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Hi

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I'm finding masking a real pain in Affinity, on some levels it's fantastic but it's things like this that are making it difficult to use consistently.

I bring in an image of a ball for example, mask it, place it on a background, all good, want to move the ball, because the mask is the stage around that wasn't the ball, as soon as I move the image anything that wasn't on the original stage is NOT masked, so I have to then add to the mask, this is really frustrating, I've checked to see if I'm just missing something, but the masking just seems the wrong way around, also it's very difficult to just then edit the mask with the selection box to delete the new area that's moved into the canvas/stage.

Am I missing something, hopefully I'm going about things the wrong way?

Thanks in advance.

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Is your mask above the layer or nested (under and slightly indented) in the layers panel? If it is above, nest it by dragging it to the right of the thumbnail until you see a blue line appear, then drop it. Now select the layer by clicking on the thumbnail (not the mask). Then in your canvas, try dragging. The mask should stay in place with the object.

You might have a look at Affinity's tutorial on Clipping and Masking

A list of their tutorials can be found HERE

Hope that helps

 

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Thanks for the reply, but that's not quite what I'm talking about. I'm talking about that a mask only extends to the canvas/stage/document edge), so any of the original image that is outside of the canvas/stage isn't masked.

So if you look at the attachment, I dragged the models into position, then cut them out of the background, but when I go to move them slightly, the masked area only extended to the edge of the canvas/stage, so I have to then add to the mask each time.
 

 

Screenshot 2020-07-16 23.20.42.png

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It’s difficult for me to see what’s happening in your document as I don’t have access to the original image(s) and can’t see your Layers Panel but, if what you can see in my latest attached video is what you mean, then I think I understand the issue.
When you create a mask using the Selection Brush Tool, if the extent of the visible part of the layer you create the mask on is smaller than the entire image then the mask will not fully cover the image and only covers the visible portion.
I don’t know if this is right or wrong. In other words, it’s the way it works but I don’t know if its supposed to work this way or not.
For me, as an amateur user, it seems wrong as I would expect the whole layer to masked except where I have chosen it not to be, but an expert user may need the functionality to work the way it does for some reason unknown to me.
Maybe one of the expert users or a staff member can explain why it works this way.

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Just now, MEB said:

Hi Barrowman,
Before creating the selection, right-click the layer or the image on canvas and select Rasterise & Trim to get rid of the data outside the canvas area. Then proceed as you are doing.

Thanks but if I do that I lose parts of the image that I may want to use later, or possibly resize. It's very destructive.

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  • Staff

I understand, that's why i'm passing this to the dev team. Alternatively you can use a vector shape instead and drag the image over the shape layer in the Layers panel to use it as a clipping layer (or simply draw the shape over the image layer, right-click on it in the Layers panel and select Mask to Below). This way the original image remains intact and only the part inside the shape is visible.

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6 minutes ago, MEB said:

use a vector shape instead and drag the image over the shape layer in the Layers panel to use it as a clipping layer.

Thats the way to do it - yes it is confusing if you're used to photoshop - I'm sure you'll get used to it, plus you retain the full image resolution

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1 hour ago, MEB said:

I understand, that's why i'm passing this to the dev team. Alternatively you can use a vector shape instead and drag the image over the shape layer in the Layers panel to use it as a clipping layer (or simply draw the shape over the image layer, right-click on it in the Layers panel and select Mask to Below). This way the original image remains intact and only the part inside the shape is visible.

Thanks for doing that, although I can't really do a decent cut out with a vector shape can I?

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  • Staff

Hi Barrowman,
That depends on what you are trying to cut out but yes, as is said i understand your point and limitations of the current implementation. It's not just about cutting stuff out with more or less precision, there's restrictions with the creation of any type of semi-transparent masks as well. As mentioned earlier i've passed this to the dev team. Thank you for your feedback and support.

Have you consider to increase the canvas size as a last resort so it encompasses all layer(s) data and re-adjust/crop at the end? You can quickly do so going to menu Document > Unclip Canvas.

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@Barrowman you can still use the Selection Brush if you want/need to 🙂.

Instead of committing the Refine process to Mask....
Commit to Selection and on  a new pixel layer fill with any solid color. Drag into the mask position.
(or..... if you fill with white you can hit Rasterize to Mask and leave it above or nest it as in the first option as needed)

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@GarryP, @JimmyJack, @MEB, after creating the mask, how would you proceed if you wanted to select a part of the image (e.g. 1 piece of orange or 1 leaf of the flower) and want to move this selected part with the mask included? For me, the corresponding part of the mask refuses to move, even if none of three UI options to prevent the move are in use: Both layers are selected + "Edit all levels" is activated + no layer lock is set.

Is this the expected behaviour? If yes, what is the most efficient workflow in this situation to move selected parts of mask AND parent layer?

There seems to be a workaround by moving the mask layer before the move action. But this appears slightly useless cumbersome and not as a proper workflow.

783296851_movepartsofimageWITHitsmask.jpg.ed2d0239571fbe543567332186219aa4.jpg

 

 

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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Thank you Garry, but it's rather a video about  deleting a mask 😏,  then moving it together with a selection of its parent layer.

Do you think there is no way to do it non-destructive but without changing layer hierarchy before?

I currently just can't believe it would not be possible, since the concept of nested layers actually appears smart and well thought, and the UI offers already options to prevent editing a mask with its parent layer – but 'simply' no way for a transform action of a partial pixel selection for both together?

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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I played around with this a for a little while yesterday and couldn’t come up with anything that was less complicated than your workaround.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t do it, just that I don’t currently know how.
If such a feature doesn’t already exist, it might be useful to have an “Extract the current selection from the layer and remove the same from the original while keeping the same mask on both” function but a convincing argument would have to be made.
I can imagine a few ways it could help with some workflows but they’re not what I would call ‘everyday use cases’.

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