Layer style using stroke with gradient fill

bacton

I have a layer that I want the outer edges to disappear into the layer below. PS CS5.

So, I'm working with the stroke settings under blending options and applying this to the layer that I want to affect. In the Stroke dialogue screen I've selected the Position=Inside, Fill=Gradient and Style=Shape Burst.

While it is looking promising, the gradient simply produces the gradient from white to gray, and does not yield the declining opacity (transparency) that I'm looking for. The gradient style I'm using is foreground to transparency but the result on the screen is more like a solid fill gradient.

Probably something really dumb that I'm doing. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

BA.

BinaryFx

It sounds like you should be using a layer mask.

CMD/CTRL click on the layer thumbnail icon to load the layer transparency data as a selection.

Add a layer mask with the selection active, so that the selection becomes a layer mask alpha channel.

Blur the layer mask (one may need to experiment with contracting the selection or mask based off the selection before the blur).


Best,

Stephen Marsh

http://binaryfx.customer.netspace.net.au/ (coming soon!)
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

bacton

Thanks Stephen for your response.

I've played with your suggestion and I have it working. I see that the selection can be modified to be any shape before making the layer mask.

I used Gaussian Blur.... .....don't know how other types of blur might work. And it seems that the more blur is used then the slower the transparency transition.

That's great! Thanks again.

BA.