smadell

or that...

Marco... You CAN paint in your mask, exactly as you'd seem to like. There are a couple of caveats, though (and I assume this is the case on the desktop version as well, and may also be the case within Photoshop (but I don't really know much about PS)). When you have a luminosity selection active, the pixels are selected in varying degrees. Therefore, the paint brush will act as if it's got varying degrees of opacity attached. When you paint on your mask with the luminosity selection active: 1) You should set the Opacity of the Brush to 100%. Choosing anything less will diminish the intensity of your mask, and will give you the wrong result. 2) You should set the Flow of the Brush to 100%. This is mega-important. Anything less than 100% will cause the overlapping parts of your brush strokes to "build up" and give you bad results. 3) Increase the size of your brush - this is for convenience's sake. Also, I would use a hardness of 100%, but this too is for convenience. 4) Paint your mask in ONE PASS. If you make a brush stroke, lift, and make another, you will create a built-up effect where the mask is "magnified." Again, not what you want. Here's a video of the process. (When I created the luminosity mask, I used a "Darks 1" luminosity selection with a macro.) iPad Mask Painting.mov EDIT: I realized after posting that I screwed this up a little bit. It's all correct, with one major flaw. When you do this, create an "empty mask layer" (i.e., one that is filled with black) and when you paint your brush should paint with white. Oops...

In most cases, luminosity selections don't limit the pixels that are selected. All of the pixels in a layer are selected. However, pixels vary in the amount they are selected. So, in a "Lights 1" luminosity selection, the very white pixels are fully selected (100% or thereabouts) while the very dark pixels are selected only minimally. The "marching ants" you are seeing in your luminosity selection is really only the margin of where pixels are 50% selected or more. And, since all of the pixels are selected to one degree or another, you can paint on all of them. However, the answer to your problem is really much simpler than that. Once your luminosity selection is made, open the "Layers" panel and click the " + " sign at the top. From the drop-down menu, indicate that you want to add a Mask layer. The mask you add will inherit the luminosity selection perfectly. No painting needed.

In response to a post I made last May, MJSfoto1956 suggested the use of Blend Options as an alternative to more traditional luminosity masks. It turns out that the use of the Blend Options panel, combined with a little math, makes luminosity based selections quite effective. The trouble is that the method is cumbersome if you do them from scratch each time. What I have created is a series of Macros that automates the process. The attached afmacros file contains macros for creating Luminosity Selections in their usual and anticipated forms: Lights 1 through Lights 4, Darks 1 through Darks 4, and Midtones 1 through Midtones 4. Notes: 1) Each action will select a luminosity-based portion of the selected layer. 2) NO additional channels are created, so files don’t become bloated. 3) Once the selection is made, it can be used for an adjustment layer, a mask, a live filter, etc. It can be deselected (like any selection). It can be replaced by using a different selection (e.g., click on Lights 2 to replace the selection made by Lights 1). Caveats: 4) You must have a Pixel layer or an Image layer selected for the macros to work properly. If you have any other type of layer selected, or if you have NO layer selected, the results you get will be wrong. 5) The macros will undo any Blend Options you may have set on the selected layer. 6) I am one person with one computer. Obviously, I have not tested these macros in every possible situation. Use them if you like them. No guarantees are made. 7) However, if you like them, they are yours. They are my way of saying “thank you” to the Forum for helping me learn a wonderful piece of software! Luminosity Selections.afmacros.zip

I have four separate feature requests that I'd like to submit. I have created a separate post for each of them, and they are all posted here within the "Feature Requests & Feedback" section. I have included proposed Studio-type panels (or modifications of existing panels) in each of the posts. 1) Presets should be available from their respective panels Affinity Photo already has the ability to store presets for Adjustments. In the Adjustments panel, these presets are segregated by adjustment; that is, only the presets for Curves are shown under the Curves Adjustment choice, and so forth. But, for some curious reason, these presets cannot be accessed from the adjustment panel itself. Personally, I don't like adding adjustment and live filter layers from the menus or from the Adjustment panel - I add them from the icons at the bottom of the Layers panel. As such, I never get to see the Presets that seem to reside only there. I would love to see Affinity Photo give me access to presets from the corresponding adjustment panels. When I open the Curves adjustment panel, I can create a new preset - I should be able to access the Curves preset I created yesterday! Here is a mockup of a suggested change in the panels. Yes, it's the Curves adjustment, but this sort of addition seems like it could apply to all of the panels. The only difference would be the existing height of the panel window, but shrinking or adding to the height of the presets list could adapt itself to the size of the overall panel.

