Live Projection layer not working

[Edwa]

I have not used Affinity Photo for months and this is an old issue that no one has been able to explain in spite of some very fine and totally complicated attempts.

Situation:  I have photos of framed oil painting where the camera was not at the correct right angle.   A couple of Affinity updates ago there was a wonderfully simple adjustment using the Live Projection Layer / Perspective Projection.   I simply clicked on the corners of the grid (or the frame with grid hidden) and adjusted until the picture frame sides were a right angles.  Simple and Marvelous.  Also a dialogue box appeared for added choices like show or hide grip

Now It is a totally frustration.  It's not consistent, sometimes nothing.  The manual gives directions

1. With an image open, from the Layer menu, choose Live Projection>Perspective Projection.
2. An initial perspective plane will be added covering the image. Drag the four corner nodes to align the plane to a particular area within the image (e.g., vanishing point).  huh?
3. Select any tool, adjustment or filter to automatically project the plane to a flat 2D canvas. huh?
4. Using the appropriate tools, make your edits. huh?
5. Once finished with the chosen perspective plane, select the Move Tool, then from the context toolbar, choose Edit Live Projection.

To add additional perspective planes:

1. Whilst in the Edit Live Projection mode, from the context toolbar, choose Add Plane.
2. Transform the second plane using its corner nodes.
3. Select between multiple planes by clicking anywhere on them.

 

[DWright]

As you are only making slight adjustments you can use the Perspective tool as shown in this tutorial to make the adjustment to the oil painting

[GarryP]

On top of the tutorial mentioned above, does this GIF help at all?
Note the change between Source and Destination modes.
(You will need to be much more careful with how you line things up as I just did it very quickly.)

[Edwa]

To DWright:  The video link you sent is the way Affinity used to work before updates. I described this in my first entry.   I wish it was still worked this way.   One big  example is that no dialogue box appears when I use the drop down menu from Layers at top; of page.  

To Gary: the Gif demo was helpful but it goes too fast and I can't control - pause repeat section - to follow the steps

1)  I couldn't figure out where you started.  You move vert/horz blue lines to match painting, but where did these line come from.  

2)  I didn't see where you got the Perspective dialogue on right, that doesn't show when I choose from top Layers menu Live Proj/ Pers.Proj.

3)  When i do #2 the grid shows, I can line up corners with painting as you did, but then nothing happens, there is no Apply, no dialogue window AND I can't get rid of it - even with Cnrl Z or History slider back to beginning. 

[DWright]

Hi @Edwa,

To get the dialogue box and grid lines as shown in the gif that Gary provide please do not use the live projection but rather from the New Live Adjustment Layer under Distort and select Perspective

[GarryP]

Sorry, my video recording process is a bit basic at the moment. I’m stuck with GIFs until I put the time in to move over to something better.
I’ll try and answer your questions.
1. The GIF starts just before I drag the blue lines out. The blue lines are Guides that are dragged out from the rulers.
2. The Live Perspective dialog can be obtained by clicking on the ‘hourglass’ icon at the bottom of the layers panel and then clicking on “Perspective”, or by using menu “Layer → New Live Filter Layer → Distort → Perspective”.
3. As Dwright said above, you need to make sure you are using the correct filter or you will get the wrong dialog.
I hope this helps.

Important Note: I used the Guides to quickly help me with snapping but this step isn’t absolutely necessary. If you create Guides you will need to place them in such a way that they create a rectangle which closely matches the aspect ratio of the original painting, otherwise the result could be distorted.

Edited December 5, 2019 by GarryP
Added note about guides.