What is the new feature in Affinity 3 for creating blurry effects?

The new feature is the 'Live Tone Blend Group,' which allows for unique blending and smeary blur effects that can be modified non-destructively.

Are the effects in Affinity 3 permanent or adjustable?

All effects described, including Radial Blur, Gaussian Blur, and HSL adjustments, are 'Live' filters, meaning you can modify them at any point during the design process.

How do you access the Live Tone Blend Group?

You can find it by going to the 'Pixel' menu and selecting 'Live Tone Blend Group' while having your target layers selected.

Affinity Photo 3: Create Stunning Blurry Effects with Live Tone Blend Groups

Tutorial Overview

In this tutorial by Graphicxtras, you'll learn how to leverage the latest features in Affinity 3 to create "weird, smeary, and unusual" blurry effects. Unlike traditional static blurs, these methods use live groups to ensure every tweak is reversible and dynamic.

Step-by-Step Guide

Duplicate Your Layer: Start by right-clicking your image in the layers panel and selecting 'Duplicate' [00:00:08].
Create Live Tone Blend Group: With the duplicate selected, navigate to Pixel > Live Tone Blend Group. This opens a dialog where you can modify blend strength and content types like 'Text' or 'Shapes' [00:00:22].
Apply Live Filter Effects: Add a Radial Blur via Pixel > New Live Filter Layer > Blur. You can move the origin point live to change the focus of the smear [00:01:20].
Add Adjustment Layers: Use an HSL Adjustment to shift colors and luminosity, which interacts uniquely with the blend group [00:01:55].
Stack Gaussian Blur: For extra texture, apply a Gaussian Blur. Interestingly, with Live Tone Blend Groups, high blur settings (100-200px) don't always fully obscure the image, creating complex visual layers [00:02:27].
Layer Manipulation: Since the effect is a layer, you can resize, rotate, or duplicate it (Alt/Option + Drag) to apply the effect to specific parts of your image [00:04:43].

Key Benefits of This Technique

Non-Destructive: Every setting, from blur radius to color shift, can be re-opened and tweaked.
Unique Textures: The 'Text' content type within the blend group provides a smeary aesthetic difficult to achieve with standard tools [00:04:08].
Customizable Blending: You can change the blend mode of the entire group (e.g., to 'Darken' or 'Overlay') for varied results [00:05:24].

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best content type for smeary effects?

According to the tutorial, the 'Text' content type within the Live Tone Blend settings often yields the most interesting results for these effects [00:00:48].

Can I mask these effects?

Yes! Because the effect is contained within a layer group, you can add masks to focus the blurry effect on specific parts of your image, such as a subject's face [00:04:49].

What does the layer structure look like?

A typical setup includes the original image at the bottom, topped by the Live Tone Blend Group containing a background image, Radial Blur, HSL Shift, and Gaussian Blur [00:06:27].