Working with Tools in Paint Shop Pro 8 - Multiply Blend Mode, Screen, Dissolve and More (Page 5 of 16 ) Multiply blend mode takes the luminance value of the blend color, multiplies it by the luminance value of the base color, and divides the result by 256. The resulting color blends both hues, but its brightness is as much darker than the base color's brightness as the blend color was darker than pure white. With Screen blend mode, the lightness of the base color is compounded with the lightness of the blend color, so the result is always lighter. Screen blend mode uses the inverse formula of the one Multiply uses: Luminance values from both the base and blend colors are subtracted from 255 to obtain two "darkness values"; those values are multiplied together and divided by 256. The result is then subtracted from 255 to convert it back into a luminance value. The Screen blend mode for two layers most closely simulates the effect of projecting images of both layers onto the same screen with separate projectors. Our sample shows a light-yellow-to-almost-white stripe on the left, a dark-to-light-magenta stripe in the middle, and a medium-brown-to-light-tan stripe on the right. 
Figure 3.10 Screen blend mode. The Dissolve blend mode gives you the opportunity to apply some visual effects and relies entirely on the Opacity setting. When you set Opacity to less than 100, rather than making the blend color partially transparent, Dissolve removes pixels from the blend color at random locations to let the base color show through. If you're using a painting tool, your tool color may or may not overwrite the target pixel—the lower the Opacity value, the less likely your tool will do so. When you're overlaying one layer atop another, Dissolve covers up some pixels in the lower layer entirely while letting others show through; the higher the Opacity setting, the fewer of the lower-layer pixels show through. In the sample, I've set the Opacity to 50%, so about half of the base color shows through the stripes on the upper layer at random intervals. 
Figure 3.11 Dissolve blend mode. The Overlay blend mode is one way for PSP to combine the virtues of Multiply and Screen modes. Essentially, the formula is adjusted so that light compounds with light, and dark compounds with dark. If the base color has a luminance value less than 128, PSP applies the Multiply formula; otherwise, it applies the Screen formula. The result of an Overlay blend for two layers is that the base layer appears to have been adjusted somewhat—though not strongly—by the blend layer. The Overlay blend mode is one way to create a ghostly image of the contents of the blend layer on top of a base layer. The stripes in our sample have a lightness value of 220, 128, and 57 reading left to right. 
Figure 3.12 Overlay blend mode. The Hard Light blend mode applies almost exactly the same formula as Overlay blend mode, except that it's the blend color that's tested for brightness or darkness. As a result, Hard Light blend mode for two layers appears to show a ghostly image of the contents of the base layer, applied to the blend layer. With Hard Light, what you're adding (the blend color) becomes more prominent; with Overlay, what you're adding to (the base color) remains prominent. Here, the colors of our three stripes are very apparent, but they have been changed somewhat by the lightness values of the underlying gradient. 
Figure 3.13 Hard Light blend mode. Despite its title, Soft Light blend mode is not the opposite of Hard Light. It's actually another attempt to achieve the effect of Overlay, only by executing both a Multiply and a Screen blend together—a result that favors the base color slightly more than does Screen. To compound both brightness and darkness, the blend and base colors are blended using Multiply, then the product is multiplied back into the inverse of the base color. Separately, the two colors are blended using Screen, with the result multiplied back into the base color. The two results are then added together. The practical purpose of Soft Light blend mode for two layers is to create a more hazy, ghostly image of the blend layer on top of the base layer. And that's just what's happened in our sample: The three stripes appear as ghosts on top of the gradient red layer. 
Figure 3.14 Soft Light blend mode. Overlay blend mode compounds the darkness of generally dark colors and the lightness of generally light colors. It uses roughly the same formulas as Multiply and Screen, but the result is divided by 128, not by 255. This way, darks fall within the range {0, 127}, while lights fall within the range {128, 255}.  This chapter is from Paint Shop Pro 8, by Jennifer Fulton, (Sams, 2004, ISBN: 0672323893). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today.
Buy this book now. |
Next: Difference Blend Mode, Dodge and Burn >>
More Graphic Design Articles
More By Sams Publishing
|
/ 51 
