smadell
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Posts posted by smadell
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Based on a recent thread started by user Steps, I have finalized and am attaching a macro called "Graphic Novel Effect." It is similar to the "Paint by Numbers" macro I created a while back, but offers better control of the black outlines that are needed in a cartoon or a graphic novel illustration.
The attached file is a macros category (not a single macro) and can be imported through the Affinity Photo Library panel. Once inside Affinity Photo, the category contains a single macro which can be moved into a different category (by dragging it) if desired. Since it is provided as a category, it can also be imported into the iPad version of AP.
When you use the macro, it creates a number of layers inside a group (which can be turned on and off to show or hide the effect entirely). The user is presented with 5 options in a dialog:
1) Posterize - How Many Colors?
The macro is preset to 5 color levels, but anywhere between 4 and 6 generally gives a decent result.
2) Outlines - Adjust Black [line thickness]
This option is preset to 50%, but changing the value will make the black outlines more or less prominent.
3) Outlines - Adjust White [fill smoothness]
This option is preset to 90%. Changing the value will affect the fill (inside the outlines). Keep the value above the value set in option #2 (line thickness).
4) Finish - Adjust the Brightness
5) Finish - Adjust the Contrast
These are preset to Brightness = -15% and Contrast = +30%. Changes made here will have the obvious results, and should be considered a finishing touch.
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As always, I am one person with one computer and have not tested this in every possible scenario. Try it and, if you like it, keep it and enjoy it. This forum has provided me with so many good ideas and answers to questions; this macro is another attempt to “pay it forward.”
- Steps, Michael Bobarev, IndieAuthor and 11 others
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If you're not completely satisfied with that effect, you might want to check out a macro I posted a while ago. It's called "Paint by Numbers" and it gives a somewhat different result.
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Steps...
Here's the macro you wanted. I named it "Dave's Cartoon Effect" in order to give credit to Dave Straker who, after all, came up with the process. The only thing I changed was to set the blend mode of both the inverted outline pixel layer and the live Gaussian Blur layer to Color Burn. I also set the default blur to 0.5 pixels, as this was a bit more to my own liking. As you'll see, though, it is user-customizable. I didn't put in a step to alter the opacity, but clearly you can do that after the fact.
Note that I've made this an importable macros category, and not a single macro. When imported (through the Library) this will become a new category with a single macro in it. This will also let the macro be imported into the iPad version, if you want.
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Instead of setting “opacity” to 10% (which will only build up with repeated strokes, each after lifting your finger) leave the opacity at 100% and set the “flow” to 10%. This should do what you’re after.
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I just this minute found a post on the DxO forum, basically titled “Critical Bug in PhotoLab 2 - sRGB profile missing on export.” I’ve included a link to the post below. However, this seems to be a very serious bug in version 2 of PhotoLab, and it explains the problems that you’re all having.
https://feedback.dxo.com/t/critical-bug-in-photolab-2-missing-srgb-icc-profile-during-export/8347
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I normally export from DxO as 16 bit TIFF files, using ProPhoto as the color space. I’m not sure if I ever exported using sRGB. If you examine the EXIF data of the exported TIFF file (not from within Affinity Photo, but the otherwise untouched file on your disk) does it have a Color Space of sRGB, or does it come out of DxO without an assigned color space?
If you’re on a Mac, you can open the TIFF into the Preview app and open the Inspector. That should let you know the color space inside of the file, if there is one.
I’ve never opened an sRGB file in AP and had it automatically assigned to the ProPhoto space. However, if the file doesn’t have an embedded color space, and if AP is set to do so (as the OP seems to indicate it initially was) the file might open as if it were a ProPhoto (ROMM) file.
