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From the description, it sounds like the JPG image has a clipping path: – When you open the image in software that recognises the clipping path (like Affinity Photo), then you see the transparency. – When you open the image in software that doesn't recognise the clipping path (like an image viewer), it ignores the clipping path and displays the whole image. Example (zip file): 001 (Contains clipping path).zip To export the image without a clipping path: In the JPG export settings, click the 'More' button, then untick 'Convert clips to paths'.

In addition to the reply above, if you click the 'More' button in the context toolbar and to go to the 'Dynamics' tab; does the paint brush that you're currently using have a 'Hue Jitter' set?

What appears to be happening, is the marquee antialiasing has no effect if the layer has been rotated before making the selection. Or to think of it a different way, the jagged edges are coming from the rotated layer below, rather than the marquee itself. If the layer has already been rotated, right-click on the rotated layer, select 'Rasterise' and then make the selection. Do the jagged edges then disappear?

When using the Marquee tools, select the Marquee tool you want to use and also tick the 'Antialias' tick box in the Context Toolbar at the top (before making the selection). However, as you previously mentioned using feather instead, it's likely that the below setting is what's causing the issue. Go to [Affinity Photo Preferences > Performance] and change the 'View Quality' from 'Nearest Neighbour' to 'Bilinear (Best Quality)'.

Unfortunately, that is how it is. Affinity Photo automatically writes the filename directly into the 'Title' field in the file metadata – meaning the original filename is stuck as the title in the metadata, even if the file is later renamed. If you're only dealing with a small number of files, then in your 'Blue_10.afphoto' example you can delete 'Blue_10' from the 'Title' field in the Affinity Photo Metadata panel. Then when you save the file as 'Green_20.afphoto', the title will be blank. However, if you are dealing with lots of photos, it's a PITA. I previously submitted feedback regarding this behaviour, however I wouldn't hold my breath on them changing it. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/114156-affinity-photo-shouldnt-automatically-write-the-filename-directly-into-the-title-metadata/

It's because when developing the raw image in the Develop persona, it's currently being developed to 32-bit linear output (RGBA/32). It looks OK when you copy and paste the layer from the Photo persona into another document because it's converted to the format of the receiving document – RGBA/8 or RGBA/16 for example. Are you intending to work on the image in RGBA/32 format? If not, in the Develop persona you could go to [View > Assistant Manager] and change the 'Raw output format' from 'RGB (32 bit HDR)' to 'RGB (16 bit)'. Alternatively, when in the Photo persona, you could go to [Document > Convert Format/ICC Profile] and change the format to say RGBA/16 or RGBA/8. However, if you're intending to work on the image in RGBA/32 format, then I'm not sure why it's doing this; I'm guessing it's a bug It doesn't necessarily need to be just from developing a raw image file: if you open a new blank document in Affinity Photo – with the colour format set to 'RGB/32 (HDR)' – the Paint Brush Tool will do the same. RGBA/32: RGBA/16:

I've never understood why the 'Save Affinity layers' setting isn't included in the 'More' section. This would make it possible to save a custom preset with this setting enabled.

You end up with soft edges if you resize the marquee afterwards. You have to use the rectangle/ellipse tools instead. However, this means users have to use the rectangle/ellipse tools with 0% opacity fill, position it where it's required, change to 100% opacity fill, then either CTRL + click the thumbnail in the layers panel to get the selection, or use it as a vector mask directly. As a tool maker, if you want to make the marquee selection tools more usable, allowing spacebar to move the selection should also be possible. It should be possible for the user to zoom in close, align one part of the marquee selection tool using the spacebar, then dragging to expand the selection. Or in the case of selecting something like a pupil/iris of an eye, or wheels/tyres of a vehicle, switching between spacebar (to move) and dragging (to resize) a few times while keeping the left mouse button pressed. Using quick mask to resize selections is also prone to crashing.

Did the thumbnail image for this file still remain displayed after it finished syncing with OneDrive?

The 'little blue circle' usually indicates that the 'Stabiliser' is enabled for the brush. This setting can be enabled/disabled in the brush context tool bar at the top of the screen, when the Paint Brush Tool is selected. I'm not sure what is making the 'Round Light Brush' act like a spray brush/airbrush. You can try resetting all the brushes back the defaults. To do this, export any custom brushes that you have created in the Brushes panel, then go to [Edit > Preferences > Miscellaneous > Reset Brushes]. After doing this you will then need to import any custom brushes you previously exported, as they will be removed when resetting the brushes. However, it's difficult to understand exactly what you mean without seeing what you are seeing. Therefore, if you would prefer to get to the bottom of what's happening, you will need to post a screenshot showing the issue. Post a screenshot of the whole Affinity Photo screen, with the Paint Brush Tool selected and also with the brush settings open (click on the 'More' button in the brush context tool bar). This may provide an indication of what's happening.

