Affinity Photo – Marquee Tool to Delete Section of Pixels

Goal: To knock out a section of pixels so the Affinity Photo document’s transparent background shows through. Very important tip regarding Group Layers: Selecting the area to be deleted via the Group Layer just deletes the whole Group Layer (and all the sub-Layers inside it). MUST highlight all the sub-Layers INSIDE the Group Layer, then make the selection on the document.

Final use of artwork: This is for t-shirt printing, which requires a PNG file with transparent background.

I needed to delete a swath of pixels on a specific Pixel Layer. I did not want to use a Mask. I also did not want to use the Rectangle Tool to draw a shape then change the Layer’s Blend Mode to Erase. I just wanted a clean deletion of a section of pixels on a specific Pixel Layer. And the document’s transparent background must be able to show through this cut-out section (Menu > Document > tick Transparent Background).

• Layer MUST be a Pixel Layer
• Use Marquee Tool to create a selection
• Click delete on Mac keyboard, or use Menu > Edit > Cut