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Yelnats1
Known Participant
June 2, 2012
Open for Voting

Photoshop: Make "Blend Colors Using Gamma" a document setting

  • June 2, 2012
  • 28 replies
  • 3100 views
"Blend Text/RGB Colors Using Gamma" should be a document or layer setting instead of a global setting. The user should have the ability to set the default option. There could still be a global setting for documents that don't have specified gamma blending settings.

Here's a simple scenario:
A designer makes a graphic in Photoshop CS5. The Star shape and text layers are each set to black with layer fill set to 45%. All Photoshop color settings are at default. The file is sent to a user with CS6 or the designer upgrades to CS6. The Shape and Text layers no longer look the same. Mass confusion.


The current settings are hidden away, like they aren't supposed to be messed with, yet I am seeing recommendations to disable Blend Text Colors Using Gamma: http://bjango.com/articles/photoshopc...

I was tempted to label this as a "Problem" rather than an "Idea."

There are simple workarounds for this issue, but you can't expect users to know what is happening in the first place, especially with how well hidden the gamma blending preferences are.

    28 replies

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    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    October 1, 2012
    Many people wanted to improve the antialiasing on text and more closely match how the OS renders text - and this is how it works.
    Your layer is at 50% opacity, but it blends slightly differently because it is a text layer.
    C
    chrisorbit
    Participating Frequently
    October 1, 2012
    So the solution is to break the way text layers blend just to get a different alias on text. How is this a good thing? and why would it be on by default?

    Setting my text layer to 50% opacity now means it is not at 50% opacity. Saying this is just the way it is just wrong. No program should ever behave like this.

    This setting should be messed with and most people should NOT have it on.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    October 1, 2012
    There isn't a way around it. If you want the antialiased edges to blend correctly, all semi-opaque colors will be affected. Opaque colors will be unaffected.
    C
    chrisorbit
    Participating Frequently
    October 1, 2012
    This is causing text layer to behave inconsistently. Text blended should maintain the correct opacity even if the edges are aliased differently. I can't imagine there is not a programmatic way around this issue.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    June 4, 2012
    If I understand the argument correctly the best measure for this setting is to have the option for "Blend Text/RGB Colors Using Gamma" turned off until this is improved or better workarounds are found.
    Y
    Yelnats1Author
    Known Participant
    June 3, 2012
    Marc, here's how I had the layers in the previous example:


    It appears I was a bit off on in my previous post... you can combine the two methods, it just doesn't look good:
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    June 3, 2012
    That also shows how color is linked as well.
    But we found that text doesn't blend as expected at gamma 1.0, and gives best results at a slightly higher number (but still not as high as most images (1.8 - 2.5)).
    Y
    Yelnats1Author
    Known Participant
    June 3, 2012
    It's a text layer with a bitmap mask over a solid color layer.
    Y
    Yelnats1Author
    Known Participant
    June 3, 2012
    It's a text layer with a bitmap mask over a solid color layer.
    marcbjango
    marcbjango
    Known Participant
    June 3, 2012
    Black text at 50% opacity on a white background not appearing as rgb(127, 127, 127) seems like unexpected and unwanted behaviour to me. I don't think I'll ever get used to it, if that's how Photoshop will be by default from now on. At least it can be turned off, right? 😉
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