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It sounds like something has gone wrong when DxO exported your file. (Not sure why, since I’ve use DxOPhotoLab 1 in conjunction with Affinity Photo successfully for a long time!) However, if you’ve exported a file from DxO that is supposed to be an sRGB file but it is somehow opened in Affinity Photo with the assumption that it is a ROMM file, that would account for the wildly oversaturated color. (To demonstrate this, open an sRGB file and choose ASSIGN Profile (not Convert) and make AP think it’s a ROMM file. All of a sudden your sRGB values for red, green, and blue are describing bolder and more saturated colors.)
I’m not sure where this “lost in translation” step happened, but it’s pretty clear that your sRGB file is being displayed as if it’s a ROMM file.
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Happy Birthday, KJD!
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Are you in Publisher? If so, you’re looking at the bleed. Click on the “Preview” mode button to limit the view to the page margins. I’m not at my desktop, but there might also be a choice to “View Bleed” on the menus.
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I can't speak to most of your suggestions, but one of them is already there. If you want your Live Filter layers to appear as an additional layer (above the currently selected one) rather than as a child of the selected layer, use the Assistant (from the Toolbar) to make that choice. See below:
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If you look carefully at the PhotoWhoa site, you should notice that all of the presets are described as an "Affinity Presets LUTS Collection." This pretty much defines how you'll end up using them.
Affinity Photo can use "color lookup tables" (otherwise known as CLUT's or LUT's) and these are fairly commonly used to "color grade" images or video. Basically, if you start with an image and then alter it with one or more Adjustment layers, you can then choose "Export LUT..." to form an external file that encapsulates all of the adjustments you made. Basically, a color lookup table is simply that - it lets you start with a bunch of pixels (your photograph) in which each pixel has a defined color, then the LUT changes each of the colors to a pre-defined "other" color according to the entries in the lookup table. It's a simple substitution scheme, which goes something like "wherever there's a pixel with this color [R255,G0,B0] put in a something else, like [R240,G100,B100]." And, it does that for each triplet combination of Red, Green, and Blue in your photo.
The up side to using a LUT is that it is simple, and boils down to an all-in-one color grade change. The down side is that the LUT does not add the component Adjustment Layers, so you can't really tweak the components afterward (except by adding more adjustments and filters, etc.)
To use your MegaPresets files, simply put the collection of folders somewhere convenient. I'm not from the Windows side, but I don't think there's a specific place they need to be. Once you have a photo in Affinity Photo, add an adjustment layer by choosing "LUT..." from the Layer>New Adjustment Layer submenu, or by choosing it from the icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. The LUT dialog box will open.
Click on the button called "Load LUT" and you will be able to navigate to the folder(s) containing your presents. Choose the one you like. Your photo will have one extra adjustment layer, labelled LUT, and the color lookup changes dictated by the LUT file will have been applied. (You may want to change Blend Modes, opacity, and so forth on the LUT adjustment layer to further refine the color grading.
- Spookmeister, Alfred, BluesImprov and 2 others
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My pleasure, sir. I actually never use that method of creating luminosity selections anymore, since I have my own luminosity macros almost always ready at hand.
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Haitch... I think there are a couple of answers to your questions. First, using an image to create the mask is, in essence, the definition of a Luminosity Mask. You can create one in a number of ways. The easiest is to hold down Command and Option (on a Mac) and click on the Layer thumbnail. This creates a luminosity selection, and you can click the Mask icon on the Layers panel to create a straight luminosity mask. You can Command-Option-Click and then Invert the selection to get the reverse type of mask (the one that protects highlights). Alternately, there are a number of users (myself included) who have posted Macros to create various types of luminosity selections and masks. You might want to try these:
The other thing to know is that, as R C-R alluded to, you can't apply most adjustments and filters directly to a mask. While Photoshop seems to treat masks as editable greyscale images, Affinity Photo treats masks as pure Alpha Channels. As such, most of the standard adjustments can't be done to them directly. HOWEVER, you can apply a Levels adjustment or a Curves adjustment to a mask. Create a mask to be adjusted. Then create a Levels (or Curves) adjustment. Drag the new adjustment layer onto the Mask icon in the Layers panel. In the Levels (or Curves) adjustment, change the channel selection from "Master" to "Alpha." You can then apply the Levels or Curves to the Mask directly.
