Live filter on a mask — can't make it to work at all

[cygaj]

This should be very simple but I absolutely can't figure out how to make a live filter to work on a mask. I have the same problem with adjustment layer on a mask either. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong but I can't seem to get it to do anything

 

(Affinity Photo 2.0.3 on win10)

[Ron P.]

Affinity Photo Online Help-Layer Masks, Applying Filters

Quote

You can apply destructive filters to mask layers. For example, a selection of blur, sharpen, distortion or noise filters can be applied to mask layers, as well as layers with mask layer properties such as adjustment layers, live filter layers and masked fill layers; spare channels can also take destructive filters too.

In the Affinity Official Photo Tutorials, there are various tutorials showing Masking, Using Adjustment Layers, ect.

Affinity photo Tutorials

[lepr]

15 hours ago, cygaj said:

I can't seem to get it to do anything

Only the Filters and Adjustments which affect alpha will have an effect on a Mask, and Halftone Filter does not affect alpha.

Let us know if you still need help because there are workarounds.

[NotMyFault]

1. Add channel mixer to convert alpha to rgb, into masking position
   Select R channel, set R input to 0, A input to 100%. Repeat for G and B channel 
   select A channel, set offset to 100%
2. add halftone filter, into masking position
3. Add channel mixer to convert RGB into alpha, into masking position
   Select alpha channel, set alpha to 0, R input to 100%. 

[cygaj]

2 hours ago, ,,, said:

Only the Filters and Adjustments which affect alpha will have an effect on a Mask, and Halftone Filter does not affect alpha.

Let us know if you still need help because there are workarounds.

That is very informative and changes everything! Wouldn't have occurred to me that the grayscale I perceive on the mask isn't that in reality. Thank you for pointing this out to me

1 hour ago, NotMyFault said:

1. Add channel mixer to convert alpha to rgb, into masking position
   Select R channel, set R input to 0, A input to 100%. Repeat for G and B channel 
   select A channel, set offset to 100%
2. add halftone filter, into masking position
3. Add channel mixer to convert RGB into alpha, into masking position
   Select alpha channel, set alpha to 0, R input to 100%. 

Unfortunately I'm too out of depth to follow these instructions because I don't know how to work with channels at all. My experience with Photo is mostly retouching scans and making tweaks to them with adjustment layers and this problem was more complicated than what I usually need the program for. So I was confused what is the "masking position" and whether I should have a mask in place already and how to nest all the things, I didn't know how to follow your instruction to achieve any effects, I'm sorry haha. But! I googled specific phrases you used and stumbled onto this thread: Using channel mixer for masks

I tried following the instructions and they seem to do what I wanted to do (image in attachment)

Does your method, that I couldn't work out, does something more than this? Or are the instructions in that post equivalent?

Maybe I could've work out your instructions but the truth is I should be doing something completely different right now, I only made this thread because I got really distracted with a problem I shouldn't worry about right now, and when I sobered up from the distraction I don't want to fall down the rabbit hole of learning about channels from scratch, but I also wanted to acknowledge the help I am being offered

By the way: my actual problem is that I'd like to do some designs for screenprinting and this is my uninformed layman's idea for how to go about color separation. But I need to search the forum later for workarounds that people figured out especially for this usecase

EDIT: I imagine that this is a bad idea in general and I'm at a loss how to use Affinity to design an image for printing in colors different than CMYK. From what I understand I'd want to use custom channels

[TrentL]

I was wondering about this exact problem and I found a way to get it working for Half Tone.

The trick is to put your Half Tone filter above something (solid color or gradient) so it has a visible effect. Then put them in a Group. Use that Group as a mask for the image. Nothing will happen yet. What you have to do is use the Group's Blend Options to suppress either the whites or blacks as desired. The Blend Options are what can add transparency to your half-tone output, and that transparency is what affects the mask.

I'll be making a full video on this soon, but in the meantime I've attached my test file if you want to check it out. Note that you can dynamically change how the half tone looks by changing the half tone properties, the gradient on the fill layer, and the blend options curve. 

