When an object’s opacity is less than 100%, anything in the back- ground, including the illustration area, can affect the object’s appear- ance. The appearance of colors in an object can also be affected by the object’s transfer mode. See “Using transfer modes” on page 20.374. To set the opacity of objects 1 Select the objects whose opacity you want to change. 2 Do one of the following to use the Opacity slider: •   Windows: Click the Opacity icon in the toolbox and the Opacity slider appears. Drag the slider or click in the scale to adjust the opacity setting. •   Mac: Press the Opacity icon in the toolbox and the Opacity slider appears. Drag in the scale to adjust the opacity set- ting. 3 Drag the Opacity slider to the left to decrease opacity; drag to the right to increase opacity. The opacity percentage appears at the right of the slider. Defining opacity “Transparency” and “opacity” are opposite terms that describe the ability to see through an object. Greater transparency means it is easier to see through something; greater opacity means it is harder to see though it. In percentages, 100% opacity equals 0% trans- parency. Those values describe objects you can’t see through. 1% opacity equals 99% trans- parency. Those values describe almost com- pletely clear objects. All Canvas objects have an opacity. You can set opacity from 1% to 100% in 1% increments. The opacity of a new object is 100%. When you copy an object, the copies have the same opacity as the original object. In this manual, the word “transparency” is often used as a general term for several related effects. The word “opacity” is used to refer to a specific effect and a specific prop- erty of objects. In other words, an object’s “transparency” can result from various factors, including ink set- tings, the transfer mode, a channel mask, or anoth- er effect. An object’s “opacity,” on the other hand, is a specific setting controlled by the Opaci- ty slider.
Canvas 8 Help: SpriteLayer effects (3 of 24)                                                        Page #357