Feathering Picture Edge

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-12-18 02:27:42

I want to set the edge of a picture to fade to white, feathering. I'm following previous instructions on how to accomplish this task but for some reason its not creating any result.

Steps I'm Using

1. Clicking on the target image in the right hand sidebar.
2. Using the rectangular selection tool to mark out a rectangle within the picture so that there a border of about 10% of the dimension around the inside of the picture.
3. Clicking on the "Refine Selection" button at the left hand side, bottom of the window.
4. Adjusting the roundness and softness using the sliders
5. Clicking "Apply" button
6. Clicking "Deselect"

The result is that the selection frame disappears and nothing changes.

What steps am I missing?

Thanks.
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2019-12-18 05:23:32

Hi strategist.

Step 6 is the problem here.
Deselect just discards the selection data. It's the equivalent of "I don't want to use this selection any more."

Try replacing step 6 with:
6. Edit > Invert Selection (Shift-Cmd-I)
7. Edit > Delete (delete key)

or

6. Format > Mask > Add Mask (right-click on layer and Add Mask)

Hope this helps.
- Stef.
(edit: you mentioned fade to white. Both of these techniques fade to transparent... which is fine if you have white underneath or are printing on white... :grin: )
User avatar

2019-12-18 05:47:49

Wait a minute.... we talked in another thread about clipping masks. Hi again. The above is fine but, if you like clipping masks, you can achieve a very similar effect by applying a Gaussian Blur to a rectangle being used to clip.

To do this:
1. Draw a rectangle about 10% smaller than your photograph (more if you want more of a blue less if you want less).
2. Place it on the layer below your photograph.
3. Right click on the layer that contains your photograph and select Create Clipping Mask

You now have a hard edged rectangular clipping mask. To soften it:
4. Click on the layer with the rectangle in it. With the Effects tool, add a Gaussian Blur and adjust to taste.

Or, if you already have a clipping mask in place, resize the rectangle and go to step 4. Pixelmator Pro's effects are largely non-destructive so you can go back to the blur and change it or resize the rectangle after you have applied the blur.

Hope this helps.
- Stef.
(If you don't like clipping masks, that's OK, too :grin: )
(edit: ...or you can apply a mask to the lower layer of an already existing clipping mask. It doesn't mind.)