fiery.spirit

I've been painting digitally for 20 years. There are brush settings and texture overlays that will get you some very convincing watercolor effects in Affinity Photo. Procreate on iPad has a solid brush system too. There's even software from Escape Motions called Rebelle that will simulate wet paper and let the "paint" run, blend, bleed, and bloom across the surface-- sometimes annoyingly realistically. None of that needs the latest AI image regeneration grift. I'm all for better selection tools that rely on AI, or more powerful filters-- things that don't actually create content based on stolen art and data and on the backs of exploited workers. I'd love to keep supporting Serif and the Affinity Suite over Adobe, but as soon as they turn to AI image generation too, I'm out.

Thank you so much for doing this! I was also able to get it to work and now I can design fabrics and wallpapers with their trending colors in mind!

Sometimes that's *exactly* what you need. I run into it a lot, where I want to blend things with the smudge tool without having changed opacity of the pixels if it's near an edge. I've come across this frustration a lot too. In some cases, selecting from layer can help keep things contained, but definitely not always.

It's not clear that Adobe legally owns all of that-- they've been cagey about answering how Firefly is trained--and Adobe Stock contributors were not given a chance to opt out, consent, to or be compensated for training. They've taken a bold approach to steal first, and battle it out in the courts later.

Every artist I know and follow is ardently against generative AI. There are serious ethical concerns in how Adobe and others have obtained the data, as well as legal ambiguity that leans toward being unable to copyright the resulting images. It's gotten to the point that digital artists who grew up on Adobe products are boycotting them completely now. And a lot of those artists are picking up Serif's products to fill that hole. I've personally been recommending the products solely because they don't support AI image generators. This is a serious issue for creatives and it absolutely drives the decision to purchase Serif's products. Even ignoring the Ethical and potential legal issues, it just makes sense for Serif to differentiate itself from the competition hy giving artists what they want-- a program that doesn't actively promote theft. All the crypto/nft/AI grifters can get their image generators elsewhere. Please keep it away from one of the few good alternatives to Adobe.

Artists are specifically leaving Adobe because of their stances on AI. I, and other artists who use Affinity Suite, have been recommending it *hard* in the fallout from the stances that Adobe, Clip Studio Paint, and other companies have taken a positive view of AI image generation. If Serif chases the latest crypto/nft/grifter fad that is Ai image generators, especially before the legal and ethical concerns are worked out, they will absolutely lose support worldwide. Adobe has still not clarified that their Firefly product hasn't used unethically trained data, and their silence is damning. The personalities behind these mass theft systems are doing all they can to pump up the reputation of it in the window before legislation limits it, imo. I hope that Serif doesn't get drawn into the hype at the expense of artists and other creatives. It will backfire as artists choose to support other artists over corporations. The Adobe piracy memes are everywhere. I don't want Serif to be put in the same box as them. Take a look at the reactions from artists that Procreate has received for going on record against AI generation: And look at the reactions to Adobe Firefly, which Adobe is pushing desperately hard: Once you get past the blue checks, you start seeing legal and ethical issues brought up. Can the final result even be copyrighted by the user? If not, it's useless for professionals on top of being unethical.

I agree. This would save a lot of time! Surface design, or even just patterns for integration into digital paintings, would be so much easier. The workarounds are fine for now, but it gets fiddly.

Ah, I just realized what you really meant. There is an option to assign keyboard shortcuts here, though! Edit > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts Select Pixel Persona, View. Scroll down to see options for Rotate Left and Rotate Right. Resetting the Rotation already has an assigned shortcut, but you can change it if you'd like too.

If this isn't helpful, please ignore, but, Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer Pixel Persona keyboard shortcuts: ctrl+ += zoom in ctrl + - = zoom out ctrl + 0 = zoom to view canvas shift = pan ] = increase brush size incrementally [ = decrease brush size incrementally quickly typing a number = opacity b = brush e = eraser i = color picker v = move tool. While active, you can rotate/scale with your pen freely. Can also bring up the transform toolbar and manually type in rotation angles, or click on the transform toolbar to rotate or flip in 90 and 180 degrees, respectively. Even the most affordable decent Huion tablets have programmable buttons along the side, and often additional "soft keys" (assignable areas along another side) if that fits your workflow. I don't use them-- prefer keyboard. By default, not every action possible has an assigned keyboard shortcut active, but everything I've needed can be assigned in the keyboard shortcuts under Preferences.

That's not clear. The photographers and artists who have uploaded their work to Adobe stock did not explicitly agree to have their work used for AI image generation training. Adobe does not allow opting out, which is concerning. There's also been no clear answer that they haven't relied on other unethically obtained datasets. Their relationship with Kris Kashtanova also makes me skeptical that things were done ethically. I and others have pointed concerned artists towards the Affinity Suite as an option to send a message to Adobe and other companies that they won't financially support them over their use of AI generated images. I do believe that Serif would lose customers if they pursue this. But I agree that other uses, like upscaling as you mentioned, are fine. Those are a separate issue from image generation.

I don't think it's a good idea. There are serious ethical and legal issues. Adobe and other companies are losing artists as customers because of their use of AI image generation-- and Serif is gaining them. They are boycotting adobe, artstation, DeviantArt, and other predatory companies over this specific issue. If Serif tries to jump into the AI fad like this before the legal and ethical problems are resolved, I'm sure they'll lose more than they'll gain. Besides, there are plenty of other options out there if that's your thing. The hit to their credibility and reputation just isn't worth shoehorning this stuff in, imo.