When using fabrics free drawing mode I want to add different lines to the canvas with an opacity. These lines should not add up their opacity when drawn on each other. Therefore I'm changing the canvas blend mode to xor. Anyway, when drawing lines over each other the opacity still adds up. What am I doing wrong here?

var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("a", {
		isDrawingMode : true
});

document.getElementById("cbFreeDrawing").onchange = function () {
  canvas.isDrawingMode = this.checked;
};

canvas.setBackgroundImage('.png', canvas.renderAll.bind(canvas));

canvas.freeDrawingBrush.width = 25;
canvas.freeDrawingBrush.color = "rgba(255,0,0,.5)";
//this seems not to work
canvas.getContext().globalCompositeOperation = 'xor';

canvas {
  border: 1px solid;
}

<script src=".js/1.6.3/fabric.min.js"></script>
Drawing Mode: <input id="cbFreeDrawing" type="checkbox" checked="true"/><br/>
<canvas id="a" width="400" height="300"></canvas>

When using fabrics free drawing mode I want to add different lines to the canvas with an opacity. These lines should not add up their opacity when drawn on each other. Therefore I'm changing the canvas blend mode to xor. Anyway, when drawing lines over each other the opacity still adds up. What am I doing wrong here?

var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("a", {
		isDrawingMode : true
});

document.getElementById("cbFreeDrawing").onchange = function () {
  canvas.isDrawingMode = this.checked;
};

canvas.setBackgroundImage('http://fabricjs./assets/jail_cell_bars.png', canvas.renderAll.bind(canvas));

canvas.freeDrawingBrush.width = 25;
canvas.freeDrawingBrush.color = "rgba(255,0,0,.5)";
//this seems not to work
canvas.getContext().globalCompositeOperation = 'xor';

canvas {
  border: 1px solid;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare./ajax/libs/fabric.js/1.6.3/fabric.min.js"></script>
Drawing Mode: <input id="cbFreeDrawing" type="checkbox" checked="true"/><br/>
<canvas id="a" width="400" height="300"></canvas>

• javascript
• canvas
• html5-canvas
• fabricjs
• blending

• Related: stackoverflow./questions/8412881/… – Fidel90 Commented Aug 4, 2016 at 12:17
• Just visit this page: fabricjs./freedrawing – Rohit Tagadiya Commented Dec 14, 2021 at 5:07

2 Answers 2

During the freeDrawing you are drawing on the upperCanvasEl, a canvas element placed over the lowerCanvasEl. The contexts for those elements are always ready to get in the properties: canvas.contextTop and canvas.contextContainer.

What you can do is to set the single path globalCompositeOperation to 'xor' when it gets passed to lowerCanvas. There is an event (path:created) that you can use. I moved the background in a separate canvas ( but it can be just an image placed down the canvas ) so that the lines does not xor with background itself.

var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("a", {
		isDrawingMode : true
});
var canvas2 = new fabric.StaticCanvas("b");
canvas.lowerCanvasEl.parentNode.appendChild(canvas2.lowerCanvasEl)

document.getElementById("cbFreeDrawing").onchange = function () {
  canvas.isDrawingMode = this.checked;
};
canvas.on('path:created', function(opt) {
  opt.path.globalCompositeOperation = 'xor';
  canvas.renderAll();
});
canvas2.setBackgroundImage('http://fabricjs./assets/jail_cell_bars.png', canvas2.renderAll.bind(canvas2));

canvas.freeDrawingBrush.width = 25;
canvas.freeDrawingBrush.color = "rgba(255,0,0,.5)";
//this seems not to work
canvas.contextTop.globalCompositeOperation = 'xor';

canvas {
  border: 1px solid;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare./ajax/libs/fabric.js/1.6.3/fabric.min.js"></script>
Drawing Mode: <input id="cbFreeDrawing" type="checkbox" checked="true"/><br/>
<canvas id="a" width="400" height="300"></canvas>
<canvas id="b" width="400" height="300"></canvas>

+AndreaBogazzi just found out the answer provided only works when opacity is .5 if its set to another value opacities are overlapped / bined / behave in another way.

Fiddle (simplified for better understanding): https://jsfiddle/c8mf391q/

var canvas = new fabric.Canvas("a", {
        isDrawingMode : true
});



canvas.on('path:created', function(opt) {
  opt.path.globalCompositeOperation = 'xor';
  canvas.renderAll();
});


canvas.freeDrawingBrush.width = 25;
canvas.freeDrawingBrush.color = "rgba(255,0,0,.3)";