Half_Tone_Test.afphoto

[DavidSS]

getting adjustment layers or live filters to work *on masks* would be very useful

e.g.:

- use a color correction adj. layer (e.g. white balance)

- mask it and paintbrush in the mask to e.g. lower the amount of color correction in some specific parts of the image

- apply a curves adjustment to the mask to finetune the effect non-destructively

[NotMyFault]

7 hours ago, DavidSS said:

getting adjustment layers or live filters to work *on masks* would be very useful

e.g.:

- use a color correction adj. layer (e.g. white balance)

- mask it and paintbrush in the mask to e.g. lower the amount of color correction in some specific parts of the image

- apply a curves adjustment to the mask to finetune the effect non-destructively

This works out of the box.

curves, levels, channels mixer work on alpha channel, and most filters like blur, sharpen etc. Just nest the adjustments to masking position of the mask, or place it above the mask then the mask is already child to a group or parent layer.

[NotMyFault]

As masks are single channel and represent lightness without colors, adjustments on colors normally don’t have any impact or use applied to masks.

of course, you can use masks to limit adjustment effect to specific areas of a color parent layer or layers below.

[h_d]

On 1/12/2023 at 7:31 PM, cygaj said:

my actual problem is that I'd like to do some designs for screenprinting and this is my uninformed layman's idea for how to go about color separation.

I'm not an expert, but here's how someone else did it in Adobe Illustrator. It involves spot colours, swatches, all sorts of stuff that's available in Photo (and in Affinity Designer, which is a closer equivalent to Illustrator). The techniques for controlling knockout and trapping described in the link are probably more easily accessed in Designer, although I think you could do them with Photo too.

I'm not sure how Affinity would handle the output - maybe to PDF with "Honour Spot Colours" selected.

[DavidSS]

3 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

This works out of the box.

curves, levels, channels mixer work on alpha channel, and most filters like blur, sharpen etc. Just nest the adjustments to masking position of the mask, or place it above the mask then the mask is already child to a group or parent layer.

Trying to apply a motion blur to a whole image, except for the eyes of figures where there is *less* of motion blur applied

I masked, but now I'd like to adjust how much "less" the motion blur applies to the eyes to finetune it

in this setup, the exposure or curves don't have any effect. is this normal? 

 

[Ron P.]

I just don't understand the logic of applying a Layer Mask to an Adjustment or Live Filter Layer. Each of them have their own Mask built in. Logic says your masking the masked adjustment or filter.

Numerous times I've tried to find how this can somehow work or be beneficial. It gets very quickly convoluted. You need to invert a Mask for an adjustment (or filter) layer that is masked to get that adjustment (or filter) layer effect. Then if you add more, nesting them, or grouping them adds to this.

It keeps things simple, easy to work, and track what you're apply to each layer and adjustment/filter, by using what Serif has provided, the built in Mask. I just tried to replicate what DavidSS's screenshot is showing. A Motion Blur Live Filter with a Mask Layer Nested, that has Exposure and Curves Adjustments Nested. 😳 What a mess. I couldn't get any of them to work, Inverting the Layers or the B & W colors and painting on them.

 

[TrentL]

Here is how I used a Halftone Live Filter for a mask, with the whole thing being dynamically editable. The Halftone Live Filter doesn't have any alpha adjustments, so I used Blend Ranges. If anyone knows an easier way, feel free to let me know.

 

 

 

[NotMyFault]

[DavidSS]

FWIW, I found the solution, it's very simple

to apply a Curve adjustment layer to a pixel mask, simply apply the alpha curve. that's it

[Mikey Watson]

On 8/28/2024 at 2:13 AM, DavidSS said:

FWIW, I found the solution, it's very simple

to apply a Curve adjustment layer to a pixel mask, simply apply the alpha curve. that's it

How do you apply/change the alpha curve?

[carl123]

7 minutes ago, Mikey Watson said:

How do you apply/change the alpha curve?

In the curves adjustment layer change the dropdown that says Master to Alpha?

[Mikey Watson]

Sorted it! It doesn’t work on iPad… you cannot edit the Alpha layer… a known bug, apparently…

[NotMyFault]

37 minutes ago, Mikey Watson said:

Sorted it! It doesn’t work on iPad… you cannot edit the Alpha layer… a known bug, apparently…

yes, it is possible using a workaround. And I hope the bug will get fixed.