Frozen Death Knight

Nope. I just noticed it being there while trying the Beta. Then I went back to 1.7.3 and tried the same thing and the feature wasn't there, so I just concluded that it was a brand new 1.8 feature. Seems like Serif forgot to write about it in the patch notes, since I don't know when it was added honestly. This happened last year for 1.7.0 Beta as well when they forgot to mention shift producing straight vertical and horizontal lines for brushes.

In the Beta a new toggle feature was added for various tools using brushes where you change the functionality for alt+R click+L click. I did notice however that it doesn't support a few settings as seen in the video: Desktop 2020.01.19 - 05.04.25.01.mp4 For the Brush Tool you are not able to change Opacity and Flow with this shortcut, which I think are pretty important settings to change on the fly as well. The Smudge Tool is also missing two important settings like Strength and Flow from the toggle options. I think there are more examples of this for some other tools as well like Blur, Sharpen, Sponge, and more. P.S. Could you also increase the contrast of the UI elements for the shortcut please? Notice how much they blend into the painting in the background, which makes them a bit hard to see.

Thanks! : D

Thank you! ^-^ High precision tablet input. It's far easier to achieve clean lines with tablets in the Windows Beta than in the earlier versions of Photo. It is only one major feature so far, but it affects every tool that needs precision, so it is kind of a big deal for me who rely on my tablet. Brushes, erasers, the Lasso Tool, etc. are just overall more precise while retaining drawing speed, so it cuts down on a lot of time on redoing bad lines or having to slow down your hand motions to avoid jagged lines. This feature is a pretty big power boost. It works pretty well, but there are bugs still present with the feature involving the standard brush commands. I am not able to work at full capacity because of that, but I certainly can sense the difference in speed while working, so I stick to 1.8 over 1.7 despite the issues. Once the shortcuts work again in a future Beta it should be golden. : )

Just something fun I decided to make while Beta testing Affinity Photo 1.8. Tried creating thinner lineart than what I am used to, which I think came out all right for a first try of experimenting with the new features. Here's a link to my Artstation where I uploaded it as well. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RYG24v

I never said that they were the same. In fact, I said it was better in Affinity because it isn't a locked layer, but something that can be toggled on and off while still being the default behaviour without adding what is honestly a pretty redundant layer. That's exactly my point. They are not the same and it is not an actual design flaw. What could be considered a design flaw is that some tools are active despite not having anything they could possibly work with. However, brushes, erasers, some selection tools, fill/gradient tools, shape tools, and some others do make sense that they can be used, since they are not reliant on layers being filled with content to work. You are however arguing for something that you can personally customise in a matter of seconds to your liking and will not solve the core issue you had about the tools being all active when maybe they shouldn't. The overhead projector analogy is even more not in your favour. What do all projectors have in common when displaying their transparent layers? A white screen to project onto. You don't write or paint on that screen, so that analogy is actually kind of perfect for explaining how Affinity and most other similar softwares work.

His analogy still holds up. The white background emulates a typical white sheet of paper which is the standard in every professional image editing and painting software I have ever come across. Your suggestion is far from the norm and something you have to learn to accept. Illustrator actually behaves fairly similar to how the Affinity Suite does it by having a white background with only an empty layer available on startup. You can also toggle between the two modes and create brand new layers by drawing vectors, just like Designer and similar to Photo's Assistant. Photoshop does this differently by having a locked white filled layer, which is actually a bit limiting when you have to delete the background layer if you don't need it instead of just toggling between checkers and white. Either way, the background is white by default regardless of software. Also, the layers that the Assistant creates are completely transparent until you put down paint on it. By your logic of "layer = paper", a newly created layer should be filled with white for it to count as a sheet of paper, since actual paper does not have transparent layers.

