User Guide

Canvas 12 User Guide
Opacity affects the overall transparency of an object, so the Opacity slider is a master control for all
transparency effects applied to an object.
For example, you can use a channel mask to make an oval vignette from a photograph. At the edge of
the oval, the photograph becomes completely transparent. If you then reduce the opacity, the visible
part of the image becomes partly transparent.
When an object’s opacity is less than 100%, anything in the background, including the illustration
area, can affect the object’s appearance. The appearance of colors in an object can also be affected
by the object’s transfer mode (see "Using transfer modes" on page 685).
Defining opacity
“Transparency” and “opacity” are opposite terms that describe the ability to see through an object.
Greater transparency means it is easier to see through something; greater opacity means it is harder
to see though it.
In percentages, 100% opacity equals 0% transparency. Those values describe objects you can’t see
through. 1% opacity equals 99% transparency. Those values describe almost completely clear
objects.
All Canvas objects have an opacity. You can set opacity from 1% to 100% in 1% increments. The
opacity of a new object is 100%. When you copy an object, the copies have the same opacity as the
original object.
In this manual, the word “transparency” is often used as a general term for several related effects.
The word “opacity” is used to refer to a specific effect and a specific property of objects.
In other words, an object’s “transparency” can result from various factors, including ink settings,
the transfer mode, a channel mask, or another effect. An object’s “opacity,” on the other hand, is a
specific setting controlled by the Opacity slider.
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