Nils-Petter Olsen

you can customize/make your own shortcut for hide/show layer, can you not? And yes, shortcuts for macros! Weird if they have not added that in Photo 2. (I just have Photo 1. Not quite convinced to buy it yet. )

Happens after resizing brush a bit much, I think. Then i can't select anything. Only move my pointer around the screen. Did not have this issue before the new update! Edit: has nothing to do with brush being too large, I have discovered. There has been a recent wacom driver update though. Maybe that is it, I am unsure, as I almost havent been using the last affinity update at all before these last days. I have tried both windows ink and the regular drivers. Same problem.

I made a script for software AHK (Autohotkey.com - very non-bloaty software to run different actions triggered by keystroke etc.) If you got a wifi numeric keypad with some padding underneath (so it doesnt scratch the tablet) you can use your left hand to set off different shortcuts etc with a single keystroke or an easy key combo on your NumPad. While drawing with your stylus. Easypeasy. NOTE: The script will disable the Numlocks normal function as long as the script runs. That is because the script uses the numpad keys with numlock off. The numeric pad keys send their own unique code. For example Numpad Home key sends its own unique code, and the regular Home key sends another. Even though they usually do the same thing. That means: your regular Ins/Del/Home/End/LRUD etc keys will still work as normal. they will not be affected by this script. I made the script to fit with my workflow, of course, which is geared towards digital painting, not photo editing. But I tried to make the script very readable and easy to understand (use notepad to edit it). It fixes a problem I had, that the brush tip rotates along with canvas. Not intuitive for me. Ive added a shortcut that works around that, by rotating the canvas, and also rotate the brush tip accordingly, in the other direction. All by a single keystroke. And lots of other stuff, like adjusting brush size/flow/opacity easily. Cut/Copy/Paste, lasso tool, brush tool, deselect, crop. So here they are. Install AHK. Put the two files on your desktop for easy access - (or put them wherever you want). Doubleclick the script (.ahk file) to run it. (Kill the script with Esc. key) read the .txt file - there you can see which keyboard shortcuts you need to add in AP for it to work. Check the .txt list for what different keystrokes and key combos do. EDIT: in the .txt list there are are a couple of errors (leftovers from a shortkey list for another script - for another software) Multibrush and drybrush of course does not exist in Photo. Pretty sure those hotkeys do nothing though. I think the .AFK file is fine. But let me know if it is not. Photo - pub AHK script.ahk photo - pub shortkey list.txt

wow, great! thanks! Pretty straight forward to do, too. Thanks again, this helped me alot.

Yeah, well this is what happens when you don't think before you write. 🤨 🙈 But the smudge tool should have alpha protect. Would open some creative possibilities I think

Oh, okay, I see. It would actually have some use if it worked as supposed to. I still really suspect a full layer lock would be more useful for most people though. It certainly would be a lot easier for people just starting out to understand. And consistent with the non-destructive idea. Ideally, as I think someone has pointed out already, both partial and full lock should be implemented. With full lock as the default mode. If of course both modes worked in a predictable manner.

Still digging AP, with a lot of use every day. Love the "alpha protect" tickbox for brush tool! So much that I want it for smudge tool, and erase tool too. And possibly for other brush tools that I havent even used or understood yet.. This would add consistency of use for AP, no? And no added clutter too? Since its already there for brush tool.

+1 for completely locked layers -- I for one cant be bothered to even find out what this partially locked layer even locks. I really need "locked" layer to not be able to draw on - when forgetting to switch between layers, drawing different parts. So frustrating when some detail is the on wrong layer, and noticing it later after drawing more stuff, and editing that detail becomes impossible.

Hmm.. but AP already remembers which layer group is open and which layer is selected when switching between multiple open documents? The only difference would be that this info could be stored when saving the document. Can't see how that would be confusing?

I do think that which layer group is open or not, is more connected to the document than which tool, layout etc is selected, because you can work on different documents and it would be confusing (and resource hogging) if the application shifted from brush to, lets say lasso tool when loading another document. Whereas the layer panel stays as it is when you last worked on that document while it is open, even if you do work on another document in between. So the only consequence of saving the state of the layer panel would be a slightly larger document, and very slightly longer loading time when opening the doc.

Just a small suggestion - if maybe which layer groups are open and which layers are selected could be saved in the document, so you could start right where you left off and save a few seconds to navigate the layer panel? Would also be useful for artists (like me) who start with a template document, and usually start sketching on a specific layer in that template.

