DavidMac

Terrific! Love it!! Great idea - great execution.

So far I have done a few photo corrections and basic extract, cut and paste in AFP and was sufficiently impressed to decide to invest some time and effort into trying to learn AFP to a usable standard.
 
This is my first attempt to produce an image entirely in AFP. I can't pretend it wasn't very frustrating at times. One of AFP's most amazing features, the way it stacks and nests layers, masks, adjustments, is very powerful and subtle, but it's also the most difficult to get your head around. You have to forget anything you learned elsewhere and learn a quite different approach and philosophy.  :unsure:
 
This simple image contains no photographic elements at all. It is 'painted' entirely in AFP using pen, brush, Layer FX, and some noise. That's it. Just the very basics. Given that my next best passion after photo manipulation and creation is my kitchen and cooking, I thought a foodie subject would be appropriate. I broke an egg into a non stick pan put it beside my monitor and created the image from life just as one would a traditional still life painting. This is very unusual for me as I normally work photographically, but it seemed a good way to get to grips with some of the tools.
 
Can't pretend to be entirely happy but no one should be ashamed of first attempts, that's how we learn ............ and I learned a LOT by doing this.  :)
 
I shall definitely be persevering further.
 
David Mac

Top quality organic!! Nothing but the best for Affinity.  ;)

Top quality organic!! Nothing but the best for Affinity.  ;)

So far I have done a few photo corrections and basic extract, cut and paste in AFP and was sufficiently impressed to decide to invest some time and effort into trying to learn AFP to a usable standard.
 
This is my first attempt to produce an image entirely in AFP. I can't pretend it wasn't very frustrating at times. One of AFP's most amazing features, the way it stacks and nests layers, masks, adjustments, is very powerful and subtle, but it's also the most difficult to get your head around. You have to forget anything you learned elsewhere and learn a quite different approach and philosophy.  :unsure:
 
This simple image contains no photographic elements at all. It is 'painted' entirely in AFP using pen, brush, Layer FX, and some noise. That's it. Just the very basics. Given that my next best passion after photo manipulation and creation is my kitchen and cooking, I thought a foodie subject would be appropriate. I broke an egg into a non stick pan put it beside my monitor and created the image from life just as one would a traditional still life painting. This is very unusual for me as I normally work photographically, but it seemed a good way to get to grips with some of the tools.
 
Can't pretend to be entirely happy but no one should be ashamed of first attempts, that's how we learn ............ and I learned a LOT by doing this.  :)
 
I shall definitely be persevering further.
 
David Mac

So far I have done a few photo corrections and basic extract, cut and paste in AFP and was sufficiently impressed to decide to invest some time and effort into trying to learn AFP to a usable standard.
 
This is my first attempt to produce an image entirely in AFP. I can't pretend it wasn't very frustrating at times. One of AFP's most amazing features, the way it stacks and nests layers, masks, adjustments, is very powerful and subtle, but it's also the most difficult to get your head around. You have to forget anything you learned elsewhere and learn a quite different approach and philosophy.  :unsure:
 
This simple image contains no photographic elements at all. It is 'painted' entirely in AFP using pen, brush, Layer FX, and some noise. That's it. Just the very basics. Given that my next best passion after photo manipulation and creation is my kitchen and cooking, I thought a foodie subject would be appropriate. I broke an egg into a non stick pan put it beside my monitor and created the image from life just as one would a traditional still life painting. This is very unusual for me as I normally work photographically, but it seemed a good way to get to grips with some of the tools.
 
Can't pretend to be entirely happy but no one should be ashamed of first attempts, that's how we learn ............ and I learned a LOT by doing this.  :)
 
I shall definitely be persevering further.
 
David Mac

So far I have done a few photo corrections and basic extract, cut and paste in AFP and was sufficiently impressed to decide to invest some time and effort into trying to learn AFP to a usable standard.
 
