kazoulay Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Hi there, So I would like to change this barcode so that the black bars and numbers are transparent, while keeping the surrounding white as is. I'm not sure how to do this with it being a flat image (not already broken up into separate layers)--can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 On 19/05/2018 at 2:43 PM, kazoulay said: Hi there, So I would like to change this barcode so that the black bars and numbers are transparent, while keeping the surrounding white as is. I'm not sure how to do this with it being a flat image (not already broken up into separate layers)--can anyone help? Hi kazoulay There are a few options. Here are two. 1. Go Select > Tonal Range > Select Shadows to select the black, and then press delete. Make sure it is a pixel layer (rasterised), not an image layer. 2. Use blend ranges (the little cog on the layers panel. If you drag this point from the top to the bottom, it makes the black transparent. Edit. As carl123 mentioned, you might get grey outlines left behind around the edges, so move the point down and then to the right to eliminate them. hannah 1 Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Make sure Document > Transparent Background is ticked (or you wont see the transparency) Select the layer in the Layers panelCTRL + I (to invert layer)Filters > Colours > Erase White PaperCTRL + I (to undo invert layer) toltec 1 Quote To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 One more Use the Flood select tool (with contiguous un-ticked) Select the black and press delete. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 1) Duplicate the layer. 2) Rasterize to Mask. Alfred 1 Quote 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...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 23 minutes ago, smadell said: 1) Duplicate the layer. 2) Rasterize to Mask. That masks the bottom layers too. So the mask layer would probably need to be nested. Alfred 1 Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 The OP suggested that the barcode image was a solo layer, but otherwise - of course... Quote 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...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 51 minutes ago, smadell said: The OP suggested that the barcode image was a solo layer, but otherwise - of course... I only mentioned it because this stuff can be a bit daunting and confusing for a newbie when "odd" things happen. It's often daunting and confusing for me and I'm ancient Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smadell Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Absolutely, toltec. I'm dazed and confused more often than I'd like to admit! Here's another one: 1) Duplicate the barcode layer. 2) Filters > Colors > Erase White Paper 3) Set blend mode on duplicated layer to "Erase" 4) Group the 2 barcode layers Quote 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...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Yet another one. Right click on one of the RG or B channels and select Create Mask Layer. Nest the mask. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Most of the "solutions" added here are leaving thin greyish outlines around the barcodes and numbers. Not sure exactly how barcodes work but if the thin greyish outlines will interfere with the scanning of the barcodes you should be careful which method you utilise. To test just add a pure white Fill layer at the bottom of the layer stack, if all the black areas are truly transparent you should see a pure white canvas with no lines or artefacts. PS If this is just for some sort of T-Shirt design it's probably less important which method you use Quote To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 47 minutes ago, carl123 said: Most of the "solutions" added here are leaving thin greyish outlines around the barcodes and numbers. Not sure exactly how barcodes work but if the thin greyish outlines will interfere with the scanning of the barcodes you should be careful which method you utilise. To test just add a pure white Fill layer at the bottom of the layer stack, if all the black areas are truly transparent you should see a pure white canvas with no lines or artefacts. PS If this is just for some sort of T-Shirt design it's probably less important which method you use Not most. Selecting Shadows and deleting Flood select and delete. Inverting, erase white paper and invert back are perfect on my PC. No grey edges at all. Blend ranges works OK if you tweak the position of the point (move down and to the right) Agreed, the mask "solutions" are a little bit off, Probably the easiest and safest is just to select the black using Select > Tonal Range > Shadows, or Flood select. No edges at all for me. This is the result for those two. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Or just use a vector version... 860303002305.afdesign toltec and Alfred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 13 minutes ago, MikeW said: Or just use a vector version... 860303002305.afdesign Nice bit of lateral thinking. Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixx Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Vector version is more reliable... though when you start fiddling the settings it is always possible (probable) that machine readability suffers. Test if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 I have no idea why the OP want basically a cut out version. Whatever this will sit on, if it's not just an artistic element needs to be tested with a scanner once finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Looks weird but I think this is workable. Changed the white to grey to show how the transparency works. Barcode Transparent 860303002305.afdesign Heres the EPS to play with: 860303002305.eps Quote iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazoulay Posted May 26, 2018 Author Share Posted May 26, 2018 Thank you so much for your help!! I have a new question though... I know this is an Affinity forum, but you all have been so helpful--my boss now wants me to do this same thing but in Illustrator, and when I changed the Affinity file to an SVG and opened it in Illustrator it was really blurry. Could any of you explain how I would make the black transparent in Illustrator? Sorry to ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Did you you download the file I attached to my post above? Just export it to svg. Open in illy. It'll be vector in Illy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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