I have four separate feature requests that I'd like to submit. I have created a separate post for each of them, and they are all posted here within the "Feature Requests & Feedback" section. I have included proposed Studio-type panels (or modifications of existing panels) in each of the posts. 4) A Workspace Manager I've actually suggested this before, but I think it's a good enough idea that I'll raise it again. Just as we have Managers for Guides, Snapping, Grid and Axis, and the Assistant, I'd like to see a Workspace Manager. This centralized manager-type panel would allow the Studio panels to be toggled on and off, as well as shown, hidden, and reset. Options to show/hide the toolbar, tools, and context toolbar can be offered. Also, some workspace-related options can be included, such as the dark or light UI, UI font size, and grey levels for the background, artboard, and UI gamma. Most importantly, an existing workspace can be saved (as a preset of sorts) and can then be recalled from a Presets list within the Manager panel.

I have four separate feature requests that I'd like to submit. I have created a separate post for each of them, and they are all posted here within the "Feature Requests & Feedback" section. I have included proposed Studio-type panels (or modifications of existing panels) in each of the posts. 3) Select Color Range using HSL-like Definition I love that the HSL Adjustment panel now allows customized hue ranges. It's a really powerful addition. I would really like to see this sort of color range choice for some variant of the Select Color Range… menu choice. In addition to Select Reds, Select Greens, and Select Blues, I would love to be able to choose Select Custom… and be presented with the same color range chooser used in the HSL panel. The output of such a Select Custom… choice should be tailored in a similar fashion to the Refine Selection dialog; that is, allow the output to be a Selection, a Mask, a Layer, or a Layer with a Mask.

I have four separate feature requests that I'd like to submit. I have created a separate post for each of them, and they are all posted here within the "Feature Requests & Feedback" section. I have included proposed Studio-type panels (or modifications of existing panels) in each of the posts. 2) A New Filter - Add Grain A suggestion for an additional Filter. While the Add Noise… choice is nice, it tends to give a small and very uniform form of noise. This might be great for dealing with certain situations, but it's not a good substitute for adding Grain to a picture (to give a photo an old-time type of look). I suggest a separate Filter that deals with Adding Grain, providing sliders such as (i) Grain per pixel; and (ii) Soft vs Hard. This reasonably simple set of choices is present in the Nik Silver Efex plug-in, and gives me all the choices I think I might want.

So here's what I want to do, and I haven't figured out how yet. I edit a monthly newsletter, and have to deal with articles that start on one page and continue on another. I set up text boxes on the beginning page and the ending page, and flow the text from one to the other. So far, no problem. I place an "anchor" into the text frame itself (NOT embedded within the text) on both pages. This does not seem to be possible in Affinity Publisher yet. I also put additional text frames at the bottom of each portion of the text, with the phrase "Continued on page x" and "Continued from page y" respectively. I then create hyperlinks on the "continued on/from..." text linking to the anchors in the next or previous text frame. In this way, I can jump from the beginning to the end of an article easily. The graphic I'm attaching is the setup I now use within QuarkXPress. It works perfectly for me. Putting the "continued on..." text in a separate frame allows me to edit the article and not worry about having the hyperlink flow onto another page. Putting the anchor on the frame, itself, rather than embedding it into the text allows me to keep the hyperlinks attached to the next frame and previous frame - again, this keeps me from worrying about text flow if I eliminate or add words at any point in the article. This arrangement also lets me insert or delete pages, or even move one or the other of the pages to different spots in the newsletter without worrying about hyperlinks pointing to the wrong place. How can I accomplish this in Affinity Publisher? I want so much to love this program. I use Affinity Photo all the time, and wouldn't leave it for the world. But, so far, I am stymied as to how to accomplish what is for me a most basic task in Publisher. ANY help would be appreciated.