I don't think it has ever been like this in Affinity Photo. It works like this in Adobe Photoshop, but not in Affinity Photo. There have been quite a few feature requests over the years for it to work like this though.

There's also a video at the below link (starts at 3:45) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntb-PMGUEA

For now, however the issue may return. As per my original bug report:

Are 'Wet Edges' being turned off in the Paint Brush Tool context toolbar when you switch between the Paint Brush Tool and the Erase Brush Tool? If this is the case, it's a bug. I previously reported it in the link below (the second video in the linked thread), but the only change I've seen so far is for the first video in that linked thread – where if you now open a new document and the current brush has Wet Edges set to on, Affinity Photo incorrectly turns Wet Edges off (the brush should still have Wet Edges on as it's still the currently selected brush). Link: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/91303-paint-brush-tool-wet-edges-turning-onoff-by-itself-after-using-erase-brush-tool/ @Chris B Try to reproduce it using a pre-defined brush that has wet edges set to on – such as the [Dry Media > Square Charcoal] brush for example. In the below videos, Affinity Photo is running in a Sandbox, meaning it's a totally clean installation of 1.8.3.641. Video showing 'Wet Edges' being turned off when switching between Paint Brush Tool and Erase Brush Tool: Video 01.mp4 Video showing 'Wet Edges' being turned off when opening a new document, even though the brush with 'Wet Edges' is still selected: Video 02.mp4

If a brush nozzle is longer diagonally than it is horizontally or vertically, parts of the brush nozzle get cut off when rotating the brush either with the left/right keyboard arrow keys, or with [Brush Properties > General > Rotation]. If a 'Rotation Jitter' is set for the brush [Brush Properties > Dynamics > Rotation Jitter] – even if only set to 1% – the brush nozzle isn't cut off when rotating the brush. Although it's possible to make the brush nozzles smaller so that they don't cut off when rotating, the brushes should be able to be rotated without cutting off – like what happens when 'Rotation Jitter' is set to 1%. To reproduce: 1) Create a test brush nozzle where the nozzle is longer diagonally than it is horizontally or vertically. 2) Create a new intensity brush from it. 3) Draw on the canvas with the new brush. The brush will draw correctly. 4) Using either the left/right keyboard arrow keys, or using [Brush Properties > General > Rotation], rotate the brush say 10%. Part of the brush nozzle gets cut off. 5) Go to [Brush Properties > Dynamics > Rotation Jitter] and set the 'Rotation Jitter' to 1%. The brush will draw correctly without cutting off. Screenshot 1: Screenshot 2: Screenshot 3: Screenshot 4: ----- Windows 10 2004 (19041.329) Affinity Photo (1.8.3.641)

For TIFF and JPEG files, the correct place for the 'Date taken' date is in the ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal tag. When using ExifTool to add a date to TIFF and JPEG files that do not already have this field populated, you can use the -AllDates tag, which will add the date to DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate and ModifyDate (these will be in the EXIF tags, not the file timestamps). However, Affinity Photo deletes the CreateDate tag when exporting an image, so the DateTimeOriginal tag is the important date. For PNG files, EXIF metadata was only recently added to the official PNG specification in 2017, which was too little too late. Therefore the main place the 'Date taken' date is stored – other than the file timestamps – is in the PNG:CreationTime tag. As support for metadata in the PNG specification was historically pretty sketchy, it's hit and miss whether applications support this tag. Affinity Photo doesn't and deletes this tag when exporting the image, so you can't currently use this date unless you want to keep reapplying it every time you export the file from Affinity Photo. For photos, it's better to stick with TIFF/raw originals and JPEG for output files, rather than PNG if you can. The file 'Date modified' timestamp you mentioned isn't very reliable. If you take a bunch of raw images on Christmas day, but don't process them for five months, the 'Date modified' timestamp is going to be the date you processed the images, not the date they were taken. If a year later, you decide you you want to reprocess some of the images again, the 'Date modified' timestamp is now going to be even further off. Also, the 'Date modified' timestamp can be inadvertently changed; just rotating an image in an image viewer for example can change the 'Date modified' timestamp. Fortunately, when taking a photo with a digital camera, it will automatically add the 'Date taken' date to the EXIF metadata and then when opened in Affinity Photo, Affinity Photo keeps this metadata in the file. So if your photo was taken on Christmas Day with a digital camera, the 'Date taken' date in the EXIF remains constant regardless of when you actually process/edit the image or export it from Affinity Photo. This is the main timestamp to go by. The only real time where the file 'Date modified' timestamp is useful in photos is as a last resort fall-back date when there isn't a better date in the file (such as a 'Date taken' date in the EXIF). Or in the case where the images are being viewed in a photo viewer where not much thought has gone into it: I.E. it completely ignores the EXIF metadata and just uses the 'Date modified' timestamps instead. The Google photo app that comes with stock Android for example does this. To accommodate for this, you *could* change the 'Date modified' date in the file to match the 'Date taken' date, but it's not something I would personally do – as per the drawbacks I mentioned above and what other people have mentioned. The author of ExifTool also doesn't really recommend doing this. In the above example with the raw images, every time you process the images, or export then from Affinity Photo, it will mean you're going to need to keep changing the 'Date modified' timestamps again to match. This will be a massive PITA. Then, if you're dealing with old scanned photos, changing the 'Date modified' timestamp in the file can be problematic with images taken before 1970-01-01. ExifTool is 32-bit and therefore changing the 'Date modified' timestamps in the file to pre-1970 dates will produce odd dates – like a century and a half out. It's possible to install 64-bit Perl and use a different version of ExifTool with it, but it's more hassle (at least on Windows, it may not be an issue on MacOS). Really a photo viewing app should be reading the 'Date taken' date from the EXIF metadata if it's in the file, which has a higher priority than the file 'Date modified' timestamp. Therefore, stick to the proper EXIF tags for adding 'Date taken' to image files. In the case where the image is a scanned photo or artwork, then the date is going to have to be added manually. If it's just a couple of images (for example, an urban sketch/painting), the 'Date taken' date can be added using the Windows File Explorer properties dialogue box (or the MacOS equivalent to this, such as Apple Photos). If it's quite a few images (for example a few hundred images from an airshow in 1982), then you'll need to use something like ExifTool to add the dates to the EXIF metadata; this will also make it possible to add sequential times to the 'Date taken' dates as well, so that they appear in the correct chronological order in a photo viewer that correctly reads the 'Date taken' tag in the EXIF metadata. When adding the 'Date taken' date to the files manually, the dates need to be added to the files before opening them in Affinity Photo. I.E. Scan the images in TIFF file format, add the 'Date taken' date to the file metadata, then open them in Affinity Photo. This will mean the 'Date taken' will already be in the EXIF metadata when you save the Affinity Photo working file or export to JPEG/TIFF. Personally, I would like to see the ability to add or modify the 'Date taken' in the Affinity Photo 'Metadata' panel, but I don't know whether that will happen.

