Keylining an image

[HarryB]

Putting a 3 pixel border (Keylining) around an image is easy in Photoshop. The same function does not appear to be in Affinity Photo. How can I do this in Affinity?

[Callum]

Hi HarryB,

Welcome to the forums

If you go to Document > Resize Canvas and set the anchor to the mid point then add 3 to the dimensions this should do what you are looking for. Its worth noting the dimensions fields do support mathematical expressions so you could literally add +3 to the end of the field and it will add 3 pixels to the value I have included a video of this below!

Thanks

Callum

[carl123]

For a 3px border would you not need to add 6 to the width and height rather than 3?

[HarryB]

carl123: yes, but how do you get the border in the first place?

[carl123]

Did you not watch the video Callum posted for you?

[HarryB]

I have now. However, following exactly what Callum does gives me a pixel border on the left and top but not on the right and bottom, even though I have centralised the anchor point. Any ideas why this might be?

[Callum]

If possible could you provide a screen recording of you trying it?

5 minutes ago, HarryB said:

I have now. However, following exactly what Callum does gives me a pixel border on the left and top but not on the right and bottom, even though I have centralised the anchor point. Any ideas why this might be?

 

[HarryB]

Callum, Not sure how I make a video recording.

[Callum]

You can use Quick Time on your Mac to do it you can find out more here:

https://etc.usf.edu/techease/4all/getting-started/creating-screen-recordings-with-quicktime-player/

It should work fine with the anchor point set to the middle however.

[HarryB]

Sorry Callum, I'm using Windows 10 home. Quicktime player is not recommended because of security problems. Is there some other program I could use?

[v_kyr]

See:

• Windows 10 has a built-in free screen recorder

• Monosnap for Windows

[HarryB]

Thanks v_kyr I'll try that.

 

 

[HarryB]

Callum. I've suceeded in taking a video. Does this help you to say why resizing the canvas doesn't work in the way yours does?

[Callum]

6 minutes ago, HarryB said:

Callum. I've suceeded in taking a video. Does this help you to say why resizing the canvas doesn't work in the way yours does?

For some reason the resize document window isn't showing in the video. Which software did you use to record your screen?

[HarryB]

So I see. I used the Game Bar software in Windows.

[Callum]

I haven't used Game bar or Monosnap as I work primarily on Mac however could you try Monosnap to see if that works? Sorry that this has become more difficult than it should have been!

[HarryB]

I haven't been able to run Monosnap on my PC. It won't even run as administrator. I can try it on my laptop which runs Windows 10 Pro. It might make a difference.

[Callum]

5 minutes ago, HarryB said:

I haven't been able to run Monosnap on my PC. It won't even run as administrator. I can try it on my laptop which runs Windows 10 Pro. It might make a difference.

If your phone has a camera could you try using that to record your screen and then send me that video?

[HarryB]

Hi Callum. Video from shakey mobile. Sorry it's taken so long. I'm not into all this modern technology of transferring files via the web.

Harryb

[Woodkopf]

On 5/23/2019 at 9:13 AM, HarryB said:

Putting a 3 pixel border (Keylining) around an image is easy in Photoshop. The same function does not appear to be in Affinity Photo. How can I do this in Affinity?

No it's not as easy, but have a look at this video on thin border creation  - InAffinity: "Creating Outline Border Using Effects (fx) in Affinity Photo", -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af_tp75MDKQ

With the 'problem' borders you have created already, zoom in 150% and see if they are there.  Sometimes parts of the border are not displayed accurately, but if you zoom in, they are there.

 

 

 

[HarryB]

Woodkopf: That looks brilliant. I'll have a better look at it tomorrow. re: your comment on zooming in. Yes I can see the borders when zoomed in but they still don't print- at least not the quick attempt I made the other day.

Thanks again. Harryb

[Woodkopf]

HarryB: In the link sent yesterday, with respect to the borders, if you want the photo to be a specific size, e.g. for a Projected Display Image competition, it is best to start with a layer that is made up of all the previous visible layers, i.e. left mouse click the top layer, then when highlighted, right click and select “Merge Visible”, which creates a new combined layer.

So that the size of the photo is not changed, select the "Alignment" to be "inside"; the "Colour" e.g. white, to isolate the photo from the display background and a suitable thin pixel size.  Please see attached image.

 

 

[HarryB]

Woodkopf: I've been playing with the Fx tab as you suggest. This method works really well as long as the image hasn't been cropped. If the image has been cropped then exporting it and saving as a jpeg allows the Fx procedure to work beautifully again. Thanks for your help.

[Woodkopf]

20 minutes ago, HarryB said:

Woodkopf: I've been playing with the Fx tab as you suggest. This method works really well as long as the image hasn't been cropped. If the image has been cropped then exporting it and saving as a jpeg allows the Fx procedure to work beautifully again. Thanks for your help.

@HarryBGreat, glad it has been useful.