this as a vector clipping maskThe filter will no longer be editable, but the image should remain unblurred. 2022-07-06 10-26-43.mp4 I hope this helps Friksel 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...
Friksel Posted July 6, 2022 Author Share Posted July 6, 2022 @Dan C Cool! That works! 😀 Thanks a lot for your quick and clear response Dan, even with video, wow! Very much appreciated. And I'm very happy now I don't need to rasterize these masks now! Dan C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 … or nest them vice versa and apply a layer fx to blur the masking shape (non-destructively): Dan C and Friksel 2 Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friksel Posted July 6, 2022 Author Share Posted July 6, 2022 2 minutes ago, thomaso said: … or nest them vice versa and apply a layer fx to blur the masking shape (non-destructively): Yes, that's what I do now. So basically the only thing changed compared to what I tried in the first place was the way I add the mask to the layer 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 33 minutes ago, Dan C said: The filter will no longer be editable, Actually de-nesting this layer makes its applied filter layer occur again – and editable this way. Do you know a reason why it was coded to work this way? For a certain advantage / purpose? I can't imagine a reason that a layer can't get unfolded if / as long it is applied as mask. – To me it feels like a bug, doing something unexpected, unnecessary, in particular when using a Live filter. In your sample de-nesting the curve unhides the applied filter again, so it is not really destructive. At least I would expect a visual indicator that it has a filter applied (contains a nested object itself) if it is nested as mask. I tried with a group – but it is not unfoldable, too. NotMyFault 1 Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted July 6, 2022 Staff Share Posted July 6, 2022 20 minutes ago, thomaso said: Do you know a reason why it was coded to work this way? Apologies, I can confirm this is logged as a bug with our developers - as there should at the very least be indication that this filter is applied to the clipped vector. I'll be sure to update this report now thomaso 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...
Lisbon Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 7 hours ago, Friksel said: Is there a way to blur only the mask, or another way to feather the mask without bluring the image and without rasterizing the vector first? Something I learned recently. Add a group set to Erase blend mode and Inside add a curves adjustment with the alpha channel inverted. After this you can work non-destructively using as many masks as you want. thomaso and Dan C 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted July 6, 2022 Staff Share Posted July 6, 2022 9 minutes ago, Lisbon said: Something I learned recently. Thanks for sharing this Lisbon, as it's something I've just learnt and certainly an inventive workaround! Lisbon 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...
Lisbon Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Your welcome Dan. This is the video where I learned this technique. Graphical: Affinity Photo CLIP to a GROUP using Erase blend mode creatively (Knockout layers) So all the credit to Graphical. (Awesome!!! 😀) Dan C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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