jmwellborn

@v_kyr  Lovely!!  Merry Christmas and peace on earth!

You might find this video on blend modes by Olivio Sarikas useful. If not, he has hundreds more on his site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx3mbpk7my4

That's no big deal to do in APh with different layer blend modes etc. - Here's a two second take ...

I didn't think you were being mocked. I suspect the poster may have thought you have more experience, is all. In any event, don't be shy about asking questions. We all started somewhere, especially me. As I said, Olivio has a ton of vids on Photo. He is very informative, from basics to more advanced topics. I primarily use his site to learn Affinity Photo techniques.

This years (2022) variation of that theme ...

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Okay, I think I'm getting the hang of this. Much more learning curve to come. 🙂
 

I did this stupid photo design 8 years where I photoshopped 4 chickens walking across an old country road with zebra crossing lines and it went a it viral across the internet (so much that two musical artists stole it and put it on their album cover) and so I decided to redesign it better recently and ended up with this
One morning in the Spring of 1972 - in a parallel universe somewhere - George, Paul, Ringo and John are on a road trip to a farm - to grow some wheat - when they bump into their old pal Buster Bloodvessel out walking his chickens
Trying to get some nice dust brush effects going on but I don’t feel I’m 100% happy with the result so far so might rework bits of it - if anyone has any nice tips for me then I’m happy to take them

@smadell Nothing so sensible as Clip and Unclip around here.  I am creating my own hard copy versions of HOW TO . . .  In Photo, Designer, and Publisher.  I learn far better with written instructions than with videos, and find that after I have done this, the solution “sticks.”  Usually.  So when I am going to work on something new — to me — I place an image for my example so that I will have space around it to start writing the steps I have taken to achieve the desired result.  
If I am simply working with an image to restore it (thousands of old slides) and hundreds of iPhone images, I should just open them.  Old habits die hard!!  Maybe 2023 will finally bring me into the 21st Century.  🙃

I BEG Affinity to fix the "tiny tools" problem. It does no good to continue to say "Sorry, it can't be done," to every question. You are developers, are you not? You need to be cognizant of UI and the effect on your clients. IF you have backed yourselves into a corner by using a design code that makes this issue less compatible with your clients needs then you have chopped off a large section of users who want to use your product, but become frustrated by an inability to respond to them. Please reexamine this issue.

Having complained about the performance of the first release of AP2, it is only fair to state that the update to AP2 is much, much faster!
Thank you very much

Terrible brush lag in AP2 made artworking really unpleasant so tried [Preferences]->[Performance] and disable [Hardware acceleration] - well it seems to be working for me.

The V2 apps do not overwrite the V1 versions & both can be used independently of each other. Just be aware that any V1 documents edited & saved in V2 can no longer be opened in V1 (no backwards compatibility) so if you are planning on using both, make sure that you work on a copy in V2.

"so I can purchase this" - Personally, I would buy applications while there is a good offer, and with installation I would possibly wait for a declared update with the availability of installation using MSI.

Just a simple flyer for local promotion. I took visual cues from their website as I was only provided with a photo and sponsor logos.

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Quite some time ago, I downloaded a set of macros provided by Dave Straker (user name @dmstraker) which allowed for a customizable set of vignettes. Dave’s vignettes came in a variety of shapes (although I only used the Ellipse and Rounded Rectangle versions).  The nice thing about these macros was that the central shape (the highlighted area that would overlay the subject) could be positioned, resized, and rotated as desired. Also, because it remained a shape, it could be distorted by adding nodes and warping them. The blurred edges of the highlighted shape could be edited, as well, making them more or less distinct.
They were a nice set of vignette macros, and I’ve used them for several years. However, there were a few issues for me. (1) The vignettes tended to darken the deepest shadows too much, crushing parts of the original photo that were close to black. (2) They always started out small, in the upper left-hand corner of the image, and needed to be resized to fit the size of the document. (3) It was necessary to set the Fill color to white before invoking the macros, or else the results would be wrong.
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I am including a new macro category for creating similar vignettes. I believe that these vignettes have most of the strengths of Dave’s Vignettes, but expand on them and improve them.

1) I have only included Elliptical and Rounded Rectangle versions of the vignettes, since these are the only ones I have ever used.
2) The vignettes are called “luma adjusted” because they do not crush the blacks in the vignette. Rather than use a 100% black pixel layer as the periphery of the vignette, these macros use a Merge Visible copy of the existing document, adjusted via Blend Ranges to omit the darkest tones. I believe this gives a more satisfying effect to the shadowed areas.
3) The vignettes are sized to the existing document “out of the box.” This is done by rasterizing the shape layer (the ellipse or the rounded rectangle) and creating a new pixel layer in its stead. This pixel layer can still be resized, re-positioned, and/or rotated as desired. The edge of the ellipse (or rounded rectangle) has a Gaussian Blur filter attached, and the blur can be edited to make the vignette more or less soft-edged. However, since the highlighted ellipse/rounded rectangle is no longer a shape, per se, it cannot be warped by adding nodes and adjusting their handles. I suppose that a more traditional “Mesh Warp” could be applied to the “Highlight” pixel layer, but I have never had to do this and I think this will be an unusual requirement.
4) The vignettes will create a central “highlight” area set to white. This is done automatically, and does not require that the user set the Fill color beforehand.
5) The vignettes were created in Affinity Photo version 1 and come as a macro category, containing two macros (one each for the ellipse and the rounded rectangle). Since they were created in v1, they can be imported into both versions 1 and 2, and will function in the same manner. Also, since they are included as a category, they can be imported into either version of Affinity Photo for iPad.
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I’ve attached a small PDF file that explains the macros in more detail, and includes images of how they are best used. Keep this as a reference, if you like.
As with all of the macros I have submitted over the years, please remember that I am one person with one computer (and one iPad). This allows me to test on a limited number of images. There is no way to have foreseen all possible scenarios. I believe (but obviously cannot guarantee) that you will be happy with the results.
If you like the macro, please keep it and enjoy it. It is yours to use freely. What I ask in return is simply this: leave a comment below, letting me know if you’re using the macros and (hopefully) that you’re enjoying them. Remember that we users benefit from each other’s knowledge. Never forget to “pay it forward” and contribute to the forum in whatever ways you can.
Also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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For reference, and as a tip-of-the-hat to Dave Straker, here is a link to his original YouTube video describing his macros.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg6ldQrAG1s
Seth's Luma Adjusted Vignettes.zip

I wish everyone here who celebrates the Christian Christmas a contemplative Christmas.

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Five hundred cookies and 128 rum buns out of the oven (not all at once) and here is my feeble attempt at a Christmas card.  Since I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag, I decided to use the Paper Cut Woodlands Assets with Designer 2 and the wonderful Warp Group, for this year's magnum opus.  Hooray for the eye dropper!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people at Serif who have worked so hard to give us all the new things in the three V2's.  And best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.