Filters or Effects:
What's the Difference?
They're
both on the menu, and they both seem to offer the same things...so what is the
difference? A filter will alter the underlying structure of the path it is
applied to. An effect only changes the appearance of the path.
llustratorŐs
Transparency palette sets the opacity of objects, and allows you to use
blending modes determine how the colors of objects mix with the colors of
objects they cross. HereŐs how the blending modes work.
Blending
modes control how the colors of the objects on the page interact with each
other. Using
IllustratorŐs Transparency palette, you can set the blending modes to get the
effect you want.
When
you first open a blank document in Illustrator and draw objects on the page,
the transparency palette shows the opacity is set at 100% by default. You can
change this by either changing the opacity using the opacity dropdown menu by
either typing in a value or using the slider to change it. This affects the
selected object or objects. 100% is fully opaque and 0% is fully transparent.
The
dropdown menu on the left contains the blending modes. Choosing a mode from
this menu applies it to the selected object or objects. The mode determines how
the colors in the objects interact with the colors of the objects below.
Normal
is the default, and the objects interact with each other as if they were both
solid color objects, at 100% opacity. Normal mode displays the full value of
the colors of all of the objects.
The
blue square above is partially obscured by the floral square. In normal mode,
you canŐt see the hidden part of the blue square. The rest of the modes
interact with each other in different ways. If you are used to Photoshop, you
know in Photoshop these are referred to as layer modes. They affect everything
on the layer and you can have only one per layer. Not so in Illustrator! Every
object can have its own blending mode. The modes go with the objects, not the
layers.
Therefore
you can have three objects with three different blending modes, and they will
all react to each other differently.
Darkening
Modes
There are three darkening modes: Darken, Multiply, and Color Burn. These modes create darkening effects when colors are used that are darker than 50% gray, which refers to colors whose luminosity is less than the luminosity of gray that is 50% white and 50% black.
Darken:
In Darken mode, Illustrator compares colors in the blended layer with colors in
the lower layer, and calculates which is darker. Wherever a pixel is darker on
one layer than on the other, the darker pixel replaces the lighter pixel. It
ignores values that are darker than the blending layer.
Multiply:
This mode darkens all pixels. Colors in the base layer or object are multiplied
by the blended layer to produce a combination of both, which is always darker
that the original. If you multiply any color with black, you get black and
multiplying with white leaves the other color unchanged and the area that was
white will be transparent (which in this case means it will show through as if
there were no blending mode applied.) One of my favorite uses for this mode is
to add scanned line art or handwritten text that is on white paper. Copy the
scanned image to the photo and it will be on its own layer. Change this layer
to Multiply, and the line art or text will show but the scanned page will be
invisible.
To
illustrate this, in this example there are two objects: one object is blue, and
one object is a black and white pattern:
When
the upper object, the black and white pattern, is dragged on top of the blue
rectangle, in normal mode it hides the blue rectangle.
After
the blending mode is changed to multiply, the white background disappears and
all that is visible is the black pattern.
Color
Burn: Colors in the blended layer are applied to those in the base to enhance
contrast. The degree of color change depends on the intensity of tones in the
blending layer. The darker the color the more intense the effect, and white
areas remain unchanged.
These modes create lightening effects when colors are used that are lighter than 50% gray, which refers to colors whose luminosity is more than the luminosity of gray that is 50% white and 50% black. There are three lightening modes: Lighten, Screen, and Color Dodge.
Lighten:
This mode is the opposite of Darken. In Lighten mode, Illustrator looks at the
colors in both layers or objects and replaces the darker values with lighter
values. It ignores values that are lighter than the blending layer.
Screen:
Colors in the blending and base objects or layers are multiplied in inverse
values, resulting in a lighter image with less contrast. Screen is the opposite
of multiply.
Anything
black in the blended layer will be transparent, letting the base layer show
through. Using the same two rectangles as we used before:
Changing
the blending mode to Screen results in the blue from the bottom object showing
through the areas on the top object that were black:
Color
Dodge: This blending mode lightens the light tones and increases contrast, and
does not affect dark image areas. This is the opposite of Color Burn but you
may not always get exactly opposite results.
These
modes increase contrast by changing highlights and shadows. We find Overlay, Soft
Light, and Hard Light modes in this section. Overlay and Hard Light are useful in
composites for dramatic effects, while Soft Light is more subtle, and gives a
softer, but very effective, blending.
Overlay: Overlay is a mix of multiply and screen and works by multiplying the dark values and screening the light values of the base layer. It retains the brightness, so is often harsher than its companion, Soft Light.
Soft
Light: While Overlay is a mix of Multiple and Screen Mode, Soft Light is a mixture
of Darken and Lighter mode, so it works the same as Overlay except the effect
is more subtle and softer.
Hard
Light: When over 50% grayscale, the pixels on the base layer are screened, and
when lower than 50% they are multiplied. Hard Light is similar to Overlay, but
more dramatic.
These
modes use mathematics to compare layers with one another. There are two modes
here, Difference and Exclusion.
Difference:
Difference reacts to the differences between the upper and lower layer pixels.
Identical values of the two layers are shown as black, and everything else
shows as inverted colors.
Exclusion:
Exclusion is less contrasted than Difference.
Image
Component Blending Modes
These
modes, Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity, change the attributes of the
object or layer.
Hue:
Hue changes the hue of the lower layer to the hue of the upper layer but leaves
brightness and saturation levels alone.
Saturation:
Saturation changes the saturation of the lower layer to the hue of the upper
layer but leaves brightness and hue levels alone.
Color:
Color changes the base layer to the hue of the blending layer but leaves
luminosity of the base layer alone. Color mode is a great way to change the
color of an image.
Luminosity:
Luminosity changes the luminosity of the base layer to the luminosity of the
blending layer while leaving hue and saturation the same on the base layer.