AlanPC

"Adjustment layers have builtin masks so you do not need to add a separate mask layer to them. Just select the adjustment layer, switch to a brush of your choice & paint as usual to affect the mask." *sigh. Now you tell me... OK, thanks - next question, can that be saved with the HSL adjustment preset? Basically I'm trying to create a bunch of tee shirt designs where the only thing that changes is the text. I'll import them from Canva as transparent .png, then use Affinity to add a grunge effect and the color change (I used dark navy rather than black, so I can change the hue for different color tees). If I save a preset, with a mask, will that save the mask? Or no? No, no it doesn't. Carefully drew an exact mask, gazed at it proudly, changed to a different preset and it was lost. Going back to the present I masked didn't work, wasted.

Well it gets worse... Having finally found the presets and saved a couple, I then got into a terrible mess with masking (painting on a mask deletes everything? How was that ever a good idea?) So, me and Chatty figured out we have to shove the HSL mask onto the HSL layer. Seems selecting the HSL layer, then the 'add mask' button does not actually add a mask to the HSL layer, that would be too easy, it just creates a random mask. You have to shove that mask deep into the HSL until it merges with it. Because reasons. Great. So, finally went to use a pre-made preset, which we (now) know is hiding under 'HSL-Adjustments', but selecting it just gives me the wheel and sliders? All of them just give the wheel and sliders, instead of actually implementing the preset? No, wait wait, we figured it out... Of course clicking on the HSL layer, the one with the mask, and selecting 'Adjustments' to get to the premade preset doesn't actually implement the premade preset, because that would be too easy! To activate or implement the pre-made HSL preset that you previously made and pre-set and which you can only find by clicking the HSL layer and clicking 'Adjustments', you then have to click the background of the image, obviously, because why would you expect the HSL preset to work on the HSL layer?

Sorry my post was so long and not well-formatted to make it obvious at a glance, but yes, as I put in the 2nd paragraph, they are hiding under 'Adjustments' in the right side panel. I'll put that in bold... Question is, why aren't they available in the actual HSL adjustment panel? The button to create the preset is there, but no means easy finding of your created preset.

I wasted so much of my time trying to find them that I figured I'd post on here to help anyone else trying to their HSL preset... 1. To re-open the HSL adjustment sliders that keep vanishing, double-click the thumbnail of the layer. Clicking the layer doesn't work. 2. The 'Add Preset' button is there, but even ChatGPT gave up trying to find where they are to use later. I asked Gemini and that too just hallucinated menus, buttons, dropdowns etc, before admitting it didn't know. They can actually be found in the right-side panel, under 'Adjustments'. Simple when you know, but as unintuitive as it could possibly be. AI like GPT uses any available online documentation and general software best practice or typical layouts to figure out where things SHOULD be or could be EXPECTED to be etc. ChatGPT literally swore in frustration trying to find them, and after wasting well over an hour, suggested... well I'll let it speak, but I've changed one word to 'censored word here': You're absolutely right, and I appreciate your patience. Affinity Photo's preset system for HSL is poorly documented, and I gave you the wrong info. Let's fix this properly. Where the (Censored word here) are Saved HSL Presets? Unlike other adjustment layers (like Curves or Levels), HSL presets don’t have an obvious dropdown list or any other list or option. Here’s how you actually use them: Manually Reapply Your Preset Open an HSL adjustment layer. Adjust Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity to match your saved preset manually. This sucks, but Affinity doesn’t show saved HSL presets in any menu. Create a Master HSL Layer for Copy-Pasting Instead of relying on the missing preset system, just keep a file with different HSL layers for each color. Copy (Ctrl + J) and paste the correct one into each new design. This is the fastest and most reliable way to swap colors. (Bonus) Check the Presets Folder (if it saved at all) Go to Edit > Preferences > Miscellaneous > Manage Presets. See if your preset is listed. (It likely won’t be, but worth checking.) Final Answer 💀 Affinity does not let you recall saved HSL presets from the menu. 🤦‍♂️ The best method is to save different HSL layers and copy-paste them. I totally get why this is frustrating—it’s basic functionality that Affinity somehow skipped. Thanks for calling me out on that, and I appreciate your patience. ............... I've made my living online for over 20 years using various software, and 2 SOTA AI assistants ended up going in circles and hallucinating where the controls should be or ought to be and eventually gave up. Don't blame the users; that's bad UI. Hope this is indexed and helps anyone else stuck.

Mmm, OK. Krita and Gimp both already have AI, so a little disappointed. Certainly no need to update/upgrade then.

My goodness.... Are we still arguing this? *blinks Anyway... Another question - are we gonna see, or do the new versions already have, any AI elements for Designer/Publisher? I'm sniffing around Krita for artwork, which has AI extensions available (though it seems the main devs are upset about this and consider AI art to be the devil, which I find amusing...). Anything like that for Serif products?

Thanks, I hate it Knowing my 43" monitor at 4k isn't enough and the bit I needed was hidden makes me feel a bit less dumb... Just a bit.

I managed to find the answer on Youtube.

I have to agree, it's crazy that I've spent over an hour trying to change a text box's background color, I still don't know, still can't find the menus mentioned here. Windows- menu - just gives the option to float or float all, dock or dock all, I see NOTHING about text. This should be such a ridiculously simple thing to do, and somehow I'm spending my afternoon on it, it's crazy. I'm trying to create a page that mentions colors to be used, so I have a template for such things. The template has some text boxes with colors, I need to change those colors to the ones my clients uses, and for the life of me I cannot change them. The instructions above don't seem to work. I'm using Affinity Publisher 1.XXXX (it won't let me copy the long number) Can someone please help?

Does this help? In this file there are 3 layers shown, which I think are to do with master pages, as there's an A, B and C master page

I agree (though I did mention in my very first post that is was a document I had downloaded, I should have perhaps mentioned it was an Adobe template. Just the other day I was delighted to discover Affinity Publisher can use such files, but having tried doing so I'm now rather less excited). Actually they're not exactly the same file. I notice in my download folder one file, an 'IDML' file, which I previously set my PC to open with Affinity, because I read it can open those and so shows the affinity icon, while the one I'm now using, I just tried clicking it after installing Indesign, which is an 'INDD' file. I'm wondering if the L in IDML stands for layers? Mmm. Anyway, for my needs - which is 'grab a suitable template and modify it to suit the project/client' - it looks like Adobe Indesign is the most suitable option for me. It's great that Publisher can open such files, and I'll try again next time, but for sure with this file it made a multi-layered mess which just led to frustration.

It's a template I downloaded. When I open it in Affinity it's a layer-cake mess. Same file in 'Indesign' and there's no layers (so far, maybe there are?) I can just click and edit things, as expected.

Because I only fire up Affinity about once every other month. I want to love Affinity, and I do love the concept, the support and I know it's capable of pretty much anything, but time after time I find myself googling or coming back here for such basic stuff. I didn't have such problems with Pageplus, beyond learning basic concepts of publishing in the first place. I'm frankly shocked to find the Adobe version was exactly as I'd expect software to be. Tools on the left, edit on the right - I'd already done what I set out to do within seconds. No googling, no forums, just click it, edit the color, done. I was frankly nervous of even trying Adobe, yet it's easier? Don't hate me, hate the message.

Sure, when I could get to it, but most of the time I'm just clicking around and cannot get to that. One thing I notice is the Adobe version doesn't show any layers. I can just click on the thing I want to edit and go ahead and edit it, as expected. The Affinity version seems a mess of layers upon layers. My impression at this point is that yes, Affinity CAN open Adobe-format files, but does so in a messy manner, while Adobe makes it much easier. Or just follows software conventions better, because it literally took me 30 seconds to figure out something that wasted most of my day with Affinity, and I STILL can't do it. Again, I do really appreciate the help and efforts you've made but for this project I'll use Adobe.

I really do appreciate the help. Unfortunately I have given up, at least for now. I suggested earlier that the design of the UI was perhaps copying Adobe? Because I have never used Adobe, I just know they have subscriptions and I deeply despise subscriptions. I want to own things and be happy. However out both curiosity and desperation I tried Adobe... Would you like to see the video? adobe.mp4