Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Image With Transparent Background


Recommended Posts

See attached video. In Photoshop, as I recall, I used to be able to delete the white around an image, then export it as a 'transparent gif' (apparently you can also do this with a png image). I try to delete just the white around the image by using the 'Flood Select Tool' (which seems to be like the magic wand in photoshop), then clicking on the white area to select it, then hitting the Delete key. But then it deletes the apple, as well. I tried setting the Tolerance to the minimum (1%), but same result. There's got to be a way to do this. Thx

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

I think you'll find you have an Image layer. Hover the mouse pointer over the icon to the left of the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel and it should confirm that. To operate on its pixels as you want, you need to Rasterize that layer first. You can do that by right-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel and choosing Rasterize. There are other ways, too.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I think you'll find you have an Image layer. Hover the mouse pointer over the icon to the left of the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel and it should confirm that. To operate on its pixels as you want, you need to Rasterize that layer first. You can do that by right-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel and choosing Rasterize. There are other ways, too.

OK, I did a Cntl-click (alternative to right-click using my MacBook), on the layer, then chose "Rasterize...." After that, I was able to delete just the white part (after selecting with the wand, as before).

So, this worked, thanks.

However, that was not intuitive. I recently decided to join the Affinity camp, as I can't justify an Adobe subscription, and Affinity apps seem pretty great. They've done a good job of copying most of the functionality of the analogous Adobe apps. In Photoshop, however, I'm pretty sure I didn't have to  'rasterize' an image before saving it as a transparent gif. Is there something I'm missing, or is this just an example of the difference between $50 software and the much more expensive Adobe version?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Image layers are an Affinity function that Photoshop doesn't have, I think.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I'm no genius but I find this a bit confusing. After reading the linked page, I think I understand THAT image layers exist in Affinity Photo, but didn't exactly catch WHY the exist, as you wrote.
Photoshop also has Layers, but I guess are different. In PS you could import a background image (field with sky, for example), then lock that and add other images on top of it. Then you could drag the layers to re-order them from front to back. You can work on the image in one layer without effecting what's in the other layers.
I guess the Affinity Photo layers feature works differently?

The linked page says,

"If an image layer is drawn on, the layer will be rasterised and will adopt pixel layer properties. Rasterisation is required to convert the image to the document's colour space."'

So, it looks like if I had drawn something on my image, it would have automatically been transformed into the state it needed to be to achieve my goal of making a transparent gif (without having to 'rasterize' it manually first).

I don't recall having to take the extra step in PS (to rasterize), in order to make a transparent gif. I've been a private Apple consultant for over 20 years and feel pretty qualified to critique a software interface. This is not intuitive. I don't understand why my image isn't rasterized (or converted to the document's color space, I guess), as soon as I drop it into the app window. This app is for manipulating bitmap (pixel based), images after all (whereas apps like Illustrator and Designer are for vector images primarily). IMHO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, davepete said:

I'm no genius but I find this a bit confusing. After reading the linked page, I think I understand THAT image layers exist in Affinity Photo, but didn't exactly catch WHY the exist, as you wrote. ...

Well think of it this way ...

  • If you create a new, or open an existing document in APh and then use drag'n'drop or use "File->Place..." to put an bitmap/image into the document, then it is treated as an embedded document. This means in turn that the bitmap/image is then placed inside it's own container aka an "(image)" layer into the document.
    - In order to manipulate that "(image)" layer you would have to double click onto it's thumbnail image in the layers panel (...since that would open and expose that embedded container itself) for manipulations.
    - Or alternatively rasterize the "(image)" layer so it is converted from an embedded "(image)" layer into a "(pixel)" layer, which you can manipulate directly here.
  • Another way to deal with pixel/bitmap/photo images is to open them via "File->Open..." in which case the pixel/bitmap/photo will be treated as an pixel document directly with the initial sizes of the photo then. You can immediately alter/manipulate that as it is then directly a pixel layer and no embedded image layer.

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All right. Well, I did manage to make a transparent gif, which was my main issue. I recently bought the 3 main Affinity apps and have not used them much yet. I'm not a graphics professional, just need to use apps like these from time to time for my tech support, music businesses, etc. Thus far they seem like a great value. Cheers, DP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Image layers are an Affinity function that Photoshop doesn't have, I think.

Smart Objects would be the PS equivalent, although I already forgot what exactly S.O. can do.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, loukash said:

Smart Objects would be the PS equivalent, although I already forgot what exactly S.O. can do.

I have always thought (from other comments here) that embedded Affinity documents was the Smart Object equivalent, not Image layers.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, v_kyr said:

What is a Smart Object in Photoshop and What Are They For?

Yep, reads like a description of the Affinity "Image" type of layer… :) 
Except that in Affinity you're not limited to just that in your non-destructive workflow.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, davepete said:

They've done a good job of copying most of the functionality of the analogous Adobe apps.

If you approach Affinity applications in a way that they are just "copies" of some other applications, then you will probably be very disappointed over time - because that is definitely not the case. Serif has been developing graphics applications for over 30 years, and they go their own way (although some functions, commands and operations end up being called the same, the approach is different in many ways).

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, v_kyr said:

- In order to manipulate that "(image)" layer you would have to double click onto it's thumbnail image in the layers panel (...since that would open and expose that embedded container itself) for manipulations.

Double-clicking the thumbnail of an Image object makes the view zoom so that the object almost fills the view. The user cannot access the content of an Image object.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, loukash said:

Yep, reads like a description of the Affinity "Image" type of layer… :) 
 

A Smart Object is like an embedded or linked document (Affinity document or PDF) in an Affinity document, rather than the less functional embedded or linked Image object, since a SO can contain multiple layers and it can be opened for editing by double-clicking its thumbnail in the Layers panel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I have always thought (from other comments here) that embedded Affinity documents was the Smart Object equivalent, not Image layers.

It's not easy to point out the equivalent of smart objects in A.Photo.
Even Pixel Layers in A. Photo have similarities with smart objects.
Here's what happens in Photoshop when you scale a layer without having previously converted to a smart object.

ResizePS.jpg.d683769a7be7da2d0a5611480e455340.jpg

In A.Photo, if you scale a Pixel Layer, you will not see this loss of quality. Basically behaving like a smart object.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, ,,, said:

Double-clicking the thumbnail of an Image object makes the view zoom so that the object almost fills the view.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to the embedded document (this was apparently meant by v_kyr).
This inconsistency in behavior/control really bothers me.

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, ,,, said:

Double-clicking the thumbnail of an Image object makes the view zoom so that the object almost fills the view. The user cannot access the content of an Image object.

Jip, mixed that up with document placements. - But the online help should tell correctly here ...

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I have always thought (from other comments here) that embedded Affinity documents was the Smart Object equivalent, not Image layers.

Yes, clearly there's more similarity between Smart Objects and Affinity embedded/linked documents than there is between Smart Objects and Affinity Image objects or between Smart Objects and Affinity Pixel objects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.