Finally got around to recording Okay, so here is a video where I have reproduced the issue. I start off with two short lines starting at the same point. Using enough pressure that it definitely should register. You can see some of the second lines wont register. Then I make a series of just small straight lines next to each other. No issue there. Then I draw a line, lift the pen and put it down again to draw from where I lifted. No issue. As far as I remember, if I draw a line, then draw another, then go back to the starting point of the first line, there is no issue. I did not have AHK running this time, so that is not it. I used AP standard brush "rough graphite tilting 2", I have used other brushes too with same result. I had the cintiq in duplicate projector mode when recording. Usually I have it in "expand" mode (i guess that is what its called in english version of windows), still same results. I use the cintiq as second screen, not primary. This is my computer: Windows 11 Home latest update CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz 3.70 GHz RAM: 16 GB GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 VRAM: 8GB Wacom cintiq 22 Desktop 2022.01.25 - 09.02.18.03.mp4

That was not it , seems I was a little quick there. Strokes still sometimes disappear, or rather fail to register. I will try to make a recording, but in the mean time here are some details. It seems to happen alot when I draw small 3d cubes for excercise. It seems to happen when i start drawing a line from a point, then drawing another line from that same point. Cant be sure if it only happens when hitting the excact pixel (I draw freehand, no guides or grids). Btw. I am using AutoHotKey, software that lets you trigger different key combos etc when you press a key. Ie when I press the numeric pads left arrow i've set it up to send Ctrl+Z. I will try to replicate the issue without AHK loaded, see if that makes any difference.

Oh OK, great! In the meantime I made a workaround for myself with AutoHotKey that automates opposite direction brush rotation when I rotate the canvas.

Human error I think, sorry! I had made me a shortcut remote with a number pad, accidentally cycled to color replacement brush Sorry for the inconvenience.. I have changed my shortcut settings, havent had issues since. btw thank you and everyone for your work on this software, AP is almost making me loose interest in real paper..

Hello everybody, my name is Nils-Petter Olsen, call me Peter or Nils if you want. I am an emerging artist from Norway, just starting to actually sell my work. Partly due to the fact that I have had actual exhibitions, which helped a lot. I have almost exclusively worked in "traditional" media like acrylis, charcoal and different kinds of pencils. Currently I live pretty rural, so unfortunately not much of an art scene locally. Last year my wife bought me a used Samsung Note phone, despite her trAp-ple core principles - which means she must really love me! I downloaded some drawing apps, and I loved it, despite obvious size limitations. Before Christmas I bought my self a Cintiq, Affinity Photo and Publisher. Haven't done much with Publisher yet, though I probably will try it out for making artsy quasi-comic books down the line. 👍 So far I just love AP more every day for its simplicity and yet versatility/power. I don't use it for photo editing, just for drawing/painting and coloring. I love freedom, so actually owning the tools I use just rubs me the right way. Thank you Affinity for that!

Hi, I have gotten a new problem today. Or, that is, it has been worse today. A lot of the time AP wont register my brush strokes. Some times I get a mark, sometimes I don't. Using cintiq 22. Tested with other software. The problem only shows in AP. Earlier it has been far between, and I have not given it much thought. Today, on the other hand, it became pretty annoying, and affected the functionality of the brush tool quite severely for a time. It is very variable though. Seems to come, maybe, when doing short strokes. (not necessarily quick strokes though). As stated, I have tried to duplicate the error in other software, and could not manage to get the same fault. Tried quite a bit. Just letting you know. I have not given this time to see if it improves or not, but there definitely seems to be some issue specifically with AP I am on intel i7 something, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA 1080, 8 GB VRAM. Small image size, few layers. No lag or anything. I have worked successfully with much bigger files with a lot more going on before.

Om my word!! I was most definitely not aware! Okey, skratch that first feature request then - I only really wanted to use keyboard or such for it anyway Now my setup will become close to perfect - thank you Walt!! Now i love Photo even more! PS: My second suggestion still stands. The brush shouldn't rotate along with view rotation. Because that is not how the world works. There wouldn't by any chance be some keystrokes to let you toggle that, would there? Anyway, thanks again!

