toltec

I still prefer the right click, "mask to below" method. It seems a bit too much like "The Golden Shot" otherwise, Bernie.

As jhoy says. The shapes are on the toolbar down the left side (4th from bottom). Draw an ellipse of any size first and then go to the "transform" panel and enter 32in in the height box ("H") Affinity will translate that into 2304 pixels for you, no matter what your document units are now. Which is a nice feature in any program. For the triangle, again use the shape tool and you can draw it to any shape triangle you want. If you want it a bit more deformed than that, go to the "Layer" menu, click "Convert to curves" and you can use the pen "node" tool to reshape it. Click and drag to make one side a curve or any shape you like. I find it a bit hard to drag the shapes "curve" layer it on to the pixel layer icon in exactly the right place (as jhoy does) so I right click on the curve layer and click "Mask to below". Personal choice.. BTW the shape must have a fill colour. Masking wont work if it's transparent.

Hi Scott First of all, it would be much better to ask this in Questions and Feedback. You will get an answer much quicker. Incredibly hard without seeing your image but, I can give you something to try that might help you. Select your colour first so it is in the colour panel. If you want an existing colour, select the normal eyedropper tool (tools) and click on your colour. Make sure it goes in the fill colour circle (bottom right circle) not the line colour circle (top left). Use the little double ended arrow to swap the colours round if necessary. Go to Layer menu, New Fill Layer and your colour will now totally fill your image in a new layer. In the layers panel, change the blend mode (which will say Normal) to Overlay or Soft Light (try each to see the effect). You can now adjust the opacity to control the intensity. Make a layer mask if you need to limit where it goes. Hope that helps

Would it be possible to add a sticky note somewhere here to ask posters (especially newbies) to say what computer they are using the software on? It was bad enough sometimes with Mac and PC variants but what with the new iPad users it's going to be hard to answer the questions correctly. Just a thought.

Hold down the shift key when you draw to constrain the line to horizontal, or whatever. Click on the line thickness bar on the context menu, it opens up the dialog box to set the width of the line and for butt cap (square). You have all sorts of control over the end, the join, alignment, mitre etc.

No. There are sites where you can copy Lorum Ipsum text. You can do what you want to that. http://www.lorem.biz/loremipsum.php

With notice boards, what usually happens is that people use a photo hosting site. I use Photobucket. You put your images on there and get a link to paste into your post (image link, in the case of Photobucket). The same thing happens with Youtube videos. Then, when people look at your post they see the picture in all its glory, or lack of. No need to get annoyed (life is too short ;) ), that's just how they all seem to work. It's a bandwidth thing. The photo hosting sites, or youtube and vomeo, specialize in that sort of thing.

That's good because I am thinking of buying one and AP will be my first purchase. Couldn't live without the clone tool, honestly :)

Oh, so no clone tool?

I don't have an iPad, but on the picture on the website, the clone tool (rubber stamp) is the fifth tool from the bottom. Unless Serif have done something weird. :wacko:

Try duplicating the layer, set the blending mode of the top layer to "overlay". You can reduce the layer opacity to reduce the effect.

Don't get me wrong, I have always been a massive fan of keyboard shortcuts. I knew (the memory fades with age) dozens in several different programs. Especially Photoshop. This is about workflow efficiency. When you set up a layer system before starting an edit you have to use the mouse, as I said before, but having to stop using the mouse in the middle for an entirely different type of operation that involves moving both hands and eyes is terrible for workflow. Imagine typing and then every time you wanted a full stop, you had to pick up the mouse, go through a menu system to find "Insert a full stop". Common types of operation should flow together. Still, I don't do enough these days to be that bothered. It's just a bad bit of design in what is an otherwise first class program. Despite using Photoshop for decades this the one thing that really bugs me, isn't that strange?

Not 100% sure what you mean by changed desktop theme to aero (singular). Which Aero theme? there are several. Right click on desktop, select Personalize, choose an Aero theme. Try choosing a different theme if you have already done that. I am on Windows 7 too and had to go through this but can't remember exactly what I did. :unsure:

What software and to rotate what? In Affinity Photo, if you place an object (like a shape) and go to the "Transform" panel the X Y coordinates are for the selected point. i.e. If you click on the centre control point (the 9 little points in a square) you get the X Y coordinates of that point. Click on the top left control point and you get the X Y coordinates for that point. You can then position whichever point you have just selected precisely. It will also rotate around the point you have selected. Or am I missing something?

Yes, it's a matter of focus. I have spent years working on sometimes hundreds of photos for a client. Having everything in one logical place where you can focus is a huge boost for productivity. As is shortcuts and macros at times. Having set up several documents in Affinity so far, I Create layers, add fill layers, mask layers, stack layers, move the layers, create groups before I start, all with the mouse. Then I am ready to begin my edit but, somewhere in the middle of that . . I have to 1 move my point of mental focus from the layers panel to the keyboard 2 look at the keyboard 3 find the control key with my left hand 4 press the control key 4 move my right hand off the mouse, 6 find the J key with my right hand 7 press the J key 8 move my right hand back to the mouse 9 change my point of mental focus back to the layers panel 10 move left hand back to cup of coffee. Then I have to drag the layer to it's place in the world Finding the keyboard Ctrl key is sometimes a bigger problem than it sounds problem because my graphic tablet occupies the space where my keyboard would normally be so it means a bit of rearranging at times. Alternative method Click on a button Now I don't know about you but I would find that much easier. It's little things like that that make a big difference to professionals who have to work on dozens of files in one day. Believe me.

Soon? Not having a button to duplicate a layer is quite an omission really. So much of Affinity's layer control is done with the mouse in the layers panel. Dragging and dropping to make a mask, a clipping path, parent or child, group, new layer, adjustments, layer fx, mask layer, layer order, lock, unlock, hide, make visible, group, delete, opacity, blend mode, blend ranges etc but the one thing that is always done first (or should always be done first) is to make a duplicate layer. Yet, unlike all the other functions there is no button. Odd :rolleyes:

I see. Well, it's no big deal. I guess I'm just the sort of person who's never satisfied :wacko: Funny enough, the one feature I would really like is a "duplicate layer button" on the layers panel. It's something I find I am doing all the time and having to move both hands to reach control J is a chore. In fact, I think I'll ask.

If you are pasting into Word (for example) you can opt to "keep source formatting". That works with Affinity formatting intact.

I would draw a rectangle with rounded edges, adjust the radius until curvy enough, convert it to curves and adjust the sides from there.

Photoshop displays two file sizes, first is document size if saved as one layer, second one is file size if saved with layers etc, Which, as you can guess can be much bigger. Displayed in the image size dialog box, on the status bar and in the "Info" panel. It is handy sometimes to know what size you will end up if resizing, compared to what you have now. In fact, Faststone Image Viewer (Freeware viewer) gives current file size and calculates new file size (on the fly) if you are about to resize the image by entering a size in the dialog box. I think Irfanview does the same.

Select the shape layer, right click, "Mask to Below". You could also drag the shape layer onto the image layer below until you see a little vertical blue line to the right of the layer icon, which is the same thing. I find that a bit fiddly though. Note, the shape must have a fill colour. BTW once you have done that, click on the image layer and you can move and resize the whole masked shape. Click on just the shape layer (the icon) and you can adjust the position and size of the shape in relation to the image behind it. If you click on the shape tool again, you can edit the shape with the little red control handles. All whilst masked out!

This one is very well known for creating painting in the style of classic artists if you are really serious. http://www.mediachance.com/dap/ There are online options to do it for free if you only need one or two done. https://www.befunky.com/features/photo-to-art/ http://funny.pho.to/artistic-photo-effects/ Of course, photoshop has an oil paint filter but it looks a bit "overused".

Yes indeed, RAW images have introduced a whole new element. As you say, work with what you have and convert it as late as possible depending on where it will end up.

Why not just save blank Affinity files with names like "Tom's Website Slideshow" in the sizes you want. If you keep them all in one folder, or several, you can load Tom's Website Slideshow, resave it with your current work file name and that's it. It will be whatever size you previously saved it in. You could even save it with Tom's logo, address and a few notes included to save you looking for it or setting it Not perfect but it would save you having to remember and would hardly take any longer than loading from a preset. These features are all very nice but software programmers can't always provide every single option to hold our hands. In the old days, before defaults and presets (and colour TV ;) ), that's how we used to do it.

Oops sorry. A newbie mistake. I didn't see that.