EdD Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 Back in Photoshop days (years ago) I had a signature that I saved as a brush. The signature image was in black on a white background and made into a jpeg. When I selected thee brush I could click on a photo, size the signature (brush) and alter the colour. Only the signature would be visible on the image. Now in AP 1.5 (RC4) I saved the scan as a brush and everything works except that now it shows up as a signature with the white background. My suspicion is that I've made a mistake along the way. Can anyone help me out? Thanks, Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 I had the same issue when saving my sig scan as a jpeg. You need to save it as a PNG in order to have a transparent background. CekariYH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdD Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 Thanks LilieG. I'll try that. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdD Posted December 13, 2016 Author Share Posted December 13, 2016 I tried saving a new image brush of the signature (black on white background) but even after using a PNG the brush still has a white background. Am I saving as the wrong type of brush or have I missed something else? Thanks, Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Bring your scan into Affinity Photo then under Filters>Colors, select Erase White Paper. That will give you a transparent background and you can then Export it as a PNG and your brush should be a black signature on a transparent background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdD Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Thanks LilieG. That worked. To carry this one step further: in Photoshop I used to be able to sample a colour and use that colour for the signature. In Photo I haven't figured out how to make the signature in any colour but black. Any suggestions? Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Huuuuh! I tend to use mine as black always so I hadn't realized that you couldn't just treat it like a regular brush and select your desired color. Got a kind of klutzy work-around that you could use till someone offers a better solution. Apply the signature on an empty pixel layer. Select "Protect Alpha" in the Tool Options bar so that only the sig will be affected Then use a regular brush loaded with the desired color to paint over just the signature. If you make the regular brush a fairly large size it will only take one swipe across the signature Maybe someone will come up with a more elegant solution but that's the best I can do on the spur of the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdD Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 Once again, thank you LilieG! I tried it and it worked exactly as you described. I'm hoping someone out there (maybe one of the developers) can tell me (us) how to have the colour change work but meanwhile this does the trick. Since I'm not doing any high volume stuff it's not too much of an inconvenience. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Here's a good method. 1) Sign your name and scan it. Or, sign on a tablet. In any case, create a document with a black signature on a transparent background. Save this as an Affinity Photo (afphoto) document. 2) In the Photo you want to sign, place the Signature document (as an embedded document) into the photo. Using Place... allows you to resize the signature as big or as small as you'd like. 3) Now, with the Signature selected, click the FX button at the bottom of the Layers panel. You can assign a Color and other effects as you'd like. In the picture below, I colored the signature yellow and applied an orange Outer Glow. LilleG 1 Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 A very simple method is to put a coloured rectangle under the signature layer, and then drag it up in the Layers panel until it's clipped to the signature (indicated by a thick blue line extending to the right of the signature layer's thumbnail). If the blend mode of the rectangle is set to 'Screen', then it won't matter whether the signature layer's background is white or transparent. You can change the colour of the signature at any time by changing the fill of the rectangle. LilleG 1 Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Here's a good method. 1) Sign your name and scan it. Or, sign on a tablet. In any case, create a document with a black signature on a transparent background. Save this as an Affinity Photo (afphoto) document. Signature as afphoto.jpg 2) In the Photo you want to sign, place the Signature document (as an embedded document) into the photo. Using Place... allows you to resize the signature as big or as small as you'd like. 3) Now, with the Signature selected, click the FX button at the bottom of the Layers panel. You can assign a Color and other effects as you'd like. In the picture below, I colored the signature yellow and applied an orange Outer Glow. Signature w FX.jpg Thanks, James. The ability to use FX on the sig offers all sorts of artistic or just plain fun possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 "James"? Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Oh my! I do apologize! I spent too much time reading various posts and threads trying to find this again and wound up not paying enough attention to whose advice I was quoting. Thank you very much, smadell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 The ability to use FX on the sig offers all sorts of artistic or just plain fun possibilities. You can use FX with my method, too, of course. The attached screenshot shows the standard 'Rainbow' style applied to the coloured rectangle, and a 12.5px 'Bevel / Emboss' layer effect applied to the text. (I've added a black background to make it show up better here.) LilleG 1 Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilleG Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Cool, Alfred! I like that. You and smadell have both been extremely helpful. It's people like you guys...and others, of course...that make this forum such a great place. Alfred 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdD Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 Those are great suggestions. Thank you both. As LilieG said this forum is great! Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts