danlhayes

I'm able to use Luminar as a plug-in filter from AF (Windows), but the image that comes back to AF has messed up colors. Any tips?

Thanks!

When recording a macro in Affinity Photo, I'm getting an error message "Cannot Record . . ." I'm not completely sure, bit it seems to be related mostly to selecting a layer. As an example: Opened a picture Added a pixel layer Right-click on the pixel layer. When I right-click, I get the error message "Cannot record "set current selection"." The context menu also pops up, but it pops up in the upper left of my display, even when AP is not maximized. If I ignore the error message, I can select something from the context menu. It gets done and recorded. Another example: after adding pixel layer, I click on the underlying layer to select. This causes the error message "Cannot record "set current selection"," and the underlying layer does not get selected. Nothing is recorded. Another example: when I click on a layer name (to rename), type in a new name for the layer, and hit enter, I get the similar message "Cannot record "set description"." In this case, the name doesn't change, and nothing is recorded. The error message sometimes fades away by itself after a few seconds. So far, it looks like selecting things from the top menu works fine--no errors there. I believe it's only when I try to to something in the Layers tab on the right, with respect to a specific layer. Any ideas? I uninstalled and reinstalled . . .. Windows 2010, AP 1.5.1.54

Just checked, "rasterize to layer" keeps the layer where it is, where it masks the underlying layers--after rasterizing, I see the original image with the "black" bars transparent. Repair didn't help my macros. I'll reinstall.

When I Rasterize to Mask it stays as an independent layer, and if I want to use it as a mask on another layer I have to drag it there. I'll verify that in a sec--I'm seeing if a "repair" installation will fix my macro issues.

Ah, well I can probably deal with it, lol.

Well that would be nice! The download page shows me 1.5.1. I'll look around some more. The macros are working great. If I want to use one as a mask it's only two more steps. I think when someone has been relying on masks for a long time, they might prefer that. It might be nice to name the layers "Lights 1" "Lights 2" . . . so that when you get one you like you can see what it was :). If I could figure out why I can't record anything I could to that myself. I might want to add a "Rasterize to Mask" at the end and then if I want to use it I can just drag it down. Very handy. Being able to select by name also would open some options for me! Thanks again!

No, when I try to rename it gives me a pop-up error that it can't record the step. Maybe I'm doing something stupid. Another thing it won't record is moving to a different layer. I had assumed that the macros capabilities were still in early stages and had some limitations.

Those are great! I tried for a couple hours to do something like that that, but you seem to be able to record some things I can't (I'm on Windows). For example: Deselect Add Pixel Set description----Cannot record "Set description". I can't record most of the steps in these macros. Windows version 1.5.1.54

Looking forward to trying them!

Here is a video on doing Luminosity Masking with Blendif (rather than masks) in PS, using a Plug-in. The last couple of minutes talk about the need to visualize. The way people work with these is to browse through various masks until they find the one that works best, then they "commit". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWk8YaOKTQQ

The Q shortcut was what I was looking for, more or less.

Theoretically I could record a single macro that would generate the four "lights" masks, as mask layers. Then I could easily alt click to view each and select the one I want. But I can't seem to do that without running into a "cannot record" error. Steps for each level would be: Merge Visible Lights 1 Add mask layer Deselect Rasterize to mask (this is where I run into trouble with macros) But this all seems kind of over the top, when blend options do the same thing with infinite flexibility, without even creating masks. But it would be really nice to see a greyscale version of what you have selected with the blend options. I think that single option would eliminate any need to create luminosity masks or to have plugins for making masks (as is almost required in PS)--although you could still easily create one from your blend option "selection" as you have done in your macros. BTW, thanks for those macros! Not only are they useful, but I don't think I would have figured out that you can create a selection based on blend options.

Thanks, smadell, I have been using those and yes, they are what I'm looking for except that it is difficult to visualize what is being selected. Do you know if there is any way to view a selection as greyscale? The only way I know to do that is to use your macro to create a selection, then create a mask from the selection. But it requires a lot of keystrokes if you want to quickly try different levels. The closest I can come is this: Merge visible Lights 3 Add mask layer Deselect Then I need to manually Alt click on the mask to view it--apparently I can't do that from a macro. If I don't like the selection, I can select the new layer, delete it, and try again.

Before moving to AP I was relying on luminosity masks (implemented with one of several available plugins), and I understand I can do the same thing with blend options. In order to visualize what I'm selecting with the Blend Options, I've been putting a brightly colored fill layer in a group, adjusting the group's Blend Options, then when I'm satisfied I can hide the fill layer and put other things in the group (maybe there's an easier way?). It would be great have a shortcut key to instantly get a greyscale image showing what has been selected with the Blend Options. This would make the operation seem more analogous to luminosity masks. And from there, you could have Blending Option presets corresponding to the "traditional" luminosity levels (darks, lights, etc.). Or I suppose that could be done with macros. Additionally, it would be nice to be able to select a luminosity level from the image itself, and have the Blend Options automatically configured with a curve focusing on that luminosity level. I know the inability to keep using my Luminosity Masking plugin was an obstacle for me when moving from PS, but the three things above would almost completely replace the $40 plugin I was using.