Weird blue outlines with Lock Transparency

[caitlinb]

ArtRage doesnt have layer clipping/masks so I duplicate a layer and use Lock Transparency to paint or shade but I've noticed thatin ArtRage 6 when I use Lock Transparency on a layer and paint on the locked layer I often get a blue outline showing at the edge of the locked section and I am not sure why.

Has anyone else gotten this? I used this all the time on ArtRage 5, and didnt have any issues then upgraded to ArtRage 6.1.2 and only sometimes this happens, but when it does happen I have to manually go around the outside of the whole area to hide the outline.

E.g A solid red circle on the layer > Lock Transparency > Airbrush any colour multiply over half the circle > The airbrushed half will have a blue outline

Is this something im doing wrong in artrage 6 perhaps ? Maybe it's me using this feature wrong or does anyone else have this happen sometimes? I've added a screenshot where an outlines showed up at the edge of the red part where I aitbrushed using a multiply effect (trying to add gentle shadows etc).

[markw]

Hello caitlinb and welcome to the ArtRage forums
It looks from your screenshot that you are zoomed all the way in to the painting? And along the edge of the dress there seem to be semi transparent pixels or at least pixels containing white.
Is it noticeable when viewing the whole painting at its intended size?

In general use I am unable to produce the problem you are seeing.
However, I wonder if you have performed any other actions on the painted area while Transparency Lock was active for that layer, but before using the Airbrush?
One of the quirks of AR is that if you “tidy up” as it were the edge of a painted area with say the Eraser, for example, while Transparency Lock is active, rather than remove pixel colour AR changes those areas to the same colour as the Canvas Colour, which more often than not is very light.
Some other actions that might also lead to a similar result are Cut & Paste, after using the Selection tool and softening paint edges with the Knife tool.
Subsequently when you use the Airbrush in Multiply mode any pixels that changed in colour, as above, will give the impression of a slight halo in the same colour as used by the Airbrush.

[caitlinb]

Hello caitlinb and welcome to the ArtRage forums
It looks from your screenshot that you are zoomed all the way in to the painting? And along the edge of the dress there seem to be semi transparent pixels or at least pixels containing white.
Is it noticeable when viewing the whole painting at its intended size?

In general use I am unable to produce the problem you are seeing.
However, I wonder if you have performed any other actions on the painted area while Transparency Lock was active for that layer, but before using the Airbrush?
One of the quirks of AR is that if you “tidy up” as it were the edge of a painted area with say the Eraser, for example, while Transparency Lock is active, rather than remove pixel colour AR changes those areas to the same colour as the Canvas Colour, which more often than not is very light.
Some other actions that might also lead to a similar result are Cut & Paste, after using the Selection tool and softening paint edges with the Knife tool.
Subsequently when you use the Airbrush in Multiply mode any pixels that changed in colour, as above, will give the impression of a slight halo in the same colour as used by the Airbrush.

Hi! Yes along the edge the pixels turn blue/transparent, and they are noticable when I zoom out to regular size which is annoying.I had not performed any other actions at that point, the rec section was drawn using the ink pen and I locked the transparency to start adding multiply on with the pen and then with the airbrush - At this point the edges became really really light. It has done this on other drawings as well, I simply ignored it until now. To fix it I have to take transparency lock off and erase the lightened edges. I avout using cut and paste for the exact reason above, the light edges are very annoying so I started using the Lock funtionality to mimick a clipping mask. Artrage 5 never did this, I am not sure what I am doing wrong with Artrage 6? Thanks for your response!

[markw]

Hello again,
Thanks for the extra info there.
And, good news, perhaps…? I have managed to replicate something similar to what you are seeing.
I was also able to reproduce this in all versions of AR.
It is being caused by the Antialiasing of paint edges. (This is automatic for most tools but in the Pen tool for example it can be turned off. However without it edges will appear stepped or jagged).
When Lock Transparency is then activated any transparent or semi transparent pixels do not darken down when being painted over by a tool using the Multiply blend mode.

So whilst this is undoubtedly something that is happening, I still find that it is not visibly noticeable in any of my finished work where I know I have used this technique too?

I found I was only able to see this effect easily if:
The layer being darkened is above a very dark layer and/or I was using a high zoom level.
I was trying to darken the semi transparent pixels to a much darker level.
And/or the canvas size had a relatively small pixel count. (This again would be analogous to zooming in to a small area of a large canvas).
(For reference I habitually use canvas sizes between:
3508 x 2482 pixels = A4 printed to 4960 x 3508 pixels = A3 printed)

Why it’s so noticeable in your example where fairly light colours have been used I’m not sure?

[caitlinb]

Hi! Thanks I'm glad its not just me! Is there a way to fix this or stop it from doing this? It is really interferring with my art unfortunately

The most recent occurence is today - I decided to draw over the top of an anime screenshot, and the areas I've drawn over are on a new layer, which I'd like to lock and add effects to blend it with the rest of the screenshot but my layer has the horrible edges to it whenever I try to add light, or shadow effects just as above. They're fairly small canvases, 2040 x 1000.

I'll attach screenshots below if that helps.

[markw]

I think, given the relatively small size of your canvas, it might be better to come at this problem from another direction perhaps
Instead of “locking out” transparent pixels, maybe “locking in” as it were, the painted ones might give you better results.
Two options would be:
1: Select Layer Content = This will bring up the “marching ants” around the content of any given layer and nothing outside this selected area can be worked on.
The animated doted line can sometimes be a bit distracting while painting, and can be a bit more work for weaker CPUs on large canvases to track if zooming and panning the canvas a lot but on a small canvas I doubt it would be an issue.
2: New Stencil From Layer Content = This works much the same as above, but creates a protective red stencil around the immediate working area. Outside of the stencil you would still be able to paint on the layer.
Both these options can be accessed by right clicking on the desired layer in the Layers Panel and choosing them from the popup menu.
Or from the Menu bar: Tools > Layer Options > ...
If these two options are useful, you can of course set key shortcuts to activate them more quickly in AR’s Keyboard Shortcuts Preferences.