This is my first attempt to produce an image entirely in AFP. I can't pretend it wasn't very frustrating at times. One of AFP's most amazing features, the way it stacks and nests layers, masks, adjustments, is very powerful and subtle, but it's also the most difficult to get your head around. You have to forget anything you learned elsewhere and learn a quite different approach and philosophy.  :unsure:
 
This simple image contains no photographic elements at all. It is 'painted' entirely in AFP using pen, brush, Layer FX, and some noise. That's it. Just the very basics. Given that my next best passion after photo manipulation and creation is my kitchen and cooking, I thought a foodie subject would be appropriate. I broke an egg into a non stick pan put it beside my monitor and created the image from life just as one would a traditional still life painting. This is very unusual for me as I normally work photographically, but it seemed a good way to get to grips with some of the tools.
 
Can't pretend to be entirely happy but no one should be ashamed of first attempts, that's how we learn ............ and I learned a LOT by doing this.  :)
 
I shall definitely be persevering further.
 
David Mac

No need to get dogmatic about it ........  ;)

Cats are just awesome - hence, the obsession :)
 
We've all got cats or have had cats, so we're all in agreement - it's pretty much a condition of joining the team, to be honest... ;)

I will check out PSB. It's a couple of versions back I last tried. This is a major plus for me as I work very large high resolution images.
 
Your description of nesting adjustments as children of masks sound like exactly what I wanted. Better in fact! I didn't realise this had been added. I will check this out too.
 
Good news all round.  :)
 
Thanks for such a swift reply ....... on a Sunday too. Now that IS impressive!

New progress. Good news and bad news. 
 
The good news is that the problem is gone. The bad news is I cannot identify why, except in general terms.
 
Since the problem did not occur in a clean new user account it seemed probable that it related to a third party driver or background process. I removed all background processes, panels and drivers from the main user account except the Wacom driver and the Nvidia driver by removing all startup items in Users and Groups and temporarily clearing all the root and user library entries from Launch Agents. Launch Daemons, StartupItems and Preference Panes and restarting. The problem did not go away.
 
So I then did a  full "spring clean" removing every single "widowed" root library and user library folder or entry I could find in Application Support and Preferences that did not appear to be relevant to current software. There are a lot of these get left behind - even when using an uninstall app. The problem disappeared. 
 
The screen redraws smoothly and perfectly and, bizarrely,  the rogue files no longer throw up the "Document contains non pixel elements" message either. 
 
So that's the good news.
 
The bad news is that there were so many of these entries to remove that it quite simply was not practicable to restart then open and cheque the problem flies in Affinity for each removal of a library item or preference. I would still be at it when my hair turns even whiter than it is now! So I am quite unable to determine what specifically was causing the problem. But it seems clear that it was some left over from a no longer used app rather anything generic.

I wish I could be more helpful. 

I am more and more impressed by Affinity Photo and it's streamlined lack of bloat. Of course there is stuff "missing" but that is a no win situation because what constitutes missing is going to be as varied and diverse as your user's personal quirks and workflows. Each will inevitably find something "essential" that isn't there for them. In my case the inability to port my PSB's across and the inability to use luminance adjustments on masks are very frustrating.  I also really miss being able to record simple Actions. But less face it, in the light of what you are offering, these are cavils.
 
Most impressive though is that you listen and respond. That, relative to your competition, is not only refreshing but an asset quite simply beyond value!
 
One last thing I have spotted but not reported elsewhere because I don't know whether it is a bug or simply as yet unimplemented but direct file transfer between Photo and Designer doesn't work.  In Designer, File > Edit in Photo is permanently greyed in both Vector and Pixel personas. In Photo, File > Edit in Designer throws up the error message "Failed To Launch Affinity Designer Beta - The application was unavailable." Presumably this is because it is looking for the (I think now discontinued) Designer Beta and I am using the purchased Designer. Which, incidentally, is also another lovely streamlined app without excess pretensions.
 
Please keep up the good work!
 
Congratulations to you all.