No idea. I reported it HERE in 2016, but they stuck with 50%. Although the slider only goes up to 50%, it's possible to manually type a value greater than 50% in the box. It's also now possible to use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to rotate a brush 360°, which was a useful addition. In addition, for something like a cloud, it's now possible to save objects as an asset in the 'Assets' panel too. However, it's still not possible to flip a brush on the X or Y axis though.

You may be able to use the 'History' panel. [View > Studio > History] if the panel isn't visible.

Indeed. I previously reported it HERE (the second video), but the only change I've seen is for the first video, where if you now open a new document and the current brush has Wet Edges set to on, Affinity Photo incorrectly turns Wet Edges off (the brush should still have Wet Edges on as it's still the currently selected brush).

Did you do Affinity Publisher as well?

That's a bit odd. It was 50% off (£23.99) across all the stores – as I saw it myself, but for some reason it's now showing as normal price (£48.49) only on the Microsoft Store. Perhaps it's just an error – like it was initially only set to 20 May – as I think the offer is until 20 June.

It's because you have a graphics tablet or touch screen, which activates 'Pen & Windows Ink' settings. This means the menus in Windows are shifted according to which hand is set in the settings; it's so the menus appear in front of the pen tip where possible, rather than under your hand. If you're using a conventional tablet – rather than a touch screen – you could change the handedness in the settings to 'Left Hand'. However, if you're using a touch screen I would leave it set to the correct hand that you draw with, as this setting also affects palm rejection on a touch screen.

It sounds like you have enabled "Controlled Folder Access" in Windows Security, but haven't added Affinity Photo to the list of applications allowed to write to your user folders. See my posts in the thread below. They are a couple of years old, but it you scroll down to the bottom of the second post where it says "Edit (added after Windows 10 1809 released)", the screenshots should still be relevant. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/62259-cannot-save-files/&do=findComment&comment=323174

It looks like some sort of custom brush. If you go to the Brushes panel and select a basic round brush, does it draw OK then? Another thing you could try is to export any custom brushes you have (so you can import them again later), then reset all the brushes back to default by going to [Edit > Preferences > Miscellaneous > Reset Brushes].

I've changed the 'before' image to make it a bit clearer. You're looking for recurring patterns, which are the bright spots. If you look at the 'before' image, you can see on this image they form a sort of diamond shape around the centre. You then use the built-in brush to paint dots over the bright spots to mask them. Adjust the brush size so that it's just large enough to cover the main part of the bright spot – if it's too big or too small you may not get the best results. Never paint over the centre spot. Each image will be different. You need to be careful about filling in too many bright spots, as sometimes you can end up removing a pattern that's supposed to be in the image – like a striped object. Also be careful painting over the bright spots further away from the centre (like those faint ones around the edges), as that can start to have a negative impact on the image. It can be a bit trial and error and the results can vary from image to image.