This one's for Dave Straker... I am using a Mac, and I know you're on Windows, so that may explain the difference. Nevertheless, checking the "Reveal" box within the Crop tool's context toolbar does indeed reveal the canvas of a previously cropped photo. (Also, I assume that "Rasterize and Trim" has not been previously used.) This is what I get when I check, or un-check, that box on a photo that I had previously cropped:

In the past few years, I have posted a number of Macros for anyone who wants them. Some have been more widely downloaded than others. With the release of version 1.7, however, I have found that a number of them are using Adjustment Layers that have been updated by Serif. The macros now contain a step invoking the "legacy" version of the adjustment which , once the macro completes, is then automatically updated to the new version. So far, so good. But, version 1.7 puts up a notification stating that the adjustment has been updated, and this notification appears each and every time the macro is invoked. Even though the notification eventually goes away on its own, it's certainly an eyesore if you use the macros more than sporadically. Bummer. So, I am attaching updated versions of the macros that have been affected by this change. These include the Infrared Simulation Effect as well as the more-recently posted Saturation Mask macros. They are labelled as "v1.1" macros, since they have been re-coded with the new versions of the adjustments. Additionally, minor changes were made to the Infrared macro such that all the added layers are contained within a Group (which can be easily turned on or off with a single click). Both of these are attached to this post, and can be downloaded here. They are macro categories and therefore should be imported into the Library panel (not directly into the Macros panel). You can feel free to delete the older versions, although those older macros will still work - they will just give you the "nag screen" each time they are invoked. For reference, here are links to the original posts for both sets of macros: Infrared Simulation: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/40759-infrared-simulation/ Saturation Masks: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/76900-saturation-masks-a-simple-method/ Please enjoy the updated macros. Infrared Simulation v1.1.afmacros Saturation Masks v1.1.afmacros

Here’s the old videos... https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/10119-legacy-official-affinity-photo-desktop-video-tutorials/

Hey, James... Just to nitpick... The link to the video titled "Inpainting" says "Pinpointing" instead!

Hey, John and R C-R... First of all, the link to that series of posts is: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/76900-saturation-masks-a-simple-method/ Second, Apply Image really only needs a single image (in fact, a single layer) since there is a button near the top of the dialog box that says "Use Current Layer as Source." Clicking that lets you apply the layer to itself. Here is a screen shot where I swapped the Red and Green channels in a photo (original on the left, swapped channels on the right). The more important point might be that your last question is easier to answer than Dave Straker's math makes it out to be. I have posted a series of macros which will (i) create Saturation masks and Vibrance masks (inverted Saturation masks); (ii) create greyscale visualization layers for those masks; and (iii) allow you to apply the masks to a layer stack. You can access those macros here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/87004-macro-updates-for-v17/

Because of changes in the way some Adjustment Layers are coded, I have posted updated versions of this macro category (and of one other). While the existing macros, downloaded from this page, still work, the updated macros are a little bit cleaner and do not display the "nag screen" about updating a legacy adjustment. Download the updated version here:

