[Creating Mask layer for Pet Eye (Photo - Win10)]

I'm using Affinity 1.8.3

My goal is to learn a process for fixing "Pet eyes"  I've stumbled through some attempts and watched a number of videos.  I have had some success however I have some basic questions.  BTW the pixel layer is there because I was playing.  It seems in the photo I was working on the eyes are so bright that they are saturated at white, so no Adjustments can make much of a diffference.

First I would like to state what I believe to be true about layers and perhaps someone can correct me.

• I think Mask's are easy.   Black = not shown White = shown (perhaps gray might be partly shown)
• When combined in a group whatever else is in that group will only show through the "openings" (aka white) of the mask.
• It seems the structure in the layers window is important.  Adjustments "below" the Mask will be applied to the layer below all (in my case "Molly Background")
• If I move "Molly Background" to above the mask group then the adjustments will be behind the background, basically useless.

 

I only partly understand the subtleties of the layer structure and  I don't understand the convoluted path to get where I am.   It seems all the videos (example) I've seen start by adding a "curves layer" for no good reason except it appears to help creating the group the mask will control.  Is there a way to create a group without this step?

Also the layers "structure" seems non intuitive to me. 

• The "group" is not indented at all.
• The Mask is indented two times
• The adjustment layers are indented one time
• The backgound is not indented

It would seem the adjustment layers should be indented from the mask layer.  Am I being picky or is there some logic I'm missing.

Thanks John

 

[Noob Keyboard Shortcut Template (printed)]

I am just starting to use Affinity for only the most basic functions.  During my first few hours  I was frustrated as I couldn't even find the paint brush (I didn't know about the icon cycling feature).   One of the things I did was to find a cheat sheet to become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts which appear to be very important.

Now looking at the fine keyboard layout on my screen was pretty useless and I have a color printer but it is only so-so.

So I captured the keyboard I wanted from here Cheat Sheet , played with the aspect ratio (I had to expand the canvas a few times) and printed in an 8 x 10 from Costco.  Costco uses an auto scale function so it took a few times to the the keyboard the full 10" or so.  In the end, I have a beautiful easy to read color keyboard sheet for the grand price of $1.99

 

[Replace Background in Group photo]

I am new to Affinity (and advanced photo manipulation) and am looking for some suggestions to remove the background of a photo with 3 people.  Unfortunately portions of the background color is very close to the color of the faces.

I've looked through the excellent videos but could not find one relative to my situation.

 

I've tried the Flood Select tool with little luck.  It could be because I don't have a good understanding of the tool.

I've tried the Brush select tool with about the same as the flood (by same I mean I could not get the edges defined well enough.)

 

Is there a suggested approach for such a situation?

 

Is there some information of video that will help me better understand the Flood & Brush Select tools?

 

Thanks

 

JohnRob

 

[Mechanics of purchasing Affinity Photo for PC]

@Sima,

 

Thanks, but I'm old school,  I always backup my exe's and serial numbers/licenses.   I also download new exe's when I reinstall (with the backup available if downloading is not an option.

[Mechanics of purchasing Affinity Photo for PC]

Thank you both.  That is exactly what I was hoping for.

 

John

 

[Mechanics of purchasing Affinity Photo for PC]

HI,

 

I am about to purchase a license for Affinity Photo.   I have been reading this forum and have learned a lot. However I've seen posts regarding purchasing that are likely only for the MAC/iPad but I need to ask.

 

My questions are:

 

1. If I purchase a license for Affinity photo (PC) will I be able to download the program in whole?  Or is there an app store?  Or is there a download/install manager?
2. Is the license a number / a file / a password to log on the Affinity to activate?   I prefer something I can backup.

 

Thanks.

 

JohnRob