Affinity Designer smooth gradient between two images

[duke22]

How can I create a smooth transition between two images in Affinity Designer? I tried the same approach I do in Photoshop and created a layer mask and and then use the gradient tool but it does not give a nice smooth transition like I could achieve with Photoshop Any suggestions?

Video here. https://adilo.bigcommand.com/watch/y7AAEw5q

[thomaso]

It is because of the current colour gray – while black is masking & white is unmasking the gray achieves the semitransparent impression in your screencast.

Alternatively to a Mask + Gradient Tool you can use the Transparency Tool and create the transparency gradient directly on the image layer (without a need for a mask).

[duke22]

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

It is because of the current colour gray – while black is masking & white is unmasking the gray achieves the semitransparent impression in your screencast.

Alternatively to a Mask + Gradient Tool you can use the Transparency Tool and create the transparency gradient directly on the image layer (without a need for a mask).

thank you where do I find the transparency tool it's not in my toolbar?

[thomaso]

50 minutes ago, duke22 said:

thank you where do I find the transparency tool it's not in my toolbar?

Your icon may look different than mine (V1). – May yours is currently hidden in the Gradient Tool? (which seems to show a little triangle, pointing to more tools). – If not, you might need to add it to the tools (via "Customize Tools…").

[duke22]

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Your icon my look different than mine (V1). – May yours is currently hidden in the Gradient Tool? (which seems to show a little triangle, pointing to more tools). – If not, you might need to add it to the tools (via "Customize Tools…").

oh yes found the Transparency tool unfortunately does nothing for me, very odd

 

https://adilo.bigcommand.com/watch/Sxi55Lp8

[duke22]

Interesting. So I opened an image from Lightroom in Affinity Designer and copied that into a separate Affinity Designer document where I wanted to create the mask but that doesn't work with an image copied that way. If I just drag and drop the image which I previously exported from Lightroom into Affinity Designer I can use the transparency mask tool. Seems to be a bug in Affinity Designer

[thomaso]

Your "Background" layer seems to be a layer of type "Pixel". The Transparency Tool works for vector only, layers of type "Image" included. So you can just convert your "Background" layer into an image layer via right-click on the image in the layout window.

If you prefer "Image" layers you can avoid the automatic "Background" layer by placing the resource into the layout instead of opening the file (w/wo copying it), while "placing" has the additional advantage that the layer gets named with the resource file name (instead of "Background").

P.S.: Would you mind to attach your videos directly to your forum post, please? It's more convenient to see the content in the forum window without a need to open another website first.

[thomaso]

16 minutes ago, duke22 said:

So I opened an image from Lightroom in Affinity Designer and copied that into a separate Affinity Designer document where I wanted to create the mask but that doesn't work with an image copied that way. If I just drag and drop the image which I previously exported from Lightroom into Affinity Designer I can use the transparency mask tool. Seems to be a bug in Affinity Designer

It's not a bug*. That's how Serif want it to work for any reason. See in my post above "place" vs. "open".
(*but could be a missing feature, an option/setting)

[duke22]

11 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Your "Background" layer seems to be a layer of type "Pixel". The Transparency Tool works for vector only, layers of type "Image" included. So you can just convert your "Background" layer into an image layer via right-click on the image in the layout window.

If you prefer "Image" layers you can avoid the automatic "Background" layer by placing the resource into the layout instead of opening the file (w/wo copying it).

P.S.: Would you mind to attach your videos directly to your forum post, please? It's more convenient to see the content in the forum window without a need to open another website first.

Thank you. Okay, that may be it. Yes, I tried to attach the videos directly but would not let me hence the extra upload will try again. Strange attaching didnt work but drag and drop did

[thomaso]

1 minute ago, duke22 said:

Strange attaching didnt work but drag and drop did

Possibly just a temporary issue of the server or forum software, it can happen with screenshot images, too, occasionally it reports an "error -200" for instance.