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Apps: Affinity Photo / all Platforms: Windows, macOS and iPad Affinity Photo: Mask button on layers panel In Version 2 we added the new functionality of being able to apply live range masks (Hue, Luminosity and Band-Pass) as well compound masks to Affinity Photo. As well as being available from the top Layer menu, we also included them in a new drop down when you click the mask icon in the layers panel. Helpful feedback has informed us that this drop-down menu is more of a hindrance than anything (as most users just want to add a mask much more frequently than any of the other options). For this reason we have reverted to making single click on the mask button just add a mask. If you want to access the other mask options from the layers panel button you can now do that using Alt+Click. Assistant auto mask placement (all apps) When: Adding mask layer to selection = Add mask based on selection Within assistant options, the logic is that if the current selection isn't a mask then the mask layer gets placed as a child, but if the current selection is a mask the new mask layer gets placed above. However this was treating both Adjustment Layers and Live Filter layers as Masks for this purpose which was incorrect. Basically now if you have your assistant setting to this and you have either an adjustment or live filter layer selected, the new mask will be added as a child of those layers rather than placed above. Again we think this is the correct logic and matches feedback we have seen, but let us know what you think.

Hi, I have tried to understand this from watching various videos and looking at the manual but I can't seem to find the answer I am looking for. Perhaps it is right under my nose but I can't see it. Perhaps I just don't understand masking. I explain all this because the last time I asked a question here I was chastised for not reading the manual. So, in AP V1 I used masking in the following manner. Load the first picture and then load a second. Select an area of the second image and paste it to the first. The selection now appears overlayed on top of the first picture. Now I hold the ALT key and click the Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. What was the overlay is now a layer beneath the first picture and I can use a black brush to paint on that first picture in order to reveal some of the image underneath. I can also control the opacity of the reveal. I have tried the same process with V2 and it doesn't work. Specifically, the Alt-click on the Mask icon does not do what it does in V1. In fact, it seems to do nothing at all. I have tried clicking without holding ALT and selecting one of the mask options but I just can't get it to do what I was able to do in V1.

I've always loved how the Affinity apps implement masks. But in v2, I now have to click twice to go from the Mask button to confirm that yes, I want to apply a mask. This is pretty annoying from a usability perspective. How about one click to mask, as it was in v1, and click and hold to open the new menu? Please improve this.

Hello all, I find I am loosing a small amount of time every time I want to add a layer mask on a layer. I like how this worked in V1: click and option click for an empty mask. Now it opens a sub menu. May be you could figure a way to have both but give uses an option to add a layer mask to a selected layer without an additional click. I personally don't have use for the sub menu. So a toggle where I can set how this works, would work for me. Thanks for considering this feedback to be processed. Best, Kevin

Sort of embarassing to admit that in 10 minutes of Googling I couldn't find the answer to this simple question. 😞 When create an adjustment layer, like Curves, I usually want to mask it, so I add a mask layer to it (I don't like using the "built-in" mask). To do that I click the Mask icon at the bottom of the layers panel, then "Mask" - duh. But even though my new adjustment layer is selected, the new mask isn't created as a child layer - I have to explicitly drag it down onto the adjustment layer. A small annoyance but it becomes one of those "every single time" things. Is there a way to create a mask as a child of an adjustment layer?