Imaginary

Hi @Imaginary,
Thanks for reporting this,
I've just logged this with the Developers  

I see the same issue.
The issue occurs not just when toggling the Embed Metadata setting, but also when changing any setting in the Advanced section.

Export Dialogue.mp4  

I'd like a brush category "Recently used" on top of the list that automatically shows the ten (number could be configurable) most recently used brushes. Would make it much easier to switch between brushes of different categories.
Alternatively (or additionally ) a category "Favourites" would be nice, to easily find frequently used brushes. 

I'd like a brush category "Recently used" on top of the list that automatically shows the ten (number could be configurable) most recently used brushes. Would make it much easier to switch between brushes of different categories.
Alternatively (or additionally ) a category "Favourites" would be nice, to easily find frequently used brushes. 

I'd like a brush category "Recently used" on top of the list that automatically shows the ten (number could be configurable) most recently used brushes. Would make it much easier to switch between brushes of different categories.
Alternatively (or additionally ) a category "Favourites" would be nice, to easily find frequently used brushes. 

When sampling a color with the paint brush tool by pressing the ALT key, always the global color as it can be seen on the screen is sampled. If there are brightening or darkening layers above the current layer, the sampled color is brightened or darkened once more, which ends up in a completely wrong color. The actual color picker tool has a source setting "Current layer" which samples the correct color.
So either the paint brush tool should consider the color picker tool's source setting when sampling a color or it needs an own setting for sampling colors.

There is a dark blue circle on the middle layer used as sampling source. The top layer has a brightening effect. The color for the lower dot on the right was sampled with the actual color picker tool with source set to "Current layer", the color is correct.
The color for the upper dot was sampled with the paint brush tool's inbuilt color picker by pressing ALT: the color chosen is already brighter than it actually is and is then brightened once more. 

When sampling a color with the paint brush tool by pressing the ALT key, always the global color as it can be seen on the screen is sampled. If there are brightening or darkening layers above the current layer, the sampled color is brightened or darkened once more, which ends up in a completely wrong color. The actual color picker tool has a source setting "Current layer" which samples the correct color.
So either the paint brush tool should consider the color picker tool's source setting when sampling a color or it needs an own setting for sampling colors.

There is a dark blue circle on the middle layer used as sampling source. The top layer has a brightening effect. The color for the lower dot on the right was sampled with the actual color picker tool with source set to "Current layer", the color is correct.
The color for the upper dot was sampled with the paint brush tool's inbuilt color picker by pressing ALT: the color chosen is already brighter than it actually is and is then brightened once more. 

Mit "Q" kommst Du in den Quick-Mask-Modus, dann wird das komplette Bild überall dort mit einem roten Overlay überzogen, wo Du später in der Maske eine schwarze Fläche hast. Mit einem weichen, weißen Pinsel kannst Du jetzt die roten Teile entfernen, die nachher in der Maske sichtbar werden sollen, d.h. auf die sich danach die Einstellungsebene beziehen soll. Sobald Du Deine Auswahl hast, gehst Du mit "Q" wieder raus aus dem Quick-Mask-Modus und Du bekommst Deine weiche Auswahl als Ameisenpfad angezeigt. Jetzt kannst Du eine Einstellungsebene erstellen, deren Maske automatisch der aktiven Auswahl entspricht.

Thank you, James, for those detailed explanations of the technical background. It starts making sense now.
Nevertheless I think that colour decontamination should be an option and have an intensity slider like the other parameters.

And I also know that documentation is just an imposition for software developers, but the the "Refine selection" part really lacks a lot of information about what is going on when particular options are chosen. So it really needs a thorough revision. And if only to avoid false impressions...

Same here, process hangs, at Raster  (Multi CPU) and has to be killed via task manager.
My laptop specs:
Windows 10 1903 64
16 GB
Intel i7 5500U
AMD Radeon R7 M265 Series -> Default Renderer
Before I switched on OpenCL in the preferences the benchmark finished but the result was N/A at both single and multi GPU

+1

If you add  presets for your LUTs you will find a preview thumbnail for each of them in the adjustment panel under LUT. Very small but at least somekind of preview.
I would rather like to see the possibility to choose a LUT from a drop down list similar to the blend modes list with live preview when hovering over the items.

If you add  presets for your LUTs you will find a preview thumbnail for each of them in the adjustment panel under LUT. Very small but at least somekind of preview.
I would rather like to see the possibility to choose a LUT from a drop down list similar to the blend modes list with live preview when hovering over the items.

To come back to Windows: In software developing I sometimes have to use so called ImageLists which in my developing environment can only deal with .bmp or .ico-files
So at the moment I have to export the graphics as .tiff, open them in Windows Paint and save them back as .bmp.
 

