Jaffa

I know what a smart object is and why, for instance, "Place" is used in Photoshop Elements. However, as I understand it, Affinity Photo images are all smart objects, therefore I am confused as to why it is necessary to have a "Place" option in the menu? There must be a use for it, so I am keen to understand what it is.

Yes, Walt, it is not the actual history I am talking about, you are right. Logic tells me that most, if not all, users would like a minimum of panels viewable immediately upon starting to edit a new document. I would like Layers, Channels, History, Colours - indeed, any panel that I used with the previously edited document. To go into Studio for the ones missing seems a terrible waste of time to me!

To give a small example - I edit an image and, at a minimum, I have open the Layers panel and the History panel. Next day, I want to edit an image and open it up. The Layers Panel usually shows, but the History Panel is not there. How peculiar that I have to then go View>Studio>History. Seems bizarre, because I would have thought that Affinity Photo would open up with the panels you have previously used as default. Is there something I can do please?

Many thanks for the replies, guys! However, just had another go and worked out where I was going wrong. Sure, on the scale, I did enter 50 - however it is not a percentage scale, it goes up to 255 (of course!). Duh!

Sorry to hijack your post and thread, Juan, however it seems that your question has been answered. I am intrigued by the comment above "select the object in the canvas", how do you use the canvas in this way? Perhaps you mean that the background layer or a merge visible layer is the canvas? Otherwise how do you do this? Cheers, Jim

I want to do some dodging and burning. As a first step I added a pixel layer, then went to Edit>Fill and from the Colour Wheel drop down box chose Greyness. Next I changed the greyness to 50% grey. Finally I changed the Blend Mode for the new pixel layer to Overlay. From there I should have been able to carry on my task (which I have done before and which is shown in Vimeo video tutorials - James Ritson "Affinity Photo - Non Destructive Dodge & Burn".) However the problem was that my main image appeared far too dark - it should show not much differently than before. I suspect something wrong with the selecting of greyness. On James' video 50% shows about the middle of the scale, however on my Affinity 50% showed as much more to the left of the scale. I could move it right, however this is an instance where a precise 50% is crucial. Help please!

Hi Walt Sounds great! Have had a look through the Edit>Preferences and cannot yet see where/how to do this. Can you give me a pointer or two please. If it is "Save thumbnails with documents", then that is already ticked. Jim

Thanks, v_kyr - Unfortunately, XnView MP is not free. Have had a look at ACDSee and it seems that it may only show thumbnails, whilst I want to look at the images at 100% (and often above that). Will keep researching, including having a closer look at AlternativeTo.

When I want to view images quickly I have always used Irfanview, which is great, except that in some situations, where I want to view an Affinity Photo file, outside of Affinity Photo, it cannot recognise it. I was told by someone that Faststone can view Affinity files, but I have just tried and so far it refuses to recognise them. Is there someway that I can get Faststone to do this, or is there another program I could use for the purpose?

Many thanks HVDB, that works great! Also, your video is very helpful. I appreciate all those others who also took the time out to respond!

For whatever reason I am not getting Affinity Photo in Windows to straighten. I look to see what I am doing wrong, but seems it is the program at this time. I have a photo and want to straighten. I choose the crop tool and then in the bar up top choose "Straighten". Sure enough the icon of the levelling device appears. Next, I drag to the right to identify the part I believe is straight. However I do not get the level line shown in the videos. The 'tool' chooses to identify a crop area, which invariably, as I am trying to identify a straight line to it, ends in a very long, very slim crop. Have tried this 20/30 times and always get the same result. I have worked with Photoshop Elements and then Affinity Photo, in total, for about 7 1/2 to 8 years - so am no novice. Help soon please!!

Hi euclidpb - that annoys me too, but far outweighing that -- is the results you can get and the support available. Why not give it a try whilst things in limbo. Might be one of the best decisions you have ever made! JMTCW.

Hey, it's not all bad, Adam, I have learned that all brushes designed for Photoshop that I have downloaded also work for Affinity!

Have just bought 180 smoke and cloud brushes from the Affinity Store for NZ$42. Thought I would have a look at the site of the person they come from and see that he is offering 400+ brushes of this type for almost exactly the same price. Looks like Affinity could lean on him for a better deal !

I have been using Affinity Photo for quite a while now and have spent much time on it as it is marvellous! Nevertheless, I was working on an image yesterday and Affinity told me that I was in Develop Persona, when I was most certainly not. I thought maybe something had happened inadvertently but I looked to the left and all the Photo Persona icons were there. It happened a few times, then stopped. Thinking back I should have recorded the exact circumstances, however, I did not. During the same session, I had other peculiar things happen - at one stage Affinity went on strike and when I tried to tick the boxes to the right of the layers and adjustments, nothing happened. Any ideas?

22 months have gone by, so I thought I would check whether a feature exists yet for making gifs. I cannot find, so am guessing that there is not?

Thanks, Callum, I have just checked and it is enabled.

Do I need to tell Affinity Photo to use the Graphics card on my desktop? Seems a silly question, however, yesterday I found out for the very first time that it is necessary to do so with Lightroom. I have now fixed this after years using Lightroom, so looking forward to increased performance from that program. So, the question remains, do I need to do so with Affinity Photo?

I've stuffed up. I want to end up with an image of 2160 pixels in depth (2547 in width) - however I currently have an image sized 993 pixels deep (2567 wide) at 240dpi. This happened because I was playing around with a base image that I had sized for the internet. Meant to stop at an early stage and restart, but forgot and now I have processed the image to just as I, and others, like. The image is to be projected and is not for print. Now it is easy to go in and resize, but then am sure I would get pixelation, or at least, less definition. What should I do, I have all the layers, so I know mostly how I arrived at the final image. Could I somehow transfer all layers except the background layer to a new background image the size I want?

The money was taken out of my account on 5 Nov. Hoping to know very soon, what Product Code we should use. Thanks in anticipation.

On page 399 the author says in item 9 "Select the Smudge layer, and from the Toolbar, select Insert behind the selection. I have looked all over the place and have also gone to View>Customise tools, it is possible I have missed but had a good look. It would have been handy if the the Help said something more about it than just -

Directly from the Serif website Callum

Greetings I hope I have got my facts right. It seems that there is a new version out 1.6.5.135, whilst I am still on version 1.6.5.123. How do I get the upgrade please?

Great so far, Steven, Carol Simpson in your Accounts Dept, should any day now, if she hasn't already, use my credit card details to charge the agreed amount. Next question is, when do we get the Product Code to use? - we have one member who has joined us and is waiting.