dmstraker

Hi @dmstraker@eftee74
Many thanks for providing detail, this issue is currently logged with the developers, I've bumped the issue with your reports.

Ping! Penny drops on what rgbtoi does -- luma values. Thanks. For convenience I sometimes refer to this as 361 - RGB approx 30%, 60%, 10%. Ballpark of course, thougn on-screen i found little discernable difference when picking 1% apart. It was an aha for me to discover the difference between HSL desaturation and Vibrance desaturation.
Don't know if this is relevant to the discussion, but a very quick way to do a very flexible pixel layer mask is to:
Duplicate layer or merge visible as desired. Add new pixel layer above. Group duplicated layer and pixel layer. Change blend mode of pixel layer to Erase. Add pixels by any method to the pixel layer (including partially transparent ones). Erase blend knocks out all pixels below but stops at the end of a group. It looks like it uses the inverse of pixel alpha, so adding pixels removes ones below.
I think that in this, only the alpha value of the pixel mask layer influences the mask effect, not luminosity calculation.
 

One last note, and perhaps something that Serif can address.
In the Gradient colour panel, when you reduce opacity, the colour as displayed decreases to grey. But if the colour is still being used (as it is) in creating the gradient, then perhaps the colour should remain, hence giving some indication that you are going to still get the colour within the gradient. 
Image attached.

Understood and accepted.
There's also the psychology of perception to consider. Looking at the red-with-zero-alpha node in the gradient panel or on screen, it appears to be transparent node. Yes, showing it as 'red with zero alpha' could be tricky. But cognition is often based on simple visual cues more than an examination of further panel data. And so (as with me), it is easy to assume that what is seen is all there is.
This is what, in my development/QA/HF days we would have designated a 'usability defect'. There is clear logic in why it is what it is, but nevertheless it is experienced as a confusing difficulty.
What the solution is here, I don't know. Nor is it a hill on which I plan to expire. I'll leave it to the good people in Serif to figure what to do about it.

Attached is my complete set of notes about blend modes, now spread across 52 pages of A4.
These are significantly updated from the previous revision, with lots more 'recipes' and organisation of these under main topics, hopefully to make them more usable.
Enjoy.
Blend modes notes V5.pdf

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

Well done and thank you to everyone at Serif for a momentous 2022. Please do have a splendid Christmas and New Year break, and try not to think about work too often (difficult, I know).
As we say in Wales, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year).

That is faulty logic, the gradient goes from black to red regardless of opacity. What happens with a gradient with the last stop with an opacity of 10%? should the gradient be shifted over so only the final 5 or 10% of the distance has any red instead of the original 50%?

Why do you rate this as bug?
the gradient will create a mix of:
black/ 100% alpha
via black 50% alpha,  red 50% alpha
to black 0% / red 0%
so for me it is correct that you see a mix of black and red with reduced opacity at the middle of the gradient.

Hi Dave,
I'll log this as an improvement for you. I don't think we've ever considered using it for anything useful but you've made a valid point. Thanks!

Being able to increment values with the mouse wheel in number boxes (often next to sliders) is wonderful, and the use of Ctrl and Shift for smaller and larger change is brilliant! 
However, only the left Ctrl works for the small increment function. The right Ctrl does nothing. 
This may seem like small beer, and for right-handed people who hold the mouse in their right hand, using the left Ctrl is natural. However, for left handed people this necessitates an awkward, cross-body stretch to perform this maneuvre. Many of the increasing number of creative people who use Affinity are lefties, which adds further to the priority of implementing what seems likely to be a trivial fix.
Thank you.
 

Attached examples. Pier1 is original. Pier2 is edited. Zoom in to see detail difference.
 
It's an experiment that gave an interesting result.
 
 

Small celebration. I've just passed the 700th video in my InAffinity YouTube channel.
There's also a web-based index, including videos sorted by time and category, plus free resources.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Serif and all of its people, including devs, QA, and everyone else. You folks have created an amazing product that has freed many of us from the Adobe taxation system and indeed that stands on its own as an excellent photo editing and graphics system. Having worked in software development, quality, marketing and other areas, I have some inkling of the effort and sheer dedication that it takes. Thank you and well done.
 
 

Here's a way to make a kind of cartoon of an image.
 
Layer/Duplicate layer. Filters/Detect/Detect Edges. Layer/Invert. Blend Mode: Colour Burn. Add Curves above it all and pull up midtones. Play with Opacity to vary strength of effect. Interesting effect with landscapes and architecture. Not tried it on people.

It would be neat to have a Wiki for Affinity products. Start it off using current Help system, then let users extend it. As with Wikipedia, encourage a community of experts to sustain it

Dear Serif
I first bought Affinity Photo as version 1.5 in 2017. I can't remember how much money I gave you, but it didn't seem much. I'd been using Photoshop (hereinafter called 'the former product') but then Adobe introduced a taxation system (ach, ptui!) so I started looking around and found you. James Ritson's 200-odd videos got me to a new level and I was off to the races. It's probably a common story.
Since then, you've made all kinds of improvements to the product, often through listening to the requests of bods like me wittering on in the (very fine) forum. As a keen photographer and old techie, APh is now a permanent partner in my artistic endeavours.
But I'm worried.
I want and need you folks to both survive and thrive. I started my InAffinity channel on YouTube as much to spread the word as to learn and build a beer fund. Other good people have done likewise. But I don't know if this is enough.
During expansion, when Serif products are finding new customers, market penetration pricing can work to keep you going. However, a time comes when you may need to rethink your price policy. I'm not suggesting going to an Adobe model, nor the Luminar smoke and mirrors. In fact I'm not suggesting any magic formula, because magic is an illusion that can get you into trouble. But I am asking and hoping that you have a financing strategy that your customers will buy and which keeps you at the leading edge for the forseeable future and beyond.
And I, for one, would be ok with paying a bit more.
Yours sincerely
Dave

Confused me for a bit, this one.  Did File/Place and it offered ony .txt and .rtf files. Then I found the cursor was in a text box. Kind of makes sense, but can't find where Help system mentions this.

Dear Serif
I first bought Affinity Photo as version 1.5 in 2017. I can't remember how much money I gave you, but it didn't seem much. I'd been using Photoshop (hereinafter called 'the former product') but then Adobe introduced a taxation system (ach, ptui!) so I started looking around and found you. James Ritson's 200-odd videos got me to a new level and I was off to the races. It's probably a common story.
Since then, you've made all kinds of improvements to the product, often through listening to the requests of bods like me wittering on in the (very fine) forum. As a keen photographer and old techie, APh is now a permanent partner in my artistic endeavours.
But I'm worried.
I want and need you folks to both survive and thrive. I started my InAffinity channel on YouTube as much to spread the word as to learn and build a beer fund. Other good people have done likewise. But I don't know if this is enough.
During expansion, when Serif products are finding new customers, market penetration pricing can work to keep you going. However, a time comes when you may need to rethink your price policy. I'm not suggesting going to an Adobe model, nor the Luminar smoke and mirrors. In fact I'm not suggesting any magic formula, because magic is an illusion that can get you into trouble. But I am asking and hoping that you have a financing strategy that your customers will buy and which keeps you at the leading edge for the forseeable future and beyond.
And I, for one, would be ok with paying a bit more.
Yours sincerely
Dave

I’ve been seeing this, too, but on the Mac version. (In Affinity Photo version 1.10.1)
it’s a pain.

This is the spell of the wandering ghost from a Metal/OpenGL software engineer who was not cheered enough by the users. When busted from one tool or OS, it always re-occurs at anther place.
 
BTW: Cannot reproduce. May need to give more specific frame conditions and a test image.
Update: After some random edits of a file, i have the same issue, and much more severe issues, reported as separate post.
 

Hi @dmstraker,
This is a known issue that's already logged to be looked at. It also affects a couple other tools (Sharpen and Median Brush). You can turn the brush preview off in Preferences to workaround the issue until the bug is fixed. Thanks for your report.