Editable Macro Steps

[Tashfin Awal]

I would love to see the ability, like Photoshop, to be able to delete steps in a macro. In Photoshop, you're able to do this feature.

[Gunny]

It seems you can disable steps that you don't need but it's still very crude. I often forget something while recording longer macros (20+ steps) and I have to record them several times to get it right. Some more editing options would be very useful (i.e. deleting steps and changing their order - now you can add new steps only at the end of the macro).

[Gunny]

And I don't really understand why I can't change the range of pixel rectangle selection. The other options are nice but less important.

[phrank]

I'm just look for the same option. i prefer a clean macro aka automation preset. is it possible to export them as a dropplet like in photoshop?

[loukash]

On 5/3/2020 at 5:40 AM, Tashfin Awal said:

to be able to delete steps in a macro

+1!

On 12/26/2020 at 12:27 AM, Gunny said:

changing their order

+2!

Unless it's a workflow you'd be using unchanged like 20 times a day, every day, more often than not it's not really worth the hassle to even record a macro because too many variables can change from task to task.

To me this whole "macro" feature still feels more like a marketing gimmick, just to have "✓ Macros" in the Full Feature List.

 

[phrank]

@loukash. marketing, because it's not perefect, but in the feature list? well for me it's a big time saver and would love also to see a funktion to save as a droplet.

[loukash]

26 minutes ago, phrank said:

would love also to see a funktion to save as a droplet

That would require scripting support in Affinity. There's none.

On Mac, all you can do is scripting via AppleScript's System Events a.k.a. MacOS accessibility features. Or an external macro utility like Keyboard Maestro.
That works to a certain degree, as long you're only executing menu commands and UI mouse clicks.
Example:

Automator and AppleScript workflows can be saved as "droplets", i.e. as small apps. So whichever Affinity function can be accessed via System Events, it can also be in a droplet. In theory and on a quick check with the Accessibility Inspector utility, it seems to be possible to launch an APh macro by scripting a click into the floating Library panel. So it could even work via a droplet.

[phrank]

@loukash thanks for the info. will check out automator again. so i hope affinity will improve with scripting. i like automation on my mac;-)

[loukash]

1 minute ago, phrank said:

will check out automator again

Well, Automator alone won't do much. You really need to write a script, the Automator then acts as a wrapper. Feel free to inspect my aforelinked plugin.

Keyboard Maestro is more "plug & play", executing many of the System Event commands as predefined actions that you can move around and edit like in Automator, thus saving a lot of time by not having to figure out the correct AppleScript syntax, But it costs, of course.

[phrank]

Hi, do you have a link. i only see this "Active All" plugin.

Well I will set this project on hold and will wait until Affinity Photo becomes more mature in this profession.

I’m testing and testing all day. I have to agree. Macros rather sound nice for the marketing, but so far useless.

Whenever I change the source image, which is not exactly the same dimension, proportion, resolution, the macro becomes useless. Because i can't not set anything, edit anything at the Macros. Only a little checkmark to set…

In the meantime I will watch all the tutorials I can find.

[loukash]

1 hour ago, phrank said:

do you have a link. i only see this "Active All" plugin

There's only this one Automator plugin for Affinity so far: loukash.com/download
I have another one in the works that can create CMYK separations from PDF using Ghostscript via shell script, but it's just a rough "draft", not for public yet. See the "Acrobat" thread. (Still having a working Acrobat installation, I'm not yet too motivated to work on it now… )

Also, I've programmed a few Keyboard Maestro macros for Affinity as well, but mostly just as "proof of concept". See some of my posts here with macro screenshots: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?search/&q=keyboard maestro&author=loukash&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy

[hm933]

I would also like to be able to edit a macro - it's a pain to have to re-record one you goofed up in.

 

[RichardMH]

I've spent too much of my life coding and find affinity macros difficult. Especially as one has to experiment to find out what is going on then I often have to rewrite the macro. Repeatedly.

[tornupnegatives]

I agree that this needs to be implemented. Disabling steps is not sufficient for large macros.