Layer fill equivalent?

[Xzenor]

Hey all.

The artists that worked with Photoshop before going to Affinity Photo will know. In Photoshop you can adjust the layer opacity but also the layer fill.
Is there an equivalent for the fill in Affinity Photo? Or a trick to achieve that same effect?

What I found that comes closest is the Blend Options but it's definitely not the same and doesn't work in every situation.

[R C-R]

What kind of layer are you trying to adjust? Are you trying to adjust the fill color of that layer or something else?

[MEB]

Hi Xzenor,
I guess you are using it with Layer effects. If so, in the Layer Effects panel itself use the Fill Opacity control on the bottom right to control the Fill opacity. We don't have one in the Layers panel as Photoshop does.

[Xzenor]

1 hour ago, MEB said:

Hi Xzenor,
I guess you are using it with Layer effects. If so, in the Layer Effects panel itself use the Fill Opacity control on the bottom right to control the Fill opacity. We don't have one in the Layers panel as Photoshop does.

not really no. Just a regular pixel layer in color dodge blend mode.

I never noticed the "Fill opacity" there though so I learned something new today but it doesn't seem to do anything else than the regular opacity slider. it guess it works differently when using layer effects?

[telemax]

Create a rectangle and change its color by simply clicking on the color panel.
Or Layer > New Fill Layer

This will create a layer whose color can be changed quickly.
But perhaps you have a different task.

[carl123]

 

[Xzenor]

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

 

Good find. So I was right that I didn't see a difference between those 2 sliders and there's no alternative..

Too bad..

[Pinkerton]

I use the layer fill setting (not fill layers) to control the ratio of effect and layer opacity in Photoshop all the time, and I'm able to do the same things using the fill opacity setting in the lower right of the effects panel in Affinity Photo. It makes sense to put it there IMO, because it's only relevant when you have layer effects enabled, otherwise you can use simple opacity.

[Smee Again]

You are simply adjusting the opacity and you might as well use the opacity slider for the layer.

Affinity has not yet provided for a proper "fill" adjustment. Even though the slider says fill, it is still just an opacity slider. This becomes very apparent . . . especially if you use one of the eight special blend modes.

While Photoshop does actually allow a fill adjustment, Affinity does not.

[Smee Again]

On 9/8/2020 at 7:05 AM, MEB said:

Hi Xzenor,
I guess you are using it with Layer effects. If so, in the Layer Effects panel itself use the Fill Opacity control on the bottom right to control the Fill opacity. We don't have one in the Layers panel as Photoshop does.

Affinity is lacking an actual "fill" slider. It become painfully apparent if you try to use one of the 8 special blend modes. Then you can see a great difference between a "fill" slider and "opacity" slider.

They need to rename their "fill opacity" slider to a plain opacity slider because that is all it is -- an opacity slider.

 

[Smee Again]

On 9/8/2020 at 7:05 AM, MEB said:

Hi Xzenor,
I guess you are using it with Layer effects. If so, in the Layer Effects panel itself use the Fill Opacity control on the bottom right to control the Fill opacity. We don't have one in the Layers panel as Photoshop does.

I thought I must be missing something. If a member of support thinks we have a "Fill" slider in the layer effects, then we must have a way to adjust fill. How could I test that? Hmm...

So, I tried something different in hopes of getting "fill" to work.

Opened an image. On that layer I clicked on fx and added a color overlay. Here's where the fun begins -- makes me think of the story about "The Emporer's New Clothes". All the fill slider does is become an alpha change for the whole image. So, I duplicated the original, and added a color overlay to the top copy of the image.

I picked an orange color for my color overlay. Now, I figured that maybe "Fill Opacity" might behave differently, and it definitely did but not for the better.

You see, once you have added a color overlay and chosen a blend mode (special blend mode or not) you can do anything you want with the "Fill Opacity" slider. It will have absolutely no effect on the color overlay effect.  0% fill opacity is exactly the same as 100% fill opacity. Oh, you can make changes, but you have to use the "Opacity" slider for the Color Overlay settings. All it does at that point is adjust the alpha of the top layer which is only a solid color layer (much like Layer>New Fill Layer).

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO "FILL" OPTION IN AFFINITY PHOTO!  None. Nada. ZILCH!!! There is only opacity adjustment.

If I'm wrong, please prove it to me. I would love to see what I am missing.

If  you have no intention of adding this functionality, tell us. JUST BE HONEST!  Don't try to convince me that fill and opacity are the same thing, because they aren't.

[Murfee]

23 minutes ago, Smee Again said:

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO "FILL" OPTION IN AFFINITY PHOTO!  None. Nada. ZILCH!!! There is only opacity adjustment.

You are correct. The fill on the fx panel affects the opacity of an object such as text. Yes it is useful but it is definitely not the same as the layer fill function in Photoshop. 

[MEB]

Sorry, my reply was indeed a bit misleading/confusing. There's no equivalent to the Fill control in the Layers panel in Affinity Photo as you noticed.

[hanshab]

MEB:  when can we see the layer fill capability in Affinity Photo????  IT is becoming burdensome after asking for this for many years now.  I have to hang on to photoshop simply because of this lacking capability in Affinity Photo.

[Xzenor]

There actually is a difference between the two.....

https://youtu.be/bsEhMJZd1Sc

[MEB]

Hi @hanshab,
Sorry the delay getting back to you. This is up to management/development. We don't provide etas/info for new features/requests until they are ready to be included in the Betas, sorry.

[Smee Again]

On 2/11/2021 at 1:16 PM, Xzenor said:

There actually is a difference between the two.....

https://youtu.be/bsEhMJZd1Sc

Nope, isn't the same. Rasterize that shape effect, then try it again. Show me what you find.

Then, on a separate layer, fill the layer with the color of your choice and place it below your rasterized shape.

Now, go to the blend modes and choose "vivid light" for the layer with your shape which should be on top.

Duplicate that layer.Both shape layers should be set to the "vivid light" blend mode --- this makes everything equal.

Now, on the bottom shape (not the bottom layer) set it at 50% opacity..

On the top shape choose fx and set the fill opacity to 50%.

 

Unfortunately, you will find in both cases the opacity is EXACTLY THE SAME.

 

What you are seeing with the shape layer is simply removing the opacity (alpha is being adjusted, fill is still 100%) of the shape. It does not affect the shadow because when you reduce the alpha to 0 is is transparent.

 

In PHOTOGRAPHY, that simply DOES NOT WORK. You have 8 special blend modes (vivd light is one) so that when you place a fill layer or paint or anything else, you get different results with opacity vs fill. Most times you want to use fill, and NOT opacity.

 

Look at the posted videos and you will see that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between the results of opacity vs fill.

[Smee Again]

BUMP!