Pen Tool Selection Disappears

[rkemperroar]

This issue does not happen in a guest log in, it does on my main log in,  OSX 10.13.6  Affinity Photo 1.8.3.

Do not remember any program crash or computer crash.

Used clean my mac to uninstall then reinstall Affinity Photo - did not resolve issue - must be some hidden preference or plist file.

Can you tell me where all plist - preference files are so I can delete then and reinstall Affinity Photo as totally clean install.

Was purchased through the mac app store (maybe that is an uninstall issue).

Issue

New File - New fill layer - Pen tool - draw selection/close selection - press Selection, the selection and curve disappear, it looks like multiple actions are happening, it looks like it makes the selection mask but then it disappears. Are there actions in Affinity Photo?

Anyways this does not happen in a guest log in - so I can continue to work.

 

[Chris B]

Hey rkemperroar, welcome to the Affinity Forums.

An uninstall doesn't always clear the more hidden data out, as you caught on so if you go to the following location, you can safely reset the app:

\Users\username\Library\Containers\com.seriflabs.affinityphoto\ and rename affinityphoto to affinityphoto.old

Let me know how you get on

[rkemperroar]

It did not work.  I first did the re-name \Users\username\Library\Containers\com.seriflabs.affinityphoto\ and rename affinityphoto to affinityphoto.old

started affinity photo, still have the issue. I then ran clean my Mac and manually deleted affinity photo, reinstalled and same problem.  Note that even deleting the program and then deleting the containers file it did not get rid of open recent files -- I looked in Library preferences and looked for affinity preferences but did not see any.   Note on my test user even though I deleted the app and then reinstalled - I still had a custom  workspace that I created the day before - so there are some preferences somewhere that are not being found/deleted.  Any other suggested places for plist or preference or user files?  Thanks

[Chris B]

Hey rkemperroar,

You could try doing a full reset but any imported brushes, assets, workspace layouts will be reset.

This can be done by holding ctrl when launching the app. You will then be presented with a dialog where you can click Clear. I would recommend doing that first and if it doesn't fix it, try checking additional boxes on that same dialog.

[rkemperroar]

UPDATE!    If I turn OFF handwriting recognition the issue goes away. Why I tried this I have NO idea. I do not remember ever turning ON handwriting recognition - I do not use any tablet or track pad on my mac tower and why it seemed to be a new problem I guess I hit some ultra secret uber keyboard shortcut to turn on handwriting recognition.  Anyways if you are bored I attached a video of when handwriting recognition is turned on.  I can leave Affinity photo OPEN and toggle handwriting on/off and have the issue turn on/off.   MAC OSX 10.13.6 High Sierra.

 

Hello Chris - thanks for all your help. That did not work - there must be some bug in my computer.  I know the clear all worked because I set up a special separated mode and that got reset to non-separated when the app opened.  Still my other user(call it UserB)  works fine and that userB window and brushes do NOT get reset(because I only reset User A not B.  It is the pen tool that does not work properly.  Open image>Pen>draw selection>press Selection then the image icon  disappears from the layer and an empty mask is created.  Crazy!!!!     Here is a video.  I am slowly moving all my plugins-filters from other programs to the UserB and will probably just have to bite the bullet and delete UserA ---arghhhhhh!    Unless you have some other tricks.  I tried the OSX migration tool and it just carried along the problem - so I need to start from a clean user.

[Chris B]

I can't seem to get this 'Ink' option to show in System Preferences which is where we enable the handwriting recognition. As far as I know, it should only show when connecting a tablet. If you don't use one, perhaps a 3rd party app has enabled it somehow.

[rkemperroar]

You are correct - I was playing around with an old intuios2 tablet - that is how it must have turned on Ink -- I can replicate the issue if in Ink - handwriting recognition is on/off.  No issue when in Off.  I unplugged the tablet but had to restart the computer to get the Ink systems preference turned off.  Thanks for all your suggestions.  

 

[Chris B]

Great news. I would still like to reproduce this so I'll keep at it.

[Chris B]

Looks like it was removed for Catalina which is why I can't find it. I can't see any way to enable the Handwriting feature now...