Layer blending

A layer's blend mode determines how the layer or object's pixels blend with the pixels on the layer beneath. Affinity Designer supports an impressive selection of different blend modes. The most commonly used blend modes are as follows:

Layer blending

A layer's blend mode determines how the layer or object's pixels blend with the pixels on the layer beneath.

Blend mode types

Affinity Designer supports an impressive selection of different blend modes. The most commonly used blend modes are as follows:

  • Normal—The default blend mode. The top pixels display over underlying pixels according to the level of top layer opacity.
  • Multiply—The blending result is a combination of the top and bottom colour at each pixel position, always producing a darker value.
  • Screen—The opposite of Multiply, where the blending result is a combination of the inverse of the top and bottom colour at each pixel position, always producing a lighter value.
  • Overlay—Applies either Multiply or Screen blend mode, depending on the bottom colour at each pixel position. If the bottom layer pixels are <50% grey, it multiplies; if >50% it screens.
  • Colour Burn—Darkens the bottom colour pixels relative to the values of the top colour pixels.

Other available blend modes include Darken, Darker Colour, Lighten, Lighter Colour, Colour Dodge, Add, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Pin Light, Linear Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Colour, Average, Negation, Reflect, Glow, Contrast Negate, Erase and Passthrough.

Any layer or object can have a blend mode assigned. The default blend mode is 'Normal'—no special compositing is applied. For a group, the default is 'Passthrough'. When set, the group itself has no special blend properties of its own, and passes on the blend mode of its parent layer.

Layer blend modes applied to sublayers produce isolated blending which will not affect the parent layer or any other layers in the layer stack.

The same blend modes can be utilized on layer effects and pixel brushes.

To change the blend mode of a layer (or object):
  • In the Layers panel, select a layer (or object).
  • Choose a blend mode from the pop-up menu on the panel.
  • SEE ALSO:

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