While I wouldn't mind them making a DAM software, I'd rather see some really meaty content patches for Photo, Designer, and Publisher before they make a new program again. I already have a long list of features and bug fixes I would like to see in Photo especially that would make me never consider picking up Photoshop again. There are a lot of features in Affinity that I could see become even better than they already are by developing them further. I.e. the Export Persona actually previewing your rendered images before actually exporting them so you could easier experiment with the settings as well as compare different settings next to each other. The layers system I could see taking some pointers from Photoshop like smart objects, alpha lock per layer instead of just having alpha locking on your brush, and a duplicate by dragging shortcut which is alt+L click in Photoshop, just to name a few. With the trifecta completed, Serif is in a good position to outcompete Adobe's flagship softwares Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Any update made to either program will make the other two better as well thanks to the shared file format and StudioLink. A new DAM program with those two features would be sweet as well, but there are some solid options besides Lightroom on the market, so I don't think there is a big hurry to get another DAM out on the market.

I agree. I just meant when it is activated and the user wants it on.

@Fritz_H Your arguments do not really justify having a transparent canvas as the default behaviour however, as Walt already pointed out. It also does not solve your actual problem, which even you admit are that some tools are "useable" despite not having any layer to work with. The Assistant feature actually creates new layers automatically by using brushes that create paint, which is the reason why the toolbar isn't deactivated. This behaviour is actually pretty convenient, so it should stay. However, not all tools are supported, which I think is where the confusion lies. Either Affinity could just create a new layer regardless of what tool is used with the Assistant or alternatively deactivate/"grey out" the tools that don't have any layer content to work with. That's what I think is the more sensible approach to take than break standard conventions which would not really solve anything.

But why? It's not really much different from how Photoshop starts off with a white blank canvas or any other similar program for that matter. The way Affinity is currently set up it allows you to have that white canvas without needing to take up another layer spot like Photoshop does it. Serif thought their design through here and did not just copy Photoshop by adding some nice quality of life changes . By changing this default default factory setting you break standard UX practices among image editing softwares. Having transparency checkers always visible as the default canvas is not really a standard practice among most image editing softwares. Besides, setting all of this up takes far less than a minute. You can even create a custom shortcut if you want to switch between having a transparent or a white background.

That is already possible. Just make a new document with it checked on and Affinity will remember the last settings for said document the next time you make a new one. Just remember to shut down the program after doing this so you don't have to redo this in case of Affinity freezing or crashing later.

@Fritz_H You may have meant well, but your posts have so far come off as pretty condescending. Drawing/painting art is one of the oldest skills in human history, yet you come in here and tell a bunch of artists what is valuable or not and belittle the entire craft in a provoking manner. What other kind of reaction were you expecting of us? Not to mention completely dismissing the feature suggestion as "unneeded" and giving some vague explanation as "there are more important issues to tackle". Well, I would like to agree with you that there are other issues I would like to get addressed first, but no one here has demanded that it should be prioritised over everything else. It was simply a suggested request. You know, written on a forum literally called Feature Requests & Suggestions. I would like to be nice towards you, but you are making it very hard not to take your attempts at being "friendly" as being pretty hollow and insincere.

@altae Does it work for you then? Been trying all the Affinity Betas right now and they all share the same issue. They are also all tied to Windows Ink. Granted, it is better to have it on than off, but there is definitely something going on with Windows Ink and Affinity that is completely unique to Affinity alone. I really hope the devs will be able to replicate and solve the problem.

I really don't see how adding painter friendly features is somehow "downgrading" Photo in this case. Last I checked, even photographers use brushes to work. The Krita tool wheel is actually one of those features I think is a very clear upgrade over what Photoshop has traditionally offered with its brush manager with R click. Right now Photo does not offer anything when just pressing R click for your brushes, so why not consider adding this feature? Besides, I actually want Photo to become a very solid art program. I've used Photoshop to paint for many years and I still haven't found a single program that comes close to what I want out of an art program like Photoshop. Affinity Photo is the closest to that kind of experience, so I will keep giving feedback with that mindset. I am pretty sure the majority of my feature requests will be benficial for most users of Affinity, including photographers.