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

Recommended Posts

I work with png files with transparency.  Currently, the only way I know to make an image with transparent edges is to select part of a non-transparent image, cut it out, and paste it in a new image.  But once it's there, I cannot make more parts of it transparent.

 

Is there a way to use normal drawing tools to edit the alpha channel of an image?  (This is not the same as drawing with transparency, as that only affects the SOURCE alpha, not the destination (background) alpha).  What I'd like to do is be able to directly change the background's alpha layer and paint "transparency" onto an image.  I've tried drawing with only the alpha channel visible, but it didn't work.

 

Any advice is appreciated.  

 

Great job on Affinity Photo - I love the updates.

- Jeff 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi jdiamond,

 

You can apply transparency using different methods, ones I've used in the past are:

 

1, Using the Selection brush, selected your area, and hit delete, this will simply remove the selected area.

 

2, Again using the Selection Brush or Quick Mask option, create your area, then click Refine on the toolbar. Now you can refine the selection if required, Using the Selection menu you can choose to create a Mask or a new Mask Layer.

 

3, You can also simply use the Erase Brush Tool, changing the opacity, flow and hardness of the brush.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...

Thanks that is helpful -- the eraser is pretty useless being circular - perhaps the eraser should be allowed to have brush shapes ( or the  normal brush should pick up a colour of transparent )

Noted that this needs the shapes etc to be rasterised. (I'd dearly love a vector eraser in Designer - but that is another story)

Win 11 PCs 64bit  Envy and Envy tablet + Filter Forge  Retired computer systems tester doing graphics for charities and politics etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, gw_westdale said:

Thanks that is helpful -- the eraser is pretty useless being circular - perhaps the eraser should be allowed to have brush shapes ( or the  normal brush should pick up a colour of transparent )

You can use other brush shapes. Click on the More button in the context menu, and in the dialog window that opens you can alter the shape, rotation, size, flow, spacing, ect.

Affinity Photo 2.4..; Affinity Designer 2.4..; Affinity Publisher 2.4..; Affinity2 Beta versions. Affinity Photo,Designer 1.10.6.1605 Win10 Home Version:21H2, Build: 19044.1766: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3301 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s);32GB Ram, Nvidia GTX 3070, 3-Internal HDD (1 Crucial MX5000 1TB, 1-Crucial MX5000 500GB, 1-WD 1 TB), 4 External HDD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, gw_westdale said:

perhaps the eraser should be allowed to have brush shapes

If you look carefully at the tooltip text when you hover over the Eraser icon you should see that it says Eraser Brush Tool. It is a brush, and you can choose any of your brushes for it, using the Brushes panel.

-- 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

6 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

If you look carefully at the tooltip text when you hover over the Eraser icon you should see that it says Eraser Brush Tool.

Another clue that it is a brush based tool is among the options in the context toolbar there is a "More" button that if clicked opens the Brush - Selection window.  This allows you to change the brush's characteristics without changing any of the brush presets in the Brushes panel. You also get the symmetry options characteristic of brushes.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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.