ksnyder Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 We need a way to use black and white images as a Layer Mask. I am trying to use some grain/noise images as a matte, but my final image needs an alpha channel. Currently, I have to use PS to convert my BW images to an image with an alpha channel to use. The workflow isn't very convenient. I have attached the type of image that I would like to use as a Layer Mask. You can see that creating a selection from the image would be impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 3, 2017 Staff Share Posted March 3, 2017 Hi ksnyder, Welcome to Affinity Forums :) Select that layer then go to menu Layer ▸ Rasterise to Mask. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksnyder Posted March 3, 2017 Author Share Posted March 3, 2017 Ha! So great! I totally overlooked that one! Thank you for the heads up. That's what I needed and of course, it works better than PS. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omega-particle Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Hello, is there a non-destructive way of achieving the same result? I have a group with a bunch of layers that finally output a B&W image that I want to use as a mask, but I'd like to still be able to edit the contents of the group without having to re-rasterize the mask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted October 27, 2017 Staff Share Posted October 27, 2017 Hi omega-particle, Welcome to Affinity Forums No, i'm afraid there's no way to do it automatically. You can set a shortcut for the Rasterise To Mask command in the Affinity Photo Preferences to speed up things a little but as far as i'm aware this is not currently possible. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volden Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Seems it doesn`t work with 32 bit images Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted November 10, 2017 Staff Share Posted November 10, 2017 Hi Volden, Welcome to Affinity Forums It's working correctly for me. Where are you having issues? If you only have a single layer and convert it to a mask then you will see nothing because there's nothing for the mask to act on. You need to have other layers below it to see the effect of the mask. Even without other layers, if you ⌥ (option/alt) click the mask layer in the Layers panel you should be able to see it as a greyscale image. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volden Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 30 minutes ago, MEB said: Hi Volden, Welcome to Affinity Forums It's working correctly for me. Where are you having issues? If you only have a single layer and convert it to a mask then you will see nothing because there's nothing for the mask to act on. You need to have other layers below it to see the effect of the mask. Even without other layers, if you ⌥ (option/alt) click the mask layer in the Layers panel you should be able to see it as a greyscale image. Thank you) Well, I can`t do that anyway. So strange. Can I just copypaste black and white image into the mask layer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted November 10, 2017 Staff Share Posted November 10, 2017 Hi Volden, There may be some issue somewhere. What OS are you using Windows or Mac? I'm assuming you are using the latest version of Affinity Photo (1.6). Can you confirm it please? Also, can you attach a sample afphoto file where the command fails to work correctly for us to check out? Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volden Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 Yes, that`s right. I`ve bought Affinity Photo yesterday. I`m using Windows 10 x64 And the part of the file I`m working with. compose_small1.afphoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted November 10, 2017 Staff Share Posted November 10, 2017 Thanks for the file Volden. I'm checking this on Windows now. It's working correctly on the Mac. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medical Officer Bones Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 On 10/27/2017 at 5:40 AM, omega-particle said: Hello, is there a non-destructive way of achieving the same result? I have a group with a bunch of layers that finally output a B&W image that I want to use as a mask, but I'd like to still be able to edit the contents of the group without having to re-rasterize the mask. It would be nice if the layer stack in Affinity Photo could be expanded to accommodate such a workflow. Last time I checked it is easily possible in PhotoLine (the layer system is very flexible compared), while Photoshop can use smart objects as clipping masks (bit awkward, though). And of course this is one of the strengths of nodal editors such as Fusion, Nuke, Blender, and Natron. Aren't smart objects on the roadmap? verysame and lepr 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volden Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 I definately can`t understand the logic of image masks here. Export to PSD doesn`t work for some reasons, so I can`t even finish my work in PS. Now I`m exporting 40 layers one by one. This is not good, guys. Hole day today I spent on a deadline work for architecture studio and it is not even finished. Affinity seems useless for large progects yet. So sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepr Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepr Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted November 14, 2017 Staff Share Posted November 14, 2017 Hi Volden, Although i can also rasterise to mask on Windows, there's definitely issues with the file. I'm also not able to export correctly to PSD in some circunstances and as owner noted the file size is way too big. I'm passing this to the dev team and will get back to you soon. Volden 1 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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