Hey. Just more and more finding my place in AP. Just so clean and easy. Even got it stable now, with acceleration. (Maybe it was the newest NVIDIA driver that did it?? Or your newest build??). Aaanyway - I am emulating RL drawing alot. And your calligraphic marker brush preset rocks, especially when set to 50 % opacity, and drawing on a layer with "darken" blend mode. Only thing is, when drawing with brushes with tilt rotation. It really puts a strain on your hand, twisting it to get your thick/thin lines right. Solution (drrrrum rrrrroll): One small button for left rotation of brush (or tilt rotation, whatever), and one for right! With possibilty for keyboard shortcut, so it can be easily and without delay rotated while drawing! Possibly another button for rotation reset. If it takes too much space on the context toolbar, could it be added as a dropdown menu choice? No more shoulder pain, no more wobbly lines trynig to draw in ridiculous angles! You should take ergonomy seriously - you should take care of us poor artists questionable muscular health!! -------------------- And please, pretty pretty please, make the brush tip stop rotating along with rotating the view!! It is so hard trying to figure out how the stroke is going to be when you rotate your paper to draw better lines, and the brush rotates along with it! Totally very unintuitive - in RL you would go mad if your marker automatically started to rotate when you rotated the paper PS: This last request doesn't even add anything, just a simple, and very sensible, change of a function! BtW. Have I told you Affinity people that i really love AP?

One more thing: I have programmed Ctrl+Home to end the script, if you want your regular keyboard setup back! (that is, the regular Home key, not the Numpad homekey) Please let me know if this is useful to you, or there are some problems with it.

Make an .ahk file yourself. Then copy the following text into it in Notepad: ;______sets___NUM_LOCK___OFF______ SetNumLockState, Off return ^Home:: ExitApp Return ;___________Number__Pad___________ ; ;___when___NUM_LOCK___is___OFF____ ; ; .----Autohotkey Code: [Input]::[output] ; | .----NOTE--Output from AFK - Keyboard ; | | .---Key pressed on number pad ; | | | .--What the shortcut triggers ; V V V V NumpadIns::[ ;[ 0| AP=reduse brush return NumpadDel::] ;] ,| AP=increase brush return NumpadEnd::^!1 ;Ctrl+Alt+1 1| AP=left Studio toggle return NumpadDown:: ; 2| AP= toggle toolbars send, ^!2 ;C+A+2 | -toolbar toggle send, ^!+q ;C+A+Sh+q | -context TB toggle return NumpadPgDn::^!3 ;Ctrl+Alt+3 3| AP=rite studio toggle return NumpadLeft::^z ;Ctrl+z 4| Gen=Undo return NumpadClear::b ;B 5| AP=choose brush tool return NumpadRight::^+z ;Ctrl+Shift+z 6| Gen=Undo return NumpadHome::^!7 ;Ctrl+Alt+7 7| AP=rotate left return NumpadUp::^!8 ;Ctrl+Alt+8 8| AP=rotate reset return NumpadPgUp::^!9 ;Ctrl+Alt+9 9| AP=rotate rite return ;------------------------------------------ NumLock::^!q ;Ctrl+Alt+q Nm-Lk| AP=Zoom to width return NumpadDiv::^!w ;Ctrl+Alt+w /| AP=zoom actual size return NumpadMult::^!e ;Ctrl+Alt+e *| AP=zoom fit page return ;------------------------------------------ ;---Optional code under---- ;NumpadSub:: ; -| NMA rewind ; send, {Left} ; return ;NumpadAdd:: ; +| NMA forward ; send, {Right} ; return ;NumpadEnter--. Enter| Play/Pause NMA ; | ; V ;------Paus/Start NMA---- ;======================== ;#IfWinActive ahk_exe msedge.exe ;NumpadEnter:: ; send, {Enter} ; return ; ;#IfWinActive ahk_exe Rebelle 5.exe ;NumpadEnter:: ; send, !{Tab} ; Sleep, 200 ; send, {Enter} ;return ; ;#IfWinActive ahk_exe Photo.exe ;NumpadEnter:: ; send, !{Tab} ; Sleep, 200 ; send, {Enter} ; return