Same here with 1.8.3.641 on Windows 10. Photo closes as soon as you try to move the selection, no matter whether there is no actual layer (like in your screenshot) ot there is one.I know that this bug wasn't in previous versions.
EDIT:
Seems like ths was fixed in the current beta 1.8.3.647

Thank you, Simon! Stay healthy!

Serif have announced that because of this wretched virus, they are generously making their software more available. I think it would be an idea for me to follow their example. If we can't get out and enjoy our countryside we can at least develop the photos we have taken of it. For the next 3 days until 24 March, 3:36am PDT the following course is free. Click on the link below and enter FREELANDSCAPES in the coupon field to get $59.99 off the price. That is to say,  It's free. $0.00.
Affinity Photo: Developing Landscapes
Hopefully this will give you something to do if you are stuck indoors. Thanks for your time.
Stay safe and stay healthy,
Simon

1. Select the "The Mask" layer mask you want to improve
2. Go to Channels and right click "The Mask Alpha" -> Create Grayscale Layer
3. A new pixel layer is created which can be edited with the paint brush in overlay mode
4. Make sure the new pixel layer is not a child layer, move it outside if necessary.
5. Choose "Rasterize to Mask" from the context menu of this pixel layer.
6. Move the new mask where you need it.
 
This is a very cumbersome way and there is no live preview possible either.
Masks should be treated like pixel layers when it comes to manipulating. You need a live preview. The greyscale layer step should not be necessary.
It is kind of frustrating to see that in two years since I am an Affinity user nothing was improved concerning masks.

This was requested and talked about before, but here goes again.
Spare Channels don't behave as simple additional alpha channels.
When I create a new Spare Channel, specially if it is created out of a color channel, I expect it to behave just like a color channel, except that it describes "luminosity" or "opacity/transparency" information.
But I assume I could still use all painting/editing tools on it. Stuff like brush, dodge, burn, smear, blur, etc. Also, Levels, Curves, Brightness/Contrast, or any filter.
In effect, a Spare Channel should be treated as an additional greyscale image, and I should be able to deal with it exactly like it was a simple greyscale image.
I could, after editing it (again, like a regular greyscale image), decide if I want to use the luminosity information as a mask or simply load it as a selection or whatever.
BUT, PLEASE, make spare channels work like regular greyscale images inside the document, and not like a "special transparency information type of thing".
Professional editors need to be able to create complex masks and we need to be able to use all the available tools to do so.

My suggestions for improving the "Refine Selection" tool:
 
1. When entering the refine dialog, at first the selection does not change at all. No feathering, no matte edges.
2. The user decides where they want to to feather the selection or reanalyse the transition from foreground to background with the feather or the matte brush.
3. The sliders have a global effect on all the edges, whether the brushes were used or not.
4. Foreground and background brushes work just like white and black, without any reanalysis of the edge and spill-over.
5. Colour decontamination is switchable.
6. The preview shows what is, depending on decontamination state.

My suggestions for improving the "Refine Selection" tool:
 
1. When entering the refine dialog, at first the selection does not change at all. No feathering, no matte edges.
2. The user decides where they want to to feather the selection or reanalyse the transition from foreground to background with the feather or the matte brush.
3. The sliders have a global effect on all the edges, whether the brushes were used or not.
4. Foreground and background brushes work just like white and black, without any reanalysis of the edge and spill-over.
5. Colour decontamination is switchable.
6. The preview shows what is, depending on decontamination state.

When you make adjustments in the blend options of a layer it is sometimes difficult to assess the resulting effect. So it would really come in handy to have a possibility to switch blend options on and off in order to see the before and after.
Besides this every layer with adjusted blend options should have a cog icon showing next to the layer name. For layer effects it is already there.

I think the OP's issue is not about masking the blur but about blurring the mask in order to feather the transition from masked to unmasked areas.
This can be achieved by clipping the mask layer to the actual image by dragging it on the layer label until the blue horizontal bar appears. Unfortunately it has to be moved out of the image layer before. Once it is  clipped the mask will accept a live filter that won't be hidden and can be modified.

It would be sooo nice if we can have a little indicator that shows that a layer has a blend range set. Like so: 

When sampling a color with the paint brush tool by pressing the ALT key, always the global color as it can be seen on the screen is sampled. If there are brightening or darkening layers above the current layer, the sampled color is brightened or darkened once more, which ends up in a completely wrong color. The actual color picker tool has a source setting "Current layer" which samples the correct color.
So either the paint brush tool should consider the color picker tool's source setting when sampling a color or it needs an own setting for sampling colors.

There is a dark blue circle on the middle layer used as sampling source. The top layer has a brightening effect. The color for the lower dot on the right was sampled with the actual color picker tool with source set to "Current layer", the color is correct.
The color for the upper dot was sampled with the paint brush tool's inbuilt color picker by pressing ALT: the color chosen is already brighter than it actually is and is then brightened once more.