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smadell

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Everything posted by smadell

  1. @firstdefence - First, I'll admit that I'm leaping without a net here. But, I think the difference you're seeing is because Command-clicking the layer thumbnail (what I'll call the "smadell method") creates a selection based on Luminosity, and sequentially loading and adding the individual channels (what I'll call the "firstdefence method") is based on adding RGB channel values. And, I have to assume that Luminosity and (R+G+B) do not give the same values. To test this out, I made a single pixel layer. It has a white background and a dark blue rectangle. The white background has an RGB value of (255,255,255) and the dark blue rectangle has a value of (40,60,80). I then created two additional layers, one by command-clicking the layer thumbnail and then duplicating the selection (the smadell method), and the second by choosing Load to Pixel Selection in the Composite Red channel, then Add to Pixel Selection in the Composite Green and Composite Blue channels, and then duplicating that selection (the firstdefence method). The result is shown below. Clearly the results are different, and I think that the difference lies in the method of selection (luminosity vs RGB values). Also, I would have expected the "firstdefence method" to give a rectangle with the color (180,180.,180) since 40+60+80=180, but clearly that didn't happen either! At this point, only the Serif developers (or someone with way more color theory info than me) can take the explanation further.
  2. In Photoshop, command-clicking the RGB channel creates a luminosity selection. You can do the same thing in Affinity Photo by (a) command-option-clicking on the thumbnail in the Layers panel, or (b) choosing Selection from Layer Intensity from the Layer menu. Once you have the selection, choose Duplicate from the Layer menu (or press command-J). Set the new layer’s blend mode as appropriate. Same result as you saw in Photoshop.
  3. Thanks, @christerdk. Thanks, @loukash. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
  4. Thank you for trying this out @retrograde and @tzvi20. I hope you enjoy it.
  5. Hi, @christerdk. I've posted an Affinity Photo macro that is meant to approximate this particular look. I created the macro a few years ago, but this post spurred me to refine it a bit and post it to the forum. You can find it in the Resources section, and should feel free to download it and try it out. Let me know if you do, and what you think!
  6. Updated Version Available (December 2023) Recently, @christerdk posted in the "Desktop Questions" forum about trying to achieve the engraved look of U.S. currency. He was given a variety of suggestions (including one or two commercial products). Because of this, I am attaching a macro that I created several years ago and have refined a bit more recently. It is meant to approximate the look of engraved currency. The macro uses a number of adjustments and filters, all enclosed within a Group. Because of this, the effect can be turned on and off by simply using the Hide/Show checkbox on the group itself. The attached .afmacros file is a Macro Category and therefore should be imported from the Library panel. It contains a single macro (called "Currency Effect"). Once imported, the macro can be moved to a different category, if desired. The macro was created in Affinity Photo version 2.2 which probably means that it will not be compatible with AP version 1. However, since it is provided as a category, it can be imported into Affinity Photo 2 for iPad. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Clicking on the macro will bring up a user dialog in which you can set certain parameters: 1) Set Line Size (default = 20) The macro uses a live Halftone filter, and this will vary the width of the lines used. In general, use larger lines for larger images. 2) Set Line Angle (default = 30 degrees) This affects the angle at which the lines are drawn. Try various settings to achieve subtle but important differences in output. 3) Set Contrast (default = 85) This setting also affects the embedded Halftone filter, and can change the contrast between the dark lines and the background. 4) Adjust Overall Brightness (default = -20) This affects a Brightness and Contrast adjustment, and will lighten or darken the final image, to your taste. When you hit the Apply button, the effect is added to your image at the top of the layer stack. Note that the effect contains only adjustments and filters; because of that, it is completely non-destructive. You can make changes to the underlying image and this will not adversely affect the result. Also, you can open the individual adjustment and filter layers to make changes even after you have hit the Apply button. Here is an example of a Before and After image, with the User Dialog showing the settings used to create this particular variant. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As always, I am one person using one computer and a single iPad. I have tested this macro on both of my devices, but cannot claim that this testing has examined every possible scenario. Nevertheless, I believe that it will work as suggested. Try it and, if you like it, keep it and enjoy it. It is free for you to use in any project you would like – personal or commercial. I ask only 2 things. If you've used the macro, please let me know by posting your impressions. Perhaps, even provide a before and after screenshot. Second, please remember that this forum is a wonderful way to learn, and an even better way to share that learning. Pay it forward. December 2023 Update The .afmacros file attached below is now an updated category. It can still be imported into the Affinity Photo Library panel (or into the iPad version) but it now contains 3 macros. (1) The original version of the Currency Effect is included. (2) An updated version 2 of the macro is also provided. This update adds a live Ripple filter which makes the engraved lines a bit wavy, better simulating true engraving. (3) There is an Instructions macro, which will place on-screen instructions into your Layers panel. Please feel free to download the new file, and to replace the previous Currency Effect category with the new one. Have fun! Currency Effects (v2).afmacros
  7. Hello, @siapec. Try the following steps. First, when you create the Adjustment layer, give it a specific name. In that way, it will be easy to reference later in your macro. When you want to enable or disable that adjustment layer, do it 2 steps: first, select the layer (in the dialog box that opens when you are recording, choose the layer named <name you gave the layer earlier>) and second, with the layer selected, click the show/hide indicator on the right side of the layers panel. That should give you the result you want.
