Transparency types

From version 11 onwards, we've introduced some new transparency types and made some adjustments to current ones. Please see the list of them below:

Normal (Mix)

The colour of the object mixes with the colour of underlying objects. The effect is similar to spraying a thin coat of colour (or paint) over underlying objects.

Multiply (Stained glass)

The effect is similar to viewing underlying objects through coloured glass. It is useful for the simulation of glass and selectively darkening objects. The colours of objects with Multiply applied are:

• White - no effect on the colours of underlying objects.
• Gray & Black - darkens the colours of underlying objects.
• Other colours - darken underlying colours towards saturated colour (light red over light red results in mid-red: green over red results in black). If you want to use a coloured object to darken underlying colours, you may find DARKEN transparency type easier to use.

Technically the process is subtractive in RGB colour space.

Screen (Bleach)

Screen has no clear analogy in the physical world. It is useful for highlights when the light source is not white. The colour of the object with Screen applied:

• Gray & White - lightens the colours in underlying objects.
• Black - no effect on the colours of underlying objects.
• Other colours - lighten underlying colours towards unsaturated colour. (Light-red over light-red gives a pale-red: green over red gives yellow.) If you want to use a coloured object to lighten but not colour-shift underlying colours, you may find LIGHTEN transparency type easier to use.

Technically the process is subtractive in RGB colour space.

Overlay

Overlay is a combination of Screen and Multiply and generally used to boost the contrast in an image. The areas of the top object where the underlying objects are light becomes lighter and the areas of the top object where the underlying objects are dark becomes darker

• Grey (darker than 50% grey) will darken and add contrast to the underlying image.
• Grey (lighter than 50% grey) will lighten and add contrast to the underlying image.
• Other colours - lightens and adds contrast to unsaturated colours and darkens and adds contrast to saturated colours.

Hard Light

Hard Light combines Multiply and Screen blend modes. Equivalent to Overlay, but with the bottom and top objects swapped.

• White - no effect on the colours in underlying objects, the whites remain completely white.
• Black - no effect on the colours in underlying objects, the blacks remain completely black.

Soft Light

This is a softer version of Hard Light. Again works similarly to Overlay although in a softer and less harsh way than Hard Light.i>Black - no effect on the colours in underlying objects, the blacks remain completely black.

Luminosity

Luminosity affects the "lightness" of the image. It blends the lightness values of the top objects with the lightness values of the underlying objects, whilst ignoring the colour values.

Colour

Colour is a combination of hue and saturation. Almost the opposite of Luminosity, the colours of the top objects are blended with the colours of the underlying objects whilst ignoring the luminance values.

Colour Burn

The Color Dodge blend mode divides the bottom layer by the inverted top layer. This lightens the bottom layer depending on the value of the top layer: the brighter the top layer, the more its color affects the bottom layer. Blending with white gives white. Blending with black does not change the image.

Colour Dodge

Colour is a combination of hue and saturation. Almost the opposite of Luminosity, the colours of the top objects are blended with the colours of the underlying objects whilst ignoring the luminance values.

Enhance

Enhance transparency allows you to modify any part of your design using the Enhance Photo Tool, just as if it was a photo. For example you can draw a shape over any part of your design, apply enhance transparency to it and then adjust the brightness of just the area of your design which is covered by the shape.

For all these, the slider controls the amount of transparency from opaque (0% transparent) to fully (100%) transparent.

Applying a flat transparency to an object also applies transparency to the line around the object. It is not possible to set different transparencies, but you can remove the line by setting it to no colour or by selecting "None" as the outline width. To create an object with a transparent fill and a non-transparent line, use a non-flat transparency type.

Note that for legacy reasons, Designer Pro documents which contain older transparency types will still refer to those types by their original names, even though those types are no longer supported in Designer Pro. Look for (old) in the transparency type list to identify them.