Soft focus effect creates funny shadow

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2023-01-07 11:53:46

I am a newbie regarding photo editing, so please bear with me.
When I follow the instructions for Pixelmator to create a soft focus effect ( https://www.pixelmator.com/mac/tutorial ... us-effect/ ) in Pixelmator Pro, I get a funny shadow around the subject - see attached image.

Could some kind soul explain to me how to prevent that?

Thanks a lot in advance.

PS:
the layers don't have a drop shadow or any other style.

Image
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2023-01-09 11:53:05

It seems you don´t have enabled "Preserve Transparency" at the Gaussian blur Effect?
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2023-01-09 14:42:04

Thanks a lot for your response!
The setting of "preserve transparency" does not make any difference.

However, I noticed that it makes a difference whether or not the bottom layer (from which the other two were derived) is hidden or visible.
Here is an example xpd file:

https://owncloud.informatik.uni-bremen. ... weRec39sCy

I don't understand that since the bottom layer should be occluded by the other two layers on top, shouldn't it?
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2023-01-09 15:52:55

I downloaded your image and grabbed a screen shot of your original, unblurred image. It took me a minute to figure out what you were doing. I wondered why?

I simply took that unblurred image, duplicated it, removed background from the duplicate image. Then went to the bottom, original image, and blurred it as I desired to get this image. It seemed so very much easier.

Image
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2023-01-09 18:13:22

Thanks a lot, McCoy, but I know how to make it look as desired, I just want to *understand* what is going on.
Why does the bottom layer (which should be completely occluded, right?) have any effect at all?
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2023-01-09 18:13:51

Or, maybe, it's a bug in Pixelmator Pro?
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2023-01-09 20:00:42

Like in the linked files (and outdated tutorial for Pixelmator - not Pixelmator Pro) there´s a cutout layer which doesn´t make any sense to me and will cause the unwanted transparent transition which "Preserve Transparency" can´t compensate.
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2023-01-09 20:43:19

OK, thanks!