I have been reading Dave Straker’s post about Saturation Masks, and the variety of methods he and others have used to construct them. In looking into this further, I stumbled across a web page written by Tony Kuyper, and he describes a really simple way of creating a Saturation Mask using a Selective Color adjustment layer. A link to his web page is included below: http://goodlight.us/writing/saturationmasks/satmask-1.html I have attached a Macros Category (import this from the “hamburger” menu on the Library panel) that includes 6 different macros. Important Note - Because of a bug in the Selective Color adjustment layer, these macros will not work in version 1.6 of Affinity Photo. However, the apparent bug has been squashed in version 1.7, and the macros give the proper results. At this point, use the macros ONLY in the version 1.7 beta and, presumably, in any version which follows it. Saturation Mask - Greyscale This macro creates a greyscale version of a saturation mask, based on a “merge visible” pixel layer that takes all of the visible layers into account. Vibrance Mask - Greyscale This macro creates a greyscale version of a Vibrance Mask. A vibrance mask is the inverse of a saturation mask, and favors areas of relatively low saturation. Vibrance Masks can be used to apply adjustments, etc. to poorly saturated pixels, while masking that adjustment from highly saturated pixels. Saturation Mask - Create Mask This macro creates a Mask layer out of the greyscale version of the mask. The mask is placed at the top of the layer stack, and can be used as needed. Vibrance Mask - Create Mask Similar to the above, this macro creates a Mask layer out of the Vibrance Mask greyscale layer. Fix OVER-Saturated Image This macro puts a 50% grey fill layer at the top of the layer stack, and sets the Blend Mode to Saturation. Without anything further, this would have the effect of desaturating all of the colors in an image. However, the macro attaches a Saturation Mask to the fill layer, which desaturates the colors relative to their existing saturation level. (More highly saturated pixels are affected more strongly.) Finally, the macro asks the user “How much desaturation?” should be applied. This sets the opacity of the fill layer, and can change the amount of DE-saturation applied. Fix UNDER-Saturated Image This macro puts an HSL adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack, and attaches a Vibrance Mask to the adjustment. The macro asks the user “How much saturation?” and this affects the Saturation slider inside the HSL adjustment. The vibrance mask causes the HSL adjustment to be applied more strongly to pixels with low saturation, and minimizes its effect on highly saturated pixels. Saturation Masks.afmacros.zip

Because of changes in the way some Adjustment Layers are coded, I have posted updated versions of this macro (and of several others). While the existing macros, downloaded from this page, still work, the updated macros are a little bit cleaner and do not display the "nag screen" about updating a legacy adjustment. Download the updated version here:

I’ve created a macro that can simulate the look of Infrared Photography. It expands on the method that James outlined in his tutorial video, adding a few additional flourishes. The macro is attached and can be imported into Affinity Photo. To import the macro, select the “hamburger” icon at the top, right of the Library panel. Choose “Import Macros…” Start by choosing a Pixel layer. Click the macro and you will get a lovely infrared-looking image. 1) If you adjust the opacity of the layer named “Infrared Inverted” you can add more or less color to the image. 2) True infrared images have a softness and graininess to them. Because of that, I have included a Noise layer and a Diffuse Glow layer. Feel free to adjust them, or turn them off. 3) If the image has too much pink to suit your liking, open the HSL layer and switch to the Reds. Lower the Saturation until the pinkish color is muted or gone. 4) I have placed a Lens Filter adjustment at the top of the layer stack. It is a blue filter, which will cool the image a bit. By default, it is turned off. Turn it back on to apply it. Here is the macro in action: Infrared.afmacros.zip

Glad to help! Your question got me to re-visit the Quick Mask, which I rarely use, to remember all the details for myself. Always nice to learn some of the basics all over again.

If you press Q, or choose Quick Mask in some other way, with no active selection, your entire image should be covered by a red overlay. As you know, you use the paint brush to create the selection. If you are choosing the paint brush, but you are seeing a "circle with no preview," chances are that your brush has defaulted to Black. It is not uncommon at all for the Paint Brush tool to default to black when you first choose it. Check it out and, if needed, switch it to white (you can just press X to do this) and your Quick Mask will probably start working again. Also, check the Paint Brush tool settings - are your opacity, flow, and hardness choices appropriate or are they causing your selection to be so limited as to be invisible?

Just a random thought (from a non-programmer). Since the selection(s) are feathered, the amount of selection in any given pixel in that feathered region varies between 0 and 100 percent. Inverting the selection seems like it should just give the exact opposite selection. However, since the residual is a really thin "line" is it possible that this represents a "rounding error"?

I just developed a Raw file in the AP Beta. Here's the Lens Correction filter from after the development. The camera, lens, and focal length are correctly identified.

I almost never do my Raw development in AP, so I can’t tell you from memory. I will check this out tomorrow morning, and get back to this thread.

The Picker can only be activated if you click on one of the color ranges (the 6 right-most circles) rather than the “Master” circle, which is what is chosen by default.

This is a screen grab (just made a few minutes ago) from Beta build 127. I'm on a Mac, but Focal Length has been in my EXIF Summary for multiple builds, now.