Fill overlay?

[Morten_Hjort]

I'n Photoshop I remember I would make a small image (lets say a grid on a transparent background) and make it a fill-layer, so I later on could put it as an overlay on for instance a hero image. I can't seem to find a similar function in AD, but as its a brilliant app I would think its just hidden somewhere under a new name?

[R C-R]

If I understand what you mean correctly, just add the image with transparency to the layers panel & place it above whatever layer(s) you want it to overlay. Set the layer mode as desired for the effect you want.

[Morten_Hjort]

If I understand what you mean correctly, just add the image with transparency to the layers panel & place it above whatever layer(s) you want it to overlay. Set the layer mode as desired for the effect you want.

 

Thanks for the reply. I understand that solution, but it won't really work if I want to create a 8x8 grid with a transparent background. It needs to fill out x-amount of space and just duplicate itself. Manually that would take years and a huge amount of waste in the layers panel :)

[MEB]

Hi Morten_Hjort,

You should easily be able to do this using the Fill Tool/Gradient Tool (depending if you are using Designer or Photo) setting the Type to Bitmap and using the pattern you created to fill a layer (and setting the Blend mode as you wish) however currently there's no way to force the apps to use the image at 1:1 size which means you will get a blurry result when using these tools for this. There's already an improvement request filled for this option but i don't know when or if it will be implemented.

[R C-R]

Alternately, you might be able to use power duplicate to create the grid: Place the first image in one corner where you want it, duplicate it & move that to the adjacent position, then power duplicate to fill out the row (or column). Then select all of those images & repeat the procedure to create the remaining columns (or rows). "Wasting" space in the Layers panel is no big deal -- just select all the images & group them.

 

You can also use the Arrange options to change the alignment/distribution later on if you want.

 

I realize this is not ideal for everything but it is often useful when creating grids of images/objects that you do not want to touch.

[MEB]

That's a workaround but it's still to much work just for this. It also implies you have to do it for each pattern you want to use. In that case just use the Power Duplicate with a Symbol (if you are using Affinity Designer) so we can switch the pattern when needed (assuming you can create all the patterns with the same size which is not always the case).

[R C-R]

As I said, I realize it is not an ideal workaround for everything, but for example it can be useful if the pattern itself is not transparent and/or you don't want it to tile the entire area of interest and it is not a pattern that will tile seamlessly.