This is how I set up a cheap Numeric Wifi Keyboard (a small keyboard with just the right "calculator" panel of a regular keyboard) as a remote for different functions in Photo. Single keystrokes set off different shortcuts in AP. NB: I need to find a way to give you my autohotkey.ahk file. As I cant seem to upload it here. Will be done very soon, but I have work to do now Edit: I have copied my script in a comment below. Pretty sure its Windows only, unfortunately. I use it on top of my Cintiq - Great as a cheap substitute for Wacom ExpressRemote. My setup is tailored to drawing/painting with brushes. 1. Buy a cheap wifi numeric keypad. (For those of you in scandinavia - I got mine at Clas Ohlson for about 15 euro) I have attached a photo of mine - I recommend a key layout like this one has, with a TAB key included. Also, make sure it has some sort of pads underneath to keep it from sliding down your pen display. And to protect your screen from scratching, I guess. 2. Download and install AutoHotKey software. (autohotkey.com) The software is very not-bloaty. Absolutely no bells & whistles. The software lets you setup different keycombos for single keystrokes on your keyboard. For example, if I press the [Home] key on my num-pad, it sends the key combo [Ctrl]+[7], instead of [Home]. 3. Make an autohotkey.ahk document on your desktop (Or use mine). Or place it somewhere else. I put it there for easy access. 4. If you want to automatically load your settings when you start up your computer, do this to make a shortcut to your autohotkey.ahk doc in Windows startup folder: Right-click your autohotkey.ahk document. click "more options" if necessary. click "make shortcut". Cut your shortcut. Move shortcut to startup folder: Type [WinKey+R]. Enter [shell:startup]. Paste the shortcut in the startup folder. If you don't, just double click your .ahk file when you want to run it. 5. You can program which key combos, and a few other things by editing your .AHK file in notepad. Run the file again to implement and test the changes you have made. 6. Remember to assign your shortcuts in AP accordingly. They are listed below, and in the .AHK file i supplied.autoskript.ahk ------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to use my .ahk file, here is a short description: (Note: Numpad Home, for instance, sends a different key code to windows than the other Home key, even though they normally have the same function. That's why this numpad solution is so great.) Numlock has to be off for these to work - Therefore I have actually reassigned Numlock to something else, and set up Numlock to be turned off when loading AHK file. I have assigned the following key combos: Numpad INS - [ Numpad DEL - ] Numpad END - Ctrl+Alt+1 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Studio>Show L studio Numpad DOWN - Ctrl+Alt+2 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Show Toolbar and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+q AP shortcut: Photo>View>Show Context Toolbar Numpad PgDn - Ctrl+Alt+3 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Studio>Show R studio Numpad LEFT - Ctrl+Z Numpad BLANK - B Numpad RIGHT - Ctrl+Shift+Z Numpad HOME - Ctrl+Alt+7 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Rotate Left Numpad UP - Ctrl+Alt+8 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Reset Rotation Numpad PgUp - Ctrl+Alt+9 AP shortcut: Photo>View>Rotate Right Num Lock - Ctrl+Alt+q AP shortcut: Photo>View>Zoom>Zoom to width Numpad DIV - Ctrl+Alt+w AP shortcut: Photo>View>Zoom>Actual Size Numpad MULT - Ctrl+Alt+e AP shortcut: Photo>View>Zoom>Zoom to Width Just so you know - [;] means the rest of the line in your .AHK file will not be interpreted by the software - useful for making notes and description in your file. (Numpad SUB, Numpad ADD and Numpad ENTER have some special functions for playing and pausing my NMA.art video courses in EDGE. I have disabled my shortcuts for them in my .AHK file, but you can play with these settings if you want. Just remove the [;] before all the lines under the "optional code under" line. And ask me if you want to know how I use it, cause they are a little quirky to use.)

Hi, I am using Affinity Photo for drawing with a cintiq. I try to emulate real world drawing media. For ergonomy and making accurate marks i use view rotation a lot (rotating the "paper" when I draw). Is there a way to stop the brush nib from rotating along with the view rotation? Or keyboard shortcuts to rotate the bursh nib? (I am talking about the rotation via the tilt data from the pen. Not the rotation settings in the "brush edit" menu)

+1.

Thanks, and yes all your poknts are good ones. Especially two needs to be changed ASAP: The size change reverting each time you switch back and forth between brushes, Swallows a LOT of time. And having to duplicate a brush every time before changing them. Really really tedious, and anti-creative! When I am inspired I dont want technical, time consuming obstacles, I want instant - let me be tedious with saving to new brush afterwards PS. Hey, developers! An addition to my idea: with added keyboard shortcuts for each "brush swatch" you could vary your brush strokes instantly by changing brushes with left hand while painting with right hand - how intuitive, FAST and expressive could digital painting become with this?! Still have to say I love the software though.