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Toggle layer FX on and off from layer icon


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Can we have a way of toggling the LayersTabFxIcon_lightui.png.71014815d6855bfcc81a154bf14913b7.png on and off from the layer icon, having to go into the LayersTabFxIcon_lightui.png.71014815d6855bfcc81a154bf14913b7.png to turn off the LayersTabFxIcon_lightui.png.71014815d6855bfcc81a154bf14913b7.png is tedious.

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That certainly sounds like it could be a useful thing but I’m not sure how it could be achieved in a way that was nice to use.
Having an extra ‘on/off’ icon (or something) in the layer control might make things a bit messy.
However, if the effects were treated, in the Layers Panel, in the same way as Adjustments then each ‘fx’ could have it’s own visibility icon. If things went down that route, then maybe each effect could have a separate entry in the Layers Panel, perhaps (see attached image).
I have no idea how this might work in practice but thought I’d put the idea out there to see what the thoughts were.

effect-layers.png

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1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Having an extra ‘on/off’ icon (or something) in the layer control might make things a bit messy.

Hi Garry, if the on off tick only appeared when FX were applied and was unobtrusive like the FX icon then I would welcome this, if there was also a control option in the FX panel for this to show if the user wanted it to. It would also dissapear when no FX are selected in the main panel. 

This would achieve the quick toggle that was requested, a single click to turn all effects off or on.

 

664695405_FXToggle.png.122a46489c80a8e5cb6f773ff2d39293.png

 

I would also really appreciate it if this was taken a step further and add the same functionality to blend ranges. It would make it so much easier to see exactly what has been applied to a layer and easily toggle off or on. This is especially useful when you are working with multiple layers.

1665686209_FXBlendRangeToggle.png.cbf2ae9741d0e42062dead894f1699f9.png

 

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Hmm. Now that I see it, it doesn’t look too bad.
Adding one for the Blend Ranges too sounds like a good idea but now I think it is getting a bit crowded.
How about something like this (attached) instead where the icon shows that something is active and a crossed-out icon means it’s inactive. Clicking an inactive icon makes it active, clicking an active icon makes it inactive and double-clicking (or long-clicking) an active icon takes you to the relevant dialog?

effect-and-blend-layer-icons.png

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1 minute ago, GarryP said:

Adding one for the Blend Ranges too sounds like a good idea but now I think it is getting a bit crowded.

I don't, I find it visually very easy to quickly see what has happened to the layer, it would be rare to see both on the same layer...at least in my workflow. I like the crossed out icon idea but it would have to be a pale grey or soft white for me...my eye is drawn to the red and I would find that very distracting 😀

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I only very rarely use Blend Ranges so I’m not the best person to argue against what you’ve said about them.
Personally I prefer to see as much of the layer name as I can – I sometimes have long layer names – while minimising the width of the panel but we may have differences on that matter, and that’s fine. Just two different ways of looking at the same thing.
I thought about trying a different grey/white for the whole icons to show inactivity and I don’t think that would work well in the light UI, but I can understand your concern about the distraction. Maybe a grey line instead of a red one?

effect-and-blend-layer-icons2.png

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22 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Maybe a grey line instead of a red one?

Grey works for me.

When I am working on an image that is going to print then to the gallery, I can have multiple layers that are masked and further refined with Blend Ranges. These layers all interact and influence the overall image. Currently I need to select the layer and then the blend range panel to see if one has been applied, if I then need to see the overall image without that particular blend range applied I need to reset it, then if I decide it is needed I need to recreate it! that is not always a simple task if I have used a more complex curve. It would be a massive time and stress saver if I could see the layers at a glance and toggle off & on.

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I agree that having a way of seeing where the default Blend Range wasn’t being used would be a good thing.
As I said above, I don’t use them much myself, but when I have used them I often forget which layer(s) I’ve changed them on and have had to go through a set of layers – click the layer, click the icon, look at the settings, close the dialog, click another layer, etc. – trying to track down where I’ve made any changes. An icon telling me where I’m not using the default would cut all of that work down to size pretty well.

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3 hours ago, GarryP said:

in the same way as Adjustments

This solution could have the great advantage that the order of effects could change. Today it is solid, which is often very restrictive.

However, fx can also be applied to Adjust layers, then would you show how? As another subgroup? That could be enough chaos.

Personally, it would be enough if there was a Reset button or a checkbox Enable next to Fill Opacity in the Effects panel, where fx functions are displayed.

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6 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Can we have a way of toggling the LayersTabFxIcon_lightui.png.71014815d6855bfcc81a154bf14913b7.png on and off

https://www.google.com/search?q=toggle+layer+fx+site%3Aforum.affinity.serif.com

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10 hours ago, GarryP said:

I only very rarely use Blend Ranges so I’m not the best person to argue against what you’ve said about them.
Personally I prefer to see as much of the layer name as I can – I sometimes have long layer names – while minimising the width of the panel but we may have differences on that matter, and that’s fine. Just two different ways of looking at the same thing.
I thought about trying a different grey/white for the whole icons to show inactivity and I don’t think that would work well in the light UI, but I can understand your concern about the distraction. Maybe a grey line instead of a red one?

effect-and-blend-layer-icons2.png

Something like this, yes.

AND a global "Disable fx" switch for better performance while working on complex designs.

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  • 10 months later...
  • 1 year later...

All these quite years old requests (and quite the useful ones, as currently it's an insane amount of friction to work) have been archived under "Affinity Photo V1" tags.

What should we do? should we open a new one on affinity photo v2 and re-link to this one?

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A suggestion for anybody that finds this, as a work around, pop the "QuickFX" menu to the side, there are checkboxes there. It doesn't toggle them all on or off but for the most part it's only a couple of them active at any time in my experience

QuickFx.jpg.c71dbb0eef82b0a6dbb93fab68c0489e.jpg

Now, don't even bother playing with that "Fill Opacity" there at the top. It absolutely does nothing on my side since years of pointing it out

EDIT: wait, the fill opacity does work! 🎉

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