Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Good Morning,

I have been looking for a way to create a Gaussian blur gradient.  That is to say slightly blurred on one end of an object and progressively becoming more blurred toward the other end of the object.  Specifically a shadow of an object (pole) composted into a photo.  I have been told that there is a way to accomplish this in PhotoShop using a channel selection and applying a gradient to the selection.  Is this possible with Affinity Photo?  If so how.

Thank you. Paul, Ocala, Florida, USA

Posted

This is how i approached it, Paul. There may be smarter ways, though.

1. Duplicate the layer/object

2. Apply a New Live Filter of the type Gaussian Blur

3. Add a Mask Layer to the blurred layer

4. Apply a black to white gradient. Black will reveal the bottom layer, the one that isn't blurred.

Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher | macOS Sequoia (15.4) on 16GB MBP14 2021 with 2.6.x versions

Posted

Depending on the object, you can apply the Transparency Tool on it (if you're using Designer). Then add new nodes and slide them near the edges. Then from the flyout on the Context Toolbar, you can adjust the transparency of individual nodes.

 

post-27616-0-32135400-1488912040_thumb.png

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

Posted

(Please ignore this second post.) 

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

Posted

Depending on the object, you can apply the Transparency Tool on it (if you're using Designer).

 

That's true, Brian, but Paul wrote:

 

Is this possible with Affinity Photo?

 

 

 

(Please ignore this second post.) 

 

OK. Ignored! :D

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Posted

That's true, Brian, but Paul wrote:

 

Oops. My mistake. I still know something else that can be done.

 

1. Create a mask layer on the vector object with the gradient applied.

 

2. Using any of the selection box or lasso tools, overlap the sides and make sure the outer portion of the selection extends out far.

 

3. Click on "Refine" and then keep the Ramp at 0% and adjust the Feather to your liking, and then Apply.

 

4. Press Delete.

 

If at any point you want to remove the effect, just click the mask's thumbnail and press Delete.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

Posted

Is there a difference between grad transparent blur and blur with varying value? I guess there is. 

 

That is, optimally you would have blur radius 0 in the other end and 100 in the other. Using grad mask to mix sharp image and the blurred one does not create same appearance. 

 

This would work If you could make a area grad blur where you could set blur values to different nodes. So far I do not know any app that can do this kind of effect (maybe some PS focus plugins can?) and in practice people use that transparency fake with good results.

Posted

Thank you all,  I'm anxious to try all the suggestions as soon as I get home from holiday.  And yes, please the multiple postings for the same question.  I'm using a WiFi at sea and it is dead slow.  I didn't think the posting published the first two tries.  Again, thanks.

Paul

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Simplest way?

 

1/ Add a nested Gaussian Blur filter to your pole's shadow shape.

2/ Select the Gaussian Blur mask, then with the Gradient tool selected, drag a line in the direction you want your gradation to be.

 

Change either end from black to white according to what you want in terms of strength.

NB, you can slide the little symbol in the middle of the gradient's line, to offset the centre.

 

Works for me.  :)

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

Posted

Simplest way?

 

1/ Add a nested Gaussian Blur filter to your pole's shadow shape.

2/ Select the Gaussian Blur mask, then with the Gradient tool selected, drag a line in the direction you want your gradation to be.

 

Change either end from black to white according to what you want in terms of strength.

NB, you can slide the little symbol in the middle of the gradient's line, to offset the centre.

 

Works for me.  :)

 

Now that's using your head. I would never have thought to use a gradient on a mask or filter.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Simply add a Blur Live Filter to a pixel layer. Select your properties.

Select the Blur Live Filter "layer".

Select the Gradient Tool.

Apply a black and white gradient to the Blur Live Filter, NOT to the pixel layer.

 

Note: you can not modify the gradient after selecting an other layer than the Blur Live Filter.

Posted

 

Thanks, I like your solution.  Simple and clean.

 

 

And exactly the same as the one I suggested 3 posts prior, so it must be good.   :)

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Although this topic seems old, maybe someone would be interested to replicate my method (i'm using it for creating shadows):

☐ Image_to_blur
	⬕ Live Filter - Gaussian Blur (HIGH value) 
	 Live Filter - Gaussian Blur (LOW value)

Apply a gradient masking on the topmost live filter, to reveal the second blur filter applied. 



obs:

* it doesn't matter which filter is on top, as long as you apply the gradient on the topmost one and the direction of the gradient reveals the blur transition in the desired direction

* the Blur Live Filters have to be applied as children to the layer to blur, so they will only affect that one.

 

 

Attached an example of this procedure, along with the complementary layers to cast a shadow.

* for gradient blur, only the info in red boxes is relevant. The gray info is only important for shadow casting.

AF Photo Gradient Blur.png

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Hi Derei,

Thanks for the post.  I had tried a few methods and didn’t reach the results I was wanting. I’m very pleased with the results received from the technique you posted. Again thank you. Paul  

 

Posted

Don't forget layer blend modes to add subtle realism, such as the softlight blend mode

iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

Posted

Why not just use a Depth of Field Blur live filter? That does what you’re after, and is easy to adjust after the fact.

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 18

  • 1 year later...
Posted
On 3/7/2017 at 10:31 AM, RNKLN said:

This is how i approached it, Paul. There may be smarter ways, though.

1. Duplicate the layer/object

2. Apply a New Live Filter of the type Gaussian Blur

3. Add a Mask Layer to the blurred layer

4. Apply a black to white gradient. Black will reveal the bottom layer, the one that isn't blurred.

Perfect. Works great. Thank you. 

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Realise this is old and thanks for the guidance here as I'm new and it helped me.

Not sure if the 'Depth of field' live filter was available at the time, but it also works.

Apply the 'depth of field' live filter to your shadow layer. It does the gradient in one hit. Just drag the centre of the depth of field gradient to where the shadow starts and raise the top to the end i.e. you only use the top half. It can also be edited later.

Thanks

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.