- Roger C, Krustysimplex and R C-R
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In my experience, you can only choose “Edit Macro...” if there is an open document.
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The Appearance panel was definitely NOT showing, and would not open. I don't know why.
BUT... I restarted the program and things mysteriously worked as they should. Thanks to all for trying to help. It seems like the simplest advice was all that was needed - turn it off and "reboot" and things often fix themselves!
Thanks again to everyone.
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Working on a Mac 10.13.6, Dark Mode, Separated Windows, testing out Designer 1.7.2.2 RC1. The Appearance Panel will not appear! No matter how many times I choose it from the View>Studio> menu, the panel will not open.
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Some more strangeness. I tried the LIVE Shadows and Highlights filter in 1.7.2.149 (also in Dark, Separated mode) and got this (see below) There is extra space on the right, for no particular purpose that I can see.
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I rarely use the Shadows and Highlights filter, and had not tried this when a previous beta build announced the availability of version 1.6 and version 1.7 methods. But, for some reason, I gave it a try today. I routinely use the Dark interface, in Separated mode, on a Mac. That having been said, I was surprised to see that the Shadows & Highlights… choice gave me an unusable panel. The background of the panel remains in "Light" interface mode, while everything else is in "Dark" mode. This renders the text unreadable. Switching to Light mode corrected the problems, but this ought to be a fairly easy fix, and one that should be made before RC1 becomes GM.
Switching to non-Separated mode didn't change anything. This is a new bug with the v1.7.2 betas - it is not present in the MAS version of 1.7.1.
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Maybe this is a solution for you. I created a macro, which I named "My Action-like Macro" and saved it into my "testing" folder in the Library. It contains all the steps you've put into your PS action. The step "document properties" does a document resize. Affinity macros will save this into a macro, but the size is fixed (number of pixels) rather than relative (e.g., 25% of original). You could also omit this step in the macro, and set the size in the Batch window. I then saved a Curves adjustment, a Brightness and Contrast adjustment, and a Vibrance adjustment. I applied an Unsharp Mask filter.
When it comes time to create files for your clients to look at, run a Batch (from the File menu, choose "New Batch...") and I set it up as shown below. I chose all the files to process, saved them into a folder called "Client Output Folder" and saved them as full-sized JPEG's (the resizing was embedded in the macro - you could do the resizing in the Batch window and omit the resizing step in the macro). I then told the Batch process to apply the "My Action-like Macro" to each of the pictures.
The end result is a folder filled with processed files. Each of the files closes without saving, so none of the processes within the macro alter the original files. Does this help?
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You might also want to try choosing “Show Left Studio” in the Studio sub-menu, in case the Color panel is hidden on the left side without your knowing it.
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Starting with a base portrait, add 1 or more pixel layers above it. Paint on those pixel layers with the desired color, and set the Blend Mode for the extra layers to "Color." This changes the color of the pixels, but keeps their luminosity intact from the layer(s) below. In the example below, I've started with a portrait (from Pixabay) and added two layers - one orange and one red. Obviously, doing a bit more tinkering (feathering the edges, desaturating the colors a bit, and so forth) would enhance the result. But what you are looking for is quite possible.
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Richard...
I had a very similar problem with Isolation Mode, and couldn’t figure it out. However, when I turned off Metal Compute, it went away completely.
Luminosity Masks
in Resources
Posted
There are 2 different sets of luminosity macros. This set, which results in a selection from a pixel (or image) layer does not need a “reset” function, since there is no actual change made in any permanent way. To “reset” these macros, simply choose Deselect or use Command (or Control)-D. The other set is for use on Adjustment and Live Filter layers. These macros actually do change the layer, in that the Blend Option graph is altered and remains that way. The “reset” choice is, in effect, the same as opening the Blend Options panel and hitting the Reset button below the affected graph.