New... Have Some Questions!

[DMStudios]

Hello, 

I am beginning the process of migrating from Photoshop to Affinity Photo. Photoshop has become laggy and bogged down and working with it is just dreadful now on my 2015 Macbook Pro. I decided to give Affinity Photo a try with the trial, and it performs like a dream! That said, I have some questions in regard to migrating my work flow.

1. Is there a way to set the healing brush to "Current and below" by default? I'm used to changing it once, and not having to do so again until I change it back. 
2. Along those lines, I've noticed that even between open documents, tool settings don't seem to persist between multiple documents. I have "synchronize tools between documents" checked, but it doesn't seem to work. For instance, repeating a filter (Command+F) only works on the document it was already applied to, which makes making similar adjustments between photos difficult. It's like I'm using the program for the first time with each new document. I even get the popup of how to use the healing brush again, even though I've disabled the assistant. 
3. Can you create a shortcut to a specific macro? I normally use F1 for my high pass sharpen action in PS, but I don't see a way to do that in Affinity. I can set the Library window to F1, and then manually click the macro. It's an extra step that I'd rather not have. If I could at least resize the library panel so that it doesn't take up so much space, I could just leave it open, and then just click on it (effectively the same amount of steps, though a little slower than a keybind). 
4. The brush preview for Affinity doesn't seem accurate if you use a brush with less than 100% hardness. Are there options to change this? It also seems to drag a little bit on my computer, like it's not a 1 to 1 ratio with the resizing. Using the resize shortcut also sometimes randomly switches to changing the "shape" and not the size. Switching to a new tool, and back, seems to fix this. 
5. I'm used to my adjustment layers automatically having a layer mask applied. Not a huge deal, but again, an extra step. Is there a preference for this? 
6. Is there a toggle shortcut for the Color Picker, like PS's eye dropper? Holding alt/option no matter the tool to select a color on screen is super easy. Having to switch to the color picker tool manually, and then back to the last tool is a pain. 
7. The shortcut to resize brush seems to glitch out when the brush size gets larger. Is this a known bug that will be resolved?
8. I've noticed sometimes the thumbnails for layers don't update/are blank. Known bug?

I know these are nitpicky things. Overall I've enjoyed Affinity and am honestly shocked by how much better it performs than PS. But these workflow issues are important, and I'd love to know if there are ways to solve them. 

 

Thanks so much!

Edited October 29, 2020 by DMStudios

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @DMStudios

I can only (partly) answer some of your questions.
1. I don’t think there is a way to change the behaviour of that tool in that way (but I would be happy to be proved wrong).
5. Every Adjustment Layer has its own mask. Just draw on the adjustment layer as you would a mask layer.
I will let others with more experience of the software answer the other questions.

Note: It can be difficult for people reading multiple-question threads to get an answer for themselves as the discussion can become ‘convoluted’ with people trying to answer many questions and comment on many posts about different things at the same time. In future, it may be beneficial to yourself and others if you post each question in a separate thread. That way each question can be answered/discussed in isolation causing less confusion.

[Callum]

HI DMStudios,

Welcome to the forums

I will answer the questions GarryP didn't.

2. Do things like brush settings stay between documents?

3. You cant create shortcuts to specific macros I'm afraid.

4. The crosshair for the brush doesn't reflect hardness at this time I'm afraid. I've never seek your behaviour with the resize brackets instead changing the brush shape if possible could you provide a screen recording of this?

6. The following post will help with this https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/54258-sample-a-colour-and-apply-it-shortcut/

7. Please could you elaborate on what you mean by glitch out?

8. Again please could you provide examples of this? What kind of layers are the ones effected?

Thanks

C

 

[markw]

With regard to the last question, 8, yes this is a known bug.
There are a several threads about it now, the most resent one is here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/124433-layer-thumbnails-often-dont-render/

 

[DMStudios]

11 hours ago, GarryP said:

5. Every Adjustment Layer has its own mask. Just draw on the adjustment layer as you would a mask layer.

I did figure this out after posting. Pretty smart, actually. Sometimes applying masks to other layers doesn't feel as intuitive, but I probably just need to get used to it. 

11 hours ago, GarryP said:

1. I don’t think there is a way to change the behaviour of that tool in that way (but I would be happy to be proved wrong).

 

11 hours ago, Callum said:

2. Do things like brush settings stay between documents?

Yeah, keeping tools consistent when working through dozens of photos would be really helpful for a workflow. Sad to see that's not an option.

 

11 hours ago, Callum said:

3. You cant create shortcuts to specific macros I'm afraid.

Is this an intentional design? Seems counter productive.

 

11 hours ago, Callum said:

4. The crosshair for the brush doesn't reflect hardness at this time I'm afraid. I've never seek your behaviour with the resize brackets instead changing the brush shape if possible could you provide a screen recording of this?

I don't use the brackets for resizing. I use option+command and drag. I'm not sure how to replicate it. It happens randomly.

 

11 hours ago, Callum said:

6. The following post will help with this https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/54258-sample-a-colour-and-apply-it-shortcut/

That post doesn't seem resolved. Someone mentioned being able to hold alt to temporarily switch to color picker, but that does not seem to work.

 

11 hours ago, Callum said:

7. Please could you elaborate on what you mean by glitch out?

By glitch out I mean it becomes less sensitive. If I have a 4000pixel brush, resizing with option+command only changes the size one pixel at a time. It seems to be lacking momentum and doesn't decrease/increase faster depending on how far/fast I drag. It also lags sometimes. 

[DMStudios]

Bump