Unable to Trim an Image using Clip Canvas

[johngwms]

I need to automate the removal of whitespace around an image before resizing.  I recently moved from Photoshop to Affinity Photo 2 and used to do this with The Photoshop Trim command.

I have attached a sample PNG image which I am having problems with

I have tried using the Document | Clip Canvas and Tasterize and trim commands but neither do anything.  I have unlocked the single image layer.

Can anyone please suggest what I am doing wrong?

 

[PaulEC]

Go to the Document Menu and enable Transparent Canvas before using Clipping.

[johngwms]

I have Transparent Background enabled.

[walt.farrell]

30 minutes ago, johngwms said:

I have Transparent Background enabled.

In that case, you have white pixels in your PNG file, around your green object.

Clip Canvas does not remove any pixels. It shrinks the Canvas to include only the non-transparent areas. And for you that would include your white pixels.

[walt.farrell]

I would use the Flood Select Tool, set to Contiguous mode.

Click in the white area and it should select all those white pixels. Then press Delete, and you should have transparent areas around the object. Then  try Clip Canvas.

[PaulEC]

Clipping this image works OK for me.

 

[johngwms]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I would use the Flood Select Tool, set to Contiguous mode.

Click in the white area and it should select all those white pixels. Then press Delete, and you should have transparent areas around the object. Then  try Clip Canvas.

Thank you Walt.  As I need to process each image with a macro, it will not be practical to select areas.

[johngwms]

1 hour ago, PaulEC said:

Clipping this image works OK for me.

 

Thanks for trying it Paul.  That implies something is blocking the functionality in the way Affinity is set up.  At least I now know that it should be possible.

[johngwms]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

In that case, you have white pixels in your PNG file, around your green object.

Clip Canvas does not remove any pixels. It shrinks the Canvas to include only the non-transparent areas. And for you that would include your white pixels.

Maybe, but that is unlikely as I used remove.bg to remove the background of this image.  I also have the same issue with a JPEG file with a white background.

[walt.farrell]

18 minutes ago, johngwms said:

I also have the same issue with a JPEG file with a white background.

JPG files do not have transparency, so definitely if you see white around it they are pixels, which will not be removed by Clip Canvas.

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, johngwms said:

Thanks for trying it Paul.  That implies something is blocking the functionality in the way Affinity is set up.  At least I now know that it should be possible.

Can you supply the image as a .zip file?

[PaulEC]

With a JPEG you could remove the white background with the Flood Select Tool, then clip the transparency. (Don't try to do it with the Erase White Paper filter, as that would also remove the white on the main image.)

[johngwms]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

Can you supply the image as a .zip file?

Sure, here we go

tr-mikroe-gyro-8-click-3.zip

[johngwms]

5 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

With a JPEG you could remove the white background with the Flood Select Tool, then clip the transparency. (Don't try to do it with the Erase White Paper filter, as that would also remove the white on the main image.)

Paul, dont I have to select the white area, first?  I need to process the file with a macro

 

[johngwms]

I didn't realize that the image must have a transparent background for the Clip Canvas command to work.  I have now tried it with a PNG image on a transparent background and it works.  I thought I had tried that before.  Heyho.  

Photoshop will clip (trim) with a white background.  Shame Affinity doesn't.  I will now have to process all my images in the Remove.bg before running them though a macro in Affinity Photo to perform resizing etc.

Thank you all for your help.

John

[walt.farrell]

29 minutes ago, johngwms said:

Sure, here we go

Thanks.

As Paul said, for that document, Document > Clip Canvas works fine as long as you've used Document > Transparent Background:

 

 

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.