Document blur in same area of page, repetitively for each page

[duderonomy]

Hello,

I am happy to search and read for hours. I think I am lacking some vocabulary. Or maybe these particular terms are lost in a sea of terms.

In any event, I am trying to blur a few rectangular areas of a series of pages. 

For example, I started in Publisher, creating a single non-facing master page and 25 regular pages. 

Decided after some video watching that I was not going to find a way to put layer mask on a master page. That seems like the logical way to approach my objective.  

So, started clicking into Designer (from Publisher with my 25 pages) to access layers.

I kinda got stuck trying to make a mask layer that will mask way the rectangular area of my imported PDF file (one per page)

The mask layer will do a gaussian blur on a couple of rectangles (such as my name & address on the PDF page)

How do I make this mask layer so that I can apply it to 25 regular pages. 

Do I make a single mask layer with pattern and copy that to 25 pages?

I'd be very grateful for some pointers such as documentation to read or a video to consume. Proper vocabulary of what I am describing in Affinity terms would goo a long way to help me. 

Many thanks!!!

 

[firstdefence]

You could change the layer blend mode of the PDF to something like Lighten and on the master page have a white rectangle that can be positioned over the name and address. The Lighten blend mode will allow the white rectangle to mask the name and address.

Have a play around with this to see what works.

[duderonomy]

Thank you, firstdefence.

I am definitely exploring by doing... I just knew that I needed to get my question posted due to the little progress I had made. I was not making progress for hours.

And then after posting I dug into the basics of masking. Tried for another 4 hours; trying to learn how to use a mask layer, in general. 

As I am learning the essentials of mask layer., one thing is escaping me! I can't seem to determine where I am "painting" with the paint brush tool in the mask layer. 

That's after I watched a video where one of the two dudes that do the v1 tutorials showed with demonstration a view of the black area vs white area in the mask. I could not see that in my mask layer. 

So, for clarity. I have been able to realize a desired result of masking using a mask layer and paint brush tool to hide a line of text. But I cannot visualize where my markings are in the mask layer for some reason. I think it would be helpful for me to see that. (ha ha)

Additionally, For some reason, I have not been able to figure out how to "define an area with a rectangle or selection" on a mask layer and make it do something desired. 

I really appreciate the nudges and guidance. I'm a try-er. Just a little thick when it comes to learning a new thing. Afterward, I can roll!

btw. I will try the blend mode too, firstdefence. That will help me learn that way of changing things. 

 

[cgidesign]

You can ALT click on the mask icon to solo it.

You then see the mask in solo mode = only the mask but not the other layers' content.

By clicking on another layer you leave the solo mode.

This ALT click works not only for masks but other layers as well.

The issue with Affinity is, that there is no feature to show the mask and the content at the same time. This is only possible in mask refine mode but in that one you can't paint the mask.

As far as I know this is one of the most requested features in the forum since the beginning of Affinity but unfortunately it did not make it into V2.

[duderonomy]

1 hour ago, cgidesign said:

The issue with Affinity is, that there is no feature to show the mask and the content at the same time. This is only possible in mask refine mode but in that one you can't paint the mask.

As far as I know this is one of the most requested features in the forum since the beginning of Affinity but unfortunately it did not make it into V2.

that's crazy! I would have expected that the company's product managers cared a little more about specific User requests. I wonder what the justification they have for not including this. Maybe there is another way to view this?

Thank you for the info about Alt clicking on the mask to solo it. 

[duderonomy]

I was able to hobble together a solution that is doing something like I imagined. I am using the idea of using a box on the master page. 

It seems the default position of the "Master A" layer was below Background layer (the page of my content). I view this thru Photo (raster) or Designer instead of Publisher.

So, I moved the background below the Master page. This yielded an affect where rects in the Master would block the parts of the document that I needed to make private.

Maybe that's not the conventional use of a Master page. 🙂 But sometimes doing something unconventional yields some info that make conventional use more understandble. Or maybe that's just for my understanding. 

I think the blend mode stuff is something I need to learn. What is the right YouTube video and/or documents I should read to learn blending? 

I found this Blend modes explained. Is this article expressing the direction of blend mode that you suggested, firstdefence? Is it useful article?

Thanks everybody!

Though, don't let the suggestions stop here... I plan to go back and implement this in a at least one or two different ways that might be more logical and sensible and possibly easier. I honestly did not know what I was doing. Just iterated many different ways until something worked in a way I needed it to.

Cheers!