Layer blend ranges

Blend ranges specify the range of colours on a current layer which are blended with the underlying layer(s).

About blend ranges

Blend ranges allow you to specify how tonal values of a layer blend with the layer(s) below. You can set the range of the tonal values affected and can set the range to have any level of opacity (from opaque to transparent).

Before
After
Before and after blend range applied.

The blend range of the selected layer and the underlying layer(s) is controlled in the Blend Ranges dialog.

You can change the blend range for individual colour channels within the dialog.

About blend gamma and antialiasing (RGB documents only)

The Blend Ranges dialog allows you to adjust the blend gamma of the selected layer. This gives you the option of designing using a linear-RGB colour space (1.0), regular sRGB-blending (2.2) or any gamma value up to 3.0. In other words, it gives you full control over how the tones of semi-transparent or antialiased edged objects interact with colours underneath.

Linear-RGB
Regular sRGB-blending
Blue rectangle using regular sRGB-blending (2.2 gamma; before) and linear-RGB (1.0 gamma; after).

Antialiasing is the reduction of the jagged appearance of lines on a pixel grid. Antialiasing is achieved by the addition of semi-transparent pixels along the line to smooth the transition from the line's edge to background objects. This area of transition is sometimes referred to as the antialiasing ramp or antialiasing coverage.

In the Blend Ranges dialog, you can adjust the antialiasing ramp (coverage) of the selected layer, as well as control how (and if) antialiasing is inherited or set independently of other layers. For improved workflow, child layers nested hierarchically in a parent layer can inherent the parent layer's antialiasing setting automatically but can be forced to apply antialiasing or ignore it.

Linear
Custom
Antialiased line with linear coverage map (before) and custom coverage map (after). Viewed at 800% zoom.

Settings

The following settings are available in the Blend Ranges dialog:

The following settings can be adjusted for both the Source Layer Ranges and the Underlying Composition Ranges:

Blend Ranges To change blend ranges, blend gamma and antialiasing ramp:
  1. On the Layers panel, select a layer and then click Blend Ranges.
  2. Adjust the settings in the dialog.
  3. Close the dialog.
To adjust a graph directly:

Do any of the following:

To modify the antialiasing ramp:
  1. Click the Coverage Map thumbnail.
  2. From the displayed chart, select a node on the profile's line and drag it vertically or horizontally to a new position.
  3. Repeat for other nodes as needed.
To reset antialiasing ramp to linear:
  1. Click the Coverage Map thumbnail.
  2. From the displayed chart's pop-up dialog, click Reset.
To save a coverage map profile:
To apply a custom coverage map profile:
  1. Click the Coverage Map thumbnail.
  2. Select a custom profile thumbnail from below the chart. The chart will update, showing the chosen profile.

SEE ALSO: