Option for exporting solid one-bit, bitmaps?



  • @b77 thanks for helping me figure out what I actually needed


  • administrators

    @Boldline To avoid dithering for Monochrome, try selecting in the Dithering drop down, the Nearest option.



  • Setting dithering to "nearest" helped dramatically to remove the dithering issue in the halftone.
    Here is the results I got:
    0_1637644204798_8037b75f-59b7-4bc3-a87c-c16718eb04b5-image.png
    I noticed it lost the second part of the halftone however - I assume because those dots were too faint.
    here is the original gradient made into a halftone inside VS before exporting:
    0_1637644266392_970e2bf8-efa3-497b-8e50-0b54cb37f717-image.png
    I removed the white by lowering it's opacity to zero. It did still leave me with a halftone pattern that has an obvious fade to it. What would be my best option to get a one color gradient halftone - where all of the halftone dots are a solid fill and not fading as can be seen in the screenshot?


  • administrators

    @Boldline Can you send me a vstyler file with this halftone effect? I will try to replicate the issue.
    The second image has a smooth gradient (grayscale) behind the halftone, that will not export to monochrome as it is.



  • @vectoradmin I emailed you the file and a screen video of me making the halftone in case that helps. thanks!



  • I was discussing this some with @vectoradmin by email but I wanted to bring it back over to the forum as well.
    My goal is to have transparent one-bit (one color only) halftone bitmap using gradients in VS to accomplish this. I've been trying "monochrome" and "gray" settings in the export panel - but I do not think that is the same as 1-bit. When I use the "opaque" setting in the gradient panel, I get perfect full halftones - but not true 1-bit because the white remains with the black. If I switch the setting to "transparent colors", I can remove the white in the gradient, but it also affects the black and the remaining black fade itself becomes transparent leaving me with the result in the screenshot below...

    0_1637703325211_dc1f389c-8895-454d-a00b-f330f3f5a251-image.png

    I was also thinking a threshold option might help in the halftone section of the image effects panel
    0_1637703596543_bf0c2c76-4370-4306-ae0f-b354c762f195-image.png

    And a true one-bit option in the export panel - so that even if you have a two color halftone (opaque white to opaque black) the default 1-bit setting would automatically remove the white and keep the black by default.



  • @Boldline The Halftone effect is wysiwyg — if you don't see the white or black dots/parts as transparent dots on the canvas inside the app, exporting as 1-bit bitmap won't create that transparency. And since the app doesn't include a 'Color to Alpha' adjustment effect yet, I don't see any possibility to get strictly black-and-white transparency like that – you would need a 'Color to Alpha' effect that replaces white or black with full transparency.

    So don't bother with masking the halftone with a gradient — if you don't want the semi-transparent grays it's not the right method.

    I would approach it like this:

    • assign a gradient fill to the object (any contrasting colors will do) and leave the opacity at 100% for both color stops;
    • apply the Halftone effect, with 'Gray' mode;
    • export the object as lossless bitmap image (PNG);
    • open it in a specialized image editor (Photoshop, GiMP, etc);
    • apply a 'Color to Alpha' adjustment where you select white or black to be replaced by full transparency;

    (For people who don't have access to a commercial bitmap editor, GiMP has 'Color to Alpha' in the Colors menu).



  • @b77 said in Option for exporting solid one-bit, bitmaps?:

    'Color to Alpha'

    ok that makes a lot more sense. I'll have to see if Affinity photo has a 'Color to Alpha' option - somehow I doubt that... I am trying to get away completely from adobe

    @vectoradmin could we get a 'Color to Alpha' effect added? 🙂



  • @Boldline It might be named differently. If it has no such adjustment, GiMP does the job (see the Colors menu).


  • administrators

    @Boldline I open an issue on this one, to improve 1-bit export handling