Transparent Selection

[phew]

Hi,

 

I searched the forum for the topic a little bit, but all the answers I got were not what I needed.

Since I read "you do not need transparent selection, use layers" I will just show you an example of what I would like to do and somebody is hopefully nice enough here to tell me what I do understand wrong in working with layers.

 

On the attached image are 2 icons, the one to the left is the original.

The one to the right is how the image should look in the end (just that the arrow should not be black, it should be a vertical gradient from transparent to opaque white).

The arrow is a standard shape in paint.net.

 

I would like to "cut out" a "hole" in the blue circle so i can place a layer with the metioned gradient behind it.

 

And here comes the problem, always when i try to "cut out" the arrow-shaped "hole" the edges are not antialiased

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

thanks in advance

phew

Edited February 20, 2015 by phew

[Red ochre]

I did this by:
1. Using the magic wand to select the black (I used tolerance 17%).
2. Hit the delete key.
3. Use the 'AAAssistant' plugin in the plugin pack here http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=16643
4. Create a new layer below the icon
5. Fill with white (paint bucket and right mouse click with the lower layer selected).
6. Create a transparent gradient (gradient tool   in transparency mode :AlphaChannelOnly:).

Notice the corners are slighlty rounded out using this method - it is probably easiest to zoom in and clean these up manually.
Other methods are probably possible but this was the easiest to explain.

I hope that helps.

[phew]

That's a pretty workaround, thank you.

Would there be some other way to get that cut out 'pixel-perfect'?

I mean the arrow-shape lost 6 sharp corners, in the case of my example this isn't really a problem because it is about an icon which will get downsized.

Just asking.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Maybe the Alpha Mask plugin could help you. I use it to cut out holes in things all the time.

 

Using this example, you should get a feel for how to use the plugin, and then maybe you can figure out a way to use it for your picture.

1) Fill the canvas with any color you want.

2) Add a layer, and on that new layer make a solid black shape using the shapes tool.

3) Select all and copy the shape.

4) Turn off the layer that has the black shape, then run the alpha mask plugin on the filled layer.

[phew]

Awesome! Perfect! Thank you

Edited February 21, 2015 by phew