Affinity Designer Effects and Styles 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the Drop Shadow effect settings in Affinity Designer, what does the 'Blur' parameter control?
- The distance the shadow is offset from the object
- The color tint applied to the shadow
- The softness and diffusion of the shadow edges (Correct answer)
- The overall opacity of the layer
Correct answer: The softness and diffusion of the shadow edges
The Blur parameter controls how soft or diffused the shadow edges appear — a higher value creates a more spread-out, feathered shadow.
Question 2: Which blend mode makes white pixels in a layer appear transparent while preserving the effect of dark pixels in Affinity Designer?
- Screen
- Overlay
- Multiply (Correct answer)
- Luminosity
Correct answer: Multiply
Multiply makes white areas transparent because multiplying by white (value 1.0) leaves the underlying color unchanged, while darker pixels darken the result.
Question 3: What is the purpose of the Gradient Overlay effect in Affinity Designer?
- To add a gradient-colored stroke around an object
- To apply a gradient on top of the object's fill as a non-destructive effect (Correct answer)
- To blend two separate objects together with a gradient transition
- To automatically generate a gradient background layer
Correct answer: To apply a gradient on top of the object's fill as a non-destructive effect
Gradient Overlay applies a gradient as a non-destructive effect on top of the object's existing fill, without modifying the Fill panel settings.
Question 4: How does the Overlay blend mode work in Affinity Designer?
- It always darkens the entire image uniformly
- It always lightens the entire image uniformly
- It multiplies dark areas and screens light areas, boosting contrast (Correct answer)
- It completely replaces the base color with the blend color
Correct answer: It multiplies dark areas and screens light areas, boosting contrast
Overlay uses Multiply on dark base colors and Screen on light base colors, increasing overall contrast while preserving highlights and shadows.
Question 5: In Affinity Designer, what does the Inner Glow effect create?
- A glow that extends outward beyond the object's boundary
- A soft glow effect that appears inside the object's edges (Correct answer)
- A blurred duplicate of the object placed beneath it
- A highlight along the top edge only
Correct answer: A soft glow effect that appears inside the object's edges
Inner Glow creates a soft glow that appears inside the object's edges, often used to simulate a lit interior or glowing object from within.
Question 6: What does the Noise option do when applied to an effect in Affinity Designer?
- Adds audio data to animated layers
- Blurs the effect with a uniform radius
- Adds random grain texture to the effect (Correct answer)
- Removes compression artifacts from the effect
Correct answer: Adds random grain texture to the effect
The Noise option adds random grain texture to an effect such as a gradient or glow, which can reduce banding and make effects look more natural.
Question 7: What happens to objects that were using a Style after you delete that Style from the Styles panel in Affinity Designer?
- All objects immediately revert to a default appearance
- Objects retain their visual appearance but are no longer linked to the deleted style (Correct answer)
- A warning dialog prompts you to reassign affected objects first
- The style is archived and can be restored at any time
Correct answer: Objects retain their visual appearance but are no longer linked to the deleted style
Deleting a style from the Styles panel does not undo the applied appearance on existing objects — they retain their look but become unlinked from the named style.
Affinity Designer Effects and Styles 2
In the Drop Shadow effect settings in Affinity Designer, what does the 'Blur' parameter control?