xadz Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Hi! I'm a web designer just coming from Photoshop. I bought affinity because sometimes I need to work with AI files. For the past half hour I have been trying to remove a pesky white background from a pixel layer. Is there no magic eraser/background eraser equivilant? Do I really need to erase round each pixel by hand? If so, Affinity isn't going to work for me. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bravery Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Could you upload the .ai original file, please? What version was it created in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xadz Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Hi Paul, it is not the illistrator file I am having problems with. Just wondering a quick way to remove backgrounds from pixel-based images? In Photoshop I would be able to select the magic eraser tool, click on the white background and it would disappear. Working with icons and graphics a lot this is something I have to frequently do with pixel based images. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bravery Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Hi xadz, I was hoping to see if I could alter the way the .ai file is imported, did you try it as a 'transparent' background? Also, have you tried the flood select tool (similar to the magic wand in PS) to select the white background for clearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MattP Posted May 20, 2015 Staff Share Posted May 20, 2015 Hi xadz, Take a look at this thread by Ronnie - he is doing basically the same thing you're trying to achieve. Just use the Select Sampled Colour menu item in Pixel Persona and follow from there... :) Hope that helps, Matt Paul Bravery 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misc33 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 EDIT: I've just re read the comments here, and realised I missed the flood select tool - genius! does exactly what I wanted. Please disregard the original message. I'm digging this topic up to ask if this is the only way to get a similar effect to the Photoshop magic eraser? I regularly need to remove the white background from a proof sheet of thumbnail images that also contain white. I want to remove the background around the images while leaving the white colour inside the images intact, so that I can place it on a coloured background without the background colour bleeding into the thumbnail images. In Photoshop this is a 1 click operation - I'm still looking for an easy way to do this in Affinity Designer or Photo that doesn't require me to create masks behind each image. Quote MacBook Pro 15" 32GB RAM, iPad Pro 12.9" + Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil. Software tools of my trade: Affinity Designer | Affinity Publisher | PDF Expert | Drafts | The Archive | Plutio https://eandrpublications.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 .ai files open in affinity and objects are separate from the background anyway, because .ai files are vectors not pixels. If its pixel based then Affinity Photo is a better option than Affinity Designer. Quote 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 (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...
R C-R Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 9 hours ago, misc33 said: I'm digging this topic up to ask if this is the only way to get a similar effect to the Photoshop magic eraser? I regularly need to remove the white background from a proof sheet of thumbnail images that also contain white. I want to remove the background around the images while leaving the white colour inside the images intact, so that I can place it on a coloured background without the background colour bleeding into the thumbnail images. I may have misunderstood something, but assuming each thumbnail is on an individual pixel or image layer, try this: 1. Set the document to have a transparent background. There should now be a checkerboard pattern everywhere there is no thumbnail. 2. In Affinity Designer, add a rectangle layer snapped to the document size in the desired color & move it to the bottom of the layer stack. In Affinity Photo, do the same thing or use a Fill layer. Alternately, if you are exporting to a raster image format like PNG or JPG, in the Export > More window, just set the Matte color as desired. For this you do not need to set the document to have a transparent background. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toltec Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 10 hours ago, misc33 said: EDIT: I've just re read the comments here, and realised I missed the flood select tool - genius! does exactly what I wanted. Please disregard the original message. I'm digging this topic up to ask if this is the only way to get a similar effect to the Photoshop magic eraser? I regularly need to remove the white background from a proof sheet of thumbnail images that also contain white. I want to remove the background around the images while leaving the white colour inside the images intact, so that I can place it on a coloured background without the background colour bleeding into the thumbnail images. In Photoshop this is a 1 click operation - I'm still looking for an easy way to do this in Affinity Designer or Photo that doesn't require me to create masks behind each image. The Flood Erase Tool is pretty much a one click background removal solution. Just like magic misc33 1 Quote Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowen192 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Tell me to buzz off, but in Affinity Photo (which is obviously the PS equivalent), you can just click Filters > Colours > Erase White Paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Erase White Paper will also erase white stuff you want to keep not just the white background 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...
Staff MEB Posted January 30, 2018 Staff Share Posted January 30, 2018 carl123, You can use selections to work around that limitation (when possible). Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 The Flood Select Tool with Contiguous set on is usually the easier of the two options when you have white stuff you want to keep misc33 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...
Staff MEB Posted January 30, 2018 Staff Share Posted January 30, 2018 Depends on the image. In certain cases it may have trouble with the antialiasing or selecting shadows. The Erase White Paper can be much more effective in these cases. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misc33 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 It's good to know there are other approaches to this, thanks everyone. I've attached the document I'm working with so you can see exactly what I was trying to do, and why the flood select tool magically solved the issue when setting the document to transparent background didn't work, and when Erase White Paper would have made things transparent that I wanted opaque. Once the background was removed, you can see that the image can now be easily placed onto a colour background with the internal whites intact. Quote MacBook Pro 15" 32GB RAM, iPad Pro 12.9" + Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil. Software tools of my trade: Affinity Designer | Affinity Publisher | PDF Expert | Drafts | The Archive | Plutio https://eandrpublications.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DM1 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 In this instance, could you not have simply used a flood fill tool and selected desired colour to change background paper colour from white to whatever? Quote M1 IPad Air 10.9/256GB lpadOS 17.1.1 Apple Pencil (2nd gen). Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Affinity Design 1.10.5 Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2 and betas. Official Online iPad Help documents (multi-lingual) here: https://affinity.https://affinity.help/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pšenda Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 20 hours ago, MEB said: Depends on the image. In certain cases it may have trouble with the antialiasing or selecting shadows. The Erase White Paper can be much more effective in these cases. Erase White Paper works very fine, but only deletes the white background. How does it work?, because sometimes it is necessary to remove the "non-white" background. Would it not be possible to do a similar function with selecting background color to delete? Quote Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.5.5.2636 (Retail) Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.4317. Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.4317. Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pšenda Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 5 minutes ago, Pšenda said: How does it work? I know :-) Quote Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.5.5.2636 (Retail) Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.4317. Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.4317. Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biobob Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 I want to make a logo sit on a transparent background is there a simple way to do it as all the tools so far i have tried leave portions of white behind inside the words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 32 minutes ago, Biobob said: I want to make a logo sit on a transparent background is there a simple way to do it as all the tools so far i have tried leave portions of white behind inside the words Without knowing how you are creating your logo or which Affinity app you are using a detailed answer is not possible, but making sure your document is set to have a transparent background is a good place to start. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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