Making 3D Hologram Posters Using Affinity Photo

If Abode's subscription is too expensive (here's the original Adobe Photoshop post) -- there's also Affinity Photo 2 out now. It would be nice to explore new ways to make 3D holograms using Affinity. Affinity would be an Adobe alternative because of its one-time purchase. However, do expect to pay if a much better version comes out. 

Here's the original photo of Jacqueline Scislowski and her friends visiting the farm. Alternatively, I love to call it Ishabana visiting Toufu. Kaguragi would request a 3D poster for her majesty! We can try to turn this into a 3D poster using Affinity Photo (with 2 as the latest version). 

Step 1: Duplicate the photo twice. For the first layer, turn off the Background Red by left-clicking and selecting Clear. Rename this layer cyan. The second layer should have both Background Green and Background Blue cleared up. Rename the second layer red. I recommend duplicating twice to save the OG photo. 

Step 2: After that, set both layers to 50% opacity. Set the red layer to soft light. Set the cyan layer to screen. However, one can choose to set both to soft light and experiment with the outcome. This would be depending on the desired outcome. 

Here's the initial sample with Red set to Soft Light and Cyan set to Screen. 


However, I'd like to share another sample here which can be an alternative for Step 2. This would be rather bright!

Step 3: Try to determine the outcome of what we'd like...


An easy hologram would set Cyan (set to Screen) and Red (set to Soft Light) at 100% opacity. However, we may want to "add depth". Now, time to set for another outcome. 


We can use where Cyan and Red have a 50% opacity -- both on Screen. What we can do is start moving around with the frames. Setting both the layers to 100% opacity would cause too much of a glare. That means trying to fix the Brightness/Contrast later on. Now, we play around by selecting BOTH layers and moving them right. Hold shift and press right to move by ten spaces. That would result in this...


We are bound to get this deeper result. However, there's an area that we would want to trim. Since both layers are set to Screen and 50% opacity -- it can be too bright. It can be adjusted later on but that can be a hassle. I'm no professional graphics artist and this is just a hobby. Now, time to try another approach.


If we set the Red layer at 50% opacity and at Soft Light -- we get green lines. It's because the two layers were moved 10x to the right (shift plus right key). How to fix this before making the desired final photo? We're going to move both Red and Cyan backwards until the green line is gone. 


Now, here's the fix. Alternatively, one could do all the steps before moving anything. It would move both Red and Cyan layers simultaneously merely twice to the right. 

Let's compare other results...


The first hologram isn't exactly ideally deep. It has depth but I want more depth. The second hologram has deeper depth but there's gotta be some minor trimming. I definitely wouldn't want to trim that portion but it has to be done -- for a better poster!


Now, we compare two types of 3D posters. One's too bright and may need adjustment before saving. Meanwhile, the other one has a lesser trip layer. 


The picture vs. the intended final product. One can see depth being added. 


Between the first hologram and the final hologram -- I feel the final hologram might be the best result. 

Now, it's time to send the poster to N'Kosopa for printing! 

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