  8. I'm not sure if anyone is still interested in this thread. Nor do I know if anyone else out there has experienced the same problem and is watching to see if Serif has been able to help out. Or maybe it really is s just me... I just wanted to let everyone know that I have been working with @Lee D through Affinity Support, and he and other team members at Serif have been exquisitely helpful. I think they have found, at the very least, the step(s) that have been causing the issue as well as a serviceable workaround. I am amazed (and thrilled) because (i) it's been an exquisite pain in the arse for me to deal with this issue; and (ii) Lee and the Affinity support staff have spent enough time working through this to have isolated the issue and found a way to avoid it. Hopefully, an honest-to-God bug fix is coming before too long. Without going into detail, this hopefully final post is simply to let everyone know that Affinity/Serif really does put the effort into their products, and they have been terrifically supportive. It's hard to imagine that they put as much time and effort into this as they did, especially considering that it seems like it's been an issue for me alone. So, a very thankful tip of the hat to Affinity, Lee D, and everyone else at Serif for all their work. And a public acknowledgement of same. It's always easy to complain; we should all remember to give thanks when they're due.
  9. Glad you got this sorted out, @Rod Corston. If only all of our problems were so easily fixed!
  10. Hi @Rod Corston. To supplement what @walt.farrell is saying, the Presets panel you're looking for is only going to show up when you're in the Tone Mapping persona. Once you've loaded the images to be processed into the New HDR Merge… dialog and clicked the OK button, your images will be processed and you will see the merged photo open in the Tone Mapping persona. (Check out the persona icons at the top left of the window; the Tone Mapping icon will be selected.) This is where you should be seeing the Presets panel. My suggestion is to check the Window menu. Make sure that the Presets choice (toward the bottom of the menu) has a check mark next to it. If it doesn't, simply choose Presets from the Window menu and (hopefully) that will solve your problem. Also, remember that once you click the Apply button, you are leaving the Tone Mapping persona and going back to the Photo persona. No tone mapping presets can be found there, as they would not really serve any purpose inside that persona.
  11. Thanks, @jos. Hope you enjoy them both!
  12. My feelings exactly, Walt. I also tried (i) reverting my shortcuts to "Serif Defaults" thinking that my imported .afshortcuts file might somehow be a culprit - no change; (ii) changed the shortcut for Zoom to Fit and Zoom to 100% to use the Option key instead of the Command key - no change. Yes, truly weird…
  13. 1) The fact that it is the standard version of the filter opening has been addressed. 2) I have not assigned any shortcuts to the standard live filters, since I use them so infrequently. However… your second question brings up an interesting wrinkle. If I apply a live filter, close the panel, and choose a Zoom level via the menu (rather than with a shortcut) the filter re-opening does not occur. However, the filter panel opens up the first time I use a shortcut to change the Zoom level. Even if I apply a High Pass live filter and then do additional editing (such as adding multiple adjustment layers), as soon as I use a shortcut to change the zoom level, up pops that damned High Pass panel.
  14. @Lee D - any follow-up on this? Suggestions? Progress on your side? As noted, this is brand new behavior since v2.2 which affects me on two different Macs. Both are running Ventura - is that part of the problem? I’m tapped out when it comes to additional things to try.
  15. Hello again, @Lee D. I also have an M1 MacBook Air which has a copy of Affinity Photo version 2.1.1 on it. I decided to try it out. Sure enough, the re-opening did not occur. I then upgraded that copy to version 2.2 and tried again. Once I had installed version 2.2, the live filter re-open issue immediately started again. I had my old copy of version 2.1.1 saved (in a Zip file) and I re-installed that. A third test revealed that the problem had gone away. So… different machine, light UI instead of dark, but the same results. No live filter re-opening in version 2.1.1; immediate recurrence of the issue in version 2.2. [For completeness sake, I tried the same testing having changed the Interface Language to English instead of English (United States). In the past, localization issues have caused some bugs, so I tried. It did not change anything.] Live Filter Panel Version Compare.mp4 [Note - toward the end of the video, text indicates that I chose Cmd-1 Zoom to Fit; in fact, I chose Cmd-1 but this is Zoom to 100%]
  16. Feel free to “steal” the 6 C’s thing if you’d like! Also, I cannot emphasize this too much - borrow a laptop and do it live. Your club will enjoy it, and it’s a much better way to talk about AP than just showing a slideshow.
  17. @thomaso - the OP specifically said that he didn’t think Photoshop/Lightroom bashing would be a good idea. I tend to agree. @Digbydo 2 - I have also spoken, mostly informally, about Photoshop/Lightooom and how it compares to Affinity. In Affinity’s favor, obviously, is the monetary factor. Back in 2021, I was able to say “I bought Affinity Photo in 2015, and spent a whopping $49 for it. I haven’t paid a penny more for it since then.” That may not be true anymore, but the gist still holds. I have also compared the two apps to renting an apartment vs owning a home. While the home you own never gets bigger or fancier on its own, you also don’t have a landlord who can raise the rent at his whim. I’ve also compared Affinity favorably by discussing live filters, which are inherently non-destructive and freely moveable in the Layers stack, whereas the Smart Object workaround has always seemed like a clumsy kind of kludge to me. On PS/LR’s side, though, the obvious advantage is AI - from easier sky/subject/object selection to “neural filters” to generative fill and expand. Oh, and there’s also the included DAM. Both apps have their pluses and minuses, and it would be foolish to pretend otherwise. I’ve found that the average member of my camera club is more concerned with very basic tasks (cropping, optimizing contrast and tone, sharpening) and less concerned with the more esoteric capabilities of either of these apps. Many of them still shudder at the mere mention of the “M word” - Mask, that is. And don’t even think about saying “Channels” out loud. I’ve found that the easiest way to talk a out Affinity Photo is to do so with a live demonstration. Borrow someone else’s laptop if you need to, but having people watch you edit a photo in real time, all the while telling them how easy it is, works wonders. I gave a beginner’s talk once titled “The Basics of Photo Editing” and boiled it down to what I conveniently called “the 6 C’s” - Copy (from card to computer), Crop (and straighten), Color (i.e., white balance), Contrast, Candles (exposure and tonal balance - mostly levels and curves), and Clarity (sharpening). I could edit a photo on front of them, using a couple of simple adjustment layers, in 2-3 minutes. People were way more impressed than they should have been! The truth is that virtually any program can do the simple stuff, and most people want to know about the simple stuff. Showing folks just how easy Affinity Photo can do the simple stuff will get you lots more oohs and ahhs, and lots more appreciation, than trying to demonstrate all the esoterica. Also, without trying to do this live, you might want to show some before and afters of HDR merging, Panoramas, something you Liquified (the more grotesque, the better!), Frequency Separation (play up the fact that there is a menu command to do this), Focus Stacking, maybe even Astrophotography (if you understand that stuff - I don’t!). Perhaps also a composite photo, a photo with text in it, maybe an image where a photo is clipped to a shape. A lot of this is for the “likes” and the crowd reaction, true, but it will go a long way toward answering the “can Affinity do that?” questions.
  18. @Lee D - some follow up. I went ahead and reset the app (entirely). The live filter re-open issue persists. I also shut down my Mac and started up in Safe Mode. The issue was still there. I set the Display preference to OpenGL (instead of Metal) and made sure that Hardware Acceleration was turned off. No change. I think I've run out of tricks. Any suggestions?
  19. @Lee D - I sent you a link to the file via DM. Please understand (as also stated in the message) that this behavior is not just seen on this particular file. It happens to me irrespective of the image used. You also suggest resetting the app. I have not tried this, since I always dread this procedure – the amount of re-customizing my workspace is seldom worth the effort (as the reset almost never solves the problem). However, if this is such a repeatable behavior for me, but for no one else, I will try this. Any suggestion(s) as to which "reset" checkboxes I should invoke. (Obviously, the fewer the better.)
  20. I assume you mean “Fit” view to window (as in Cmd-0), but this behavior occurs irrespective of the number of documents that are open. If you look at the first version of my Tower of London photo, you’ll see that it is the only open document. Also, I almost never use the standard versions of the filters, destructive little beasts that they are, and even when I have to do so, certainly don’t leave them open and just sitting there, unapplied. So, that can’t explain my dilemma.
  21. I hadn’t noticed that, @Hangman but, of course, you’re right. The live filter re-opening issue happens with other live filters, such as Gaussian Blur and others. I would have to go back and check to see if it’s the “standard” version of the filter panel that opens up after-the-fact.
  22. Ok, folks. Let's put the "focus in the number field" half of the argument to rest. I've attached a screen recording in which I apply a live filter and clearly remove focus from the Radius field. The value is reflected in the image on screen before the High Pass panel is closed. Upon hitting Command-0 (to return view to "Fit to View") the High Pass panel pops open again. Live Filter Re-Opens (2).mp4
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