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How to get a 'New' pixel layer (white)


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When I take steps to get a new document to start on, it does not show as a layer. It cannot, at that point

be rasterized.  I find myself wasting time going through a protracted procedure.  Am I missing something

perhaps, is there some simple way to do this?

 

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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1 minute ago, Jaffa said:

When I take steps to get a new document to start on, it does not show as a layer. It cannot, at that point

be rasterized.  I find myself wasting time going through a protracted procedure.  Am I missing something

perhaps, is there some simple way to do this?

 

A new document has no layers, so there's nothing to rasterize and no need to rasterize anything at that point.

If you want a pixel layer, you can click the checkerboard icon at the bottom of the Layers panel ("New Pixel Layer") or in Photo use the menu Layer > New Layer or in Designer use the menu Layer > New Pixel Layer. (Both of those menu items have the default shortcut on Windows of Ctrl+Shift+N (probably Cmd+Shift+N on Mac).

Or, in Photo, some actions such as painting with the Brush Tool will automatically create a pixel layer for you if you have the Assistant configured to do that.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Thanks Walt and Dutchshader, for responding.  However, I think we are at cross purposes.  When I am working on a project and have layers on screen, then I do know to click on 'Add Pixel Layer.   What I am trying to convey is a situation where there is nothing on screen at all.  In that circumstance, the options you suggest are greyed out and not available.

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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19 minutes ago, dutchshader said:

File>new?

No, dutchshader,  I pointed out the problem in my initial query, it does not become a layer.  Certainly not, in the procedure that I follow, unless I am missing something?

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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1 minute ago, Jaffa said:

No, dutchshader,  I pointed out the problem in my initial query, it does not become a layer.  Certainly not, in the procedure that I follow, unless I am missing something?

Please provide a screenshot. It sounds as though you do not have a document of any kind opened.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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34 minutes ago, RNKLN said:

Ctrl/Cmd+N followed by Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+N?

Yes, RNKLN, that does work thanks.  It is rather more convoluted that I would hope for!

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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16 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Please provide a screenshot. It sounds as though you do not have a document of any kind opened.

No, that is correct, I do not have any document open, Walt.  What I want is to easily achieve is a white pixel layer as my starting point (nothing I have said contradicts that).

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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File > New or Cmd/Ctrl+N, followed by the methods I originally suggested.

You must have a document open before you can have a layer.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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12 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

File > New or Cmd/Ctrl+N, followed by the methods I originally suggested.

You must have a document open before you can have a layer.

 

So there is no way to have a 'New' blank document like you would have say, in Microsoft Word?   Affinity Photo's 'New' is a different animal altogether!  

What is the best way to achieve what I want to do then, Walt?

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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A "New" document in Photo is exactly like a "New" document in Word.

What makes you think anything is different?

They are both empty until you add something.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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4 hours ago, Jaffa said:

When I take steps to get a new document to start on, it does not show as a layer. It cannot, at that point be rasterized.

As has been mentioned repeatedly, newly created Affinity documents have no layers so at that point there is no "it" to be shown or rasterized.

With that in mind, it might help if you explained why you want to start a new AD document with a white pixel layer automatically created in it.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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2 hours ago, R C-R said:

As has been mentioned repeatedly, newly created Affinity documents have no layers so at that point there is no "it" to be shown or rasterized.

With that in mind, it might help if you explained why you want to start a new AD document with a white pixel layer automatically created in it.

Hi RC-R,  well if I have open File > New it shows by default as white 'photo'.   Then I say, go File > Place and place a lizard onto it, then it does become a layer, which shows in the Layers Panel as a lizard on a transparent background.  Let us just say that I have finished, then export as a Jpeg, then it does have a white background, (unless I export as a png) -- which I suppose answers my question.  Appears that I have become too hung up about my expectations from Microsoft Word, where the white page is just that -  so if I type, say, the word Affinity then the document in whatever way used, remains the word on a white page.  I suppose having New as a transparent background is just something I will have to get used to.  RNKLN has shown, above, a keyword sequence which I will have to follow in those cases where I need it.   Thanks, anyway! - I will trouble the forum no more with this query.

Jafa - Just Another Fantastic Aucklander

(Jim)

Windows 11

Affinity Photo 2.4

Lightroom 6

Nik Collection and Topaz Denoise AI

Intel Core i7 9700K @ 3.60GHz    32 °C
Coffee Lake 14nm Technology

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43 minutes ago, Jaffa said:

I suppose having New as a transparent background is just something I will have to get used to.

In the New Document window, there is a "Transparent background" checkbox. Uncheck that & you won't get the checkerboard background you get when the document is created with it enabled. In Affinity Photo you can also at any time use the Document > Transparent Background menu item to toggle the checkerboard background on & off, & optionally assign a keyboard shortcut to that so you don't even have to open the Document menu to do that.

The JPEG file format does not support transparency so if you are exporting to that format, it does not matter if the Affinity document background is transparent or not. For JPEG exports, the File > Export > More button opens a secondary window with a "Matte" option that defaults to white (but can be set to any color). "Matte" is the color used to fill in transparent areas, so unless you want a different color there is no need to change that setting.

For PNG exports, the Matte feature works a bit differently. By default, the Matte color is 'none' (indicated by a red diagonal slash through the white matte color sample). Otherwise, it works more or less the same as for JPEG exports, except that if you want the PNG to include transparency, you do have to make sure the transparent background option is enabled in the Affinity document. Otherwise, the transparent areas will be filled with white even if the matte color is set to none. (Technically, what happens when it is not enabled is the PNG is exported without an alpha transparency channel, which defaults to white.)

There is actually a bit more to it than that if you consider presets, 'sticky' settings, & so on, but this should be enough to demonstrate that you do not have to get used to your documents always having transparent backgrounds. :)

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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