Recolor BMP images

[josemaurinho]

I have an issue, not sure if it's in the right place...

I'm using Affinity Designer for some time, but more often now. Decided to stop with Adobe's softwares.

For example, I need to recolor a barcode (the black lines and keep the others in transparency). In Adobe's Illustrator, when importing the bmp image of the barcode, i just needed to select the image and click on the desired Pantone or color. In Affinity Designer, that won't work and the transparency parts turn into white. Am i doing the import wrong or it's just a feature difference between softwares?

I'm recoloring in Affinity Photo through selection and fill, but if it is possible the easier way it would be better (as sometimes i have several bmp images to recolor).

Thank you for your help!

[Dan C]

Hi josemaurinho,

Welcome to the forums

Could you provide an example of the barcode image you're looking to recolour? There are a few ways to do this so I'd like to use your image as an example!

[toltec]

Hello @josemaurinho

Dan C may have a better option,  but I like to use a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer.

Delete the middle handle (as shown) set the right-hand handle to white and set the left-hand handle to any colour you want.

You can Add that as a Preset

The Preset (I called it 'red') will then appear in the Adjustment section of the Studio so you can easily apply it to change several barcodes.

Note: You can still click on 'red' and just change the barcode colour to something else by clicking on the Colour swatch in the Gradient Adjustment panel.

 

[josemaurinho]

Many thanks for your replies!

Toltec, your way solved my issue. Thanks!!

Dan C thanks for the welcome and, if you wish or have a diferent way of solving, i attached an bmp barcode as sample.

213114.bmp

[Dan C]

Thanks for your file Arun

One of my suggestions certainly was the Gradient Map, as it's nice and easy once you have your presets created!

Another is as follows, using blend ranges and clipping in Designer:

The same can be done in Photo using Filters>Colours>Erase White Paper first, rather than blend ranges.

For even further control, you can use the Flood Fill Tool per barcode strip. This allows for more intricate changes but it's certainly more time consuming for barcodes and it's destructive, so can't be altered easily:

[Dan C]

@josemaurinho Thanks for your file, I've attached a video showing the above using your barcode. Hope this helps

[josemaurinho]

Once again, many many thanks for all your help!!!

Everyday i found Affinity products better and better and with this community... no words...many thanks!

[toltec]

@Dan C

I'll raise you 

Place a rectangle above the barcode and set the Layer Blend Mode to Screen.

P.S. Great piece of software. My compliments to the team.

[Alfred]

18 minutes ago, toltec said:

Place a rectangle above the barcode and set the Layer Blend Mode to Screen.

That’s the way I would usually do this kind of thing (but your Gradient Map method is nice, too).

[toltec]

35 minutes ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

That’s the way I would usually do this kind of thing (but your Gradient Map method is nice, too).

Indeed, both methods work well but the OP said he sometimes has to recolour several images and it's hard to beat a Preset for that 

[krikor]

Hello

Is there a way to do this in publisher? I'm used to Indesign and I can change color of all bitmap and text pretty fast.

I could not find a way to modify the color of my bmp image.

Best

 

[Joachim_L]

Welcome to the Affinity forums @krikor!

8 minutes ago, krikor said:

Is there a way to do this in publisher? I'm used to Indesign and I can change color of all bitmap and text pretty fast.

Yes, it is possible. Place the bitmap e.g. as TIF or PNG and keep the image selected, click on the "K only" button at the top toolbar and apply a fill colour of your choice.

[loukash]

16 minutes ago, krikor said:

I could not find a way to modify the color of my bmp image.

Works with BMP just as well:

[krikor]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:50 PM, Joachim_L said:

Welcome to the Affinity forums @krikor!

Yes, it is possible. Place the bitmap e.g. as TIF or PNG and keep the image selected, click on the "K only" button at the top toolbar and apply a fill colour of your choice.

thanks. I don't get transparency though. For example I have a bitmap and I want black to be a color and white to be no print, or reverse. an I want the image in the background to be visible thru it.  In my example attached I would like the image on the right to act as the one on the left (which came from an IDML file originally)

TEST.afpub

Edited April 25, 2021 by krikor

[Dan C]

On 4/25/2021 at 9:32 AM, krikor said:

In my example attached I would like the image on the right to act as the one on the left

Thanks for the document provided!

The reason for this is due to how Affinity calculates masking and transparency based on black/white tones Your image on the left has a white background, with transparency for the arm in the centre. The image on the right is using a black background, with white for the arm - meaning the reverse is seen when blending within Affinity.

To change this, we're going to need to Invert the image on the right. As this is already embedded in your Publisher document, it may be easier to make the resource linked and use the Photo Persona.

Can you confirm for me, do you have the Photo Persona (and by extension Affinity Photo) available to you, or are you hoping to do this all in Publisher please?

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

Your image on the left has a white background, with transparency for the arm in the centre. The image on the right is using a black background, with white for the arm

Hi Dan, I've already discussed some of the issues with @krikor in a new thread: