[Hall of tricks]

Note: This tutorial applies to PI 4.2 only.

For many weeks I tried to find a simple way in PhotoImpact to make an object gradually transparent. Finally I found it! You can make any path, shape, or text gradually transparent from left to right, top to bottom, at 45° or in a circular fashion. PhotoImpact does this by converting the gradient to a grayscale mask.  The darker color in the grayscale will make the path more opaque.  Conversely, the lighter color will result in a more transparent mask.

In the above example a piece of text is above a rectangle shape. I used a textured background to emphasize the gradual transparency of the rectangle. Here's how I do it!

Let's start by creating an image with a background.

• Create a new image of 500 x 100.
• Choose Background Designer from the Web menu.
• In the Schema drop-down list, select Schema 2.
• Choose a background from the thumbnails.
• If you want, click the Edit button to bring up the Palette Ramp Editor and choose a color scheme.
• In the Background Designer make sure the Apply on image option is selected.
• Click OK.

Now let's draw the rectangle.

• Click the Path Tool button.
• From the Edit button, choose Rectangle.
• Draw a rectangle slightly inside your image.   The right side of the rectangle can touch the right edge if you want because this side will be transparent. The rectangular shape is shown below.

• From the Mode list, select 3D Round.
• Drag the Border slider close to the left edge and the Depth slider near the middle.
• Click the Color tool and choose a color. I choose the grayish blue (last row, fourth color).
  If you have a different background color you might want to choose a matching color for the rectangle. Select Eyedropper from the Color tool instead and choose a color in your background.

Finally, the grayscale mask.

• Make sure the rectangle is still selected and the Path Tools enabled.
• Click the Color tool and choose Gradient Fill.
• In the Gradient Fill dialog box enable Apply on selection.  Choose a left to right gradient and make sure the white color is on the left.

• Click OK.

Now you know how to apply a Grayscale mask on any path, shape of text and add a gradual transparency to it. Remember that when applying a grayscale mask that a darker color will result in a more opaque area of the object and a lighter color will become more transparent. No doubt you will use this feature in different context to add visual impact to your images.

To finish the image just add some text on top of the rectangle.

• Click the Text Tool. Click the Color tool, choose Gradient Fill and disable Apply on selection so the text doesn't become gradually transparent.
• Click in the image, enter your text, choose a font and font size.
• Right-click anywhere in the image and select Merge All.

To see a bigger image